The Love Math Challenge – turning the pain from learning math into joy

Everyone has a math story. Many people hold painful or dreadful memories from their math learning days. This comes from a variety of reasons, including situations at home, with school or teachers, and even socio-culturally. As a consequence, people carry around feelings of shame or inadequacy throughout their lives.

And yet, in our society, we don't really deal specifically with the pain that can come from math learning and math anxiety. We valiantly try to turn the page. We try to make peace with how we may not be a "math person", or rationalize how the subject never really resonated with us. Or we sweep it under the rug, poke fun at ourselves, or unconsciously transfer it to our kids.

This creates the burning desire for me to try a new format for a program. I'm calling it The Love Math Challenge. Here are the major ideas:

• I invite courageous guests to publicly discuss their math story. This aims to de-stigmatize their experience, and serve as an example for others to follow suit.

• I'll offer questions and ideas to encourage reflection on how their story came to be.

• I'll ask them what they think they needed at the time, as a chance to gain newfound perspective, and hopefully, to heal.

• Then, we'll casually look at the exact topic(s) that gave them such trouble, and with a little love and humor, help them see that they CAN do it after all!

Episode #1 features my esteemed guest: Principal Traniece Brown-Warrens, of Markham Elementary, Portland Public Schools, OR. What an ideal guest for our pilot episode. Principal Brown-Warrens is a leader in the community, and she leads by example, as seen by her transparency in sharing her story. Such courage will surely inspire others to follow in her path. I'm honored to have her on.

This format of this program is an experiment, and I don't know where it goes. But I do know that there is a critical need to heal from the distress stemming from math education, which is carried by so many people. Including actress Jennifer Lawrence. And even her interviewer on 60 Minutes, Bill Whitaker:    • "I really struggled with math"  

I hear these stories such as theirs every day, and I believe we can do something about it. So welcome to The Love Math Challenge!

0:20 Everyone has a math story
1:35 What's your math story?
4:15 Why don't people openly talk about their math story?
6:45 What would you say to the child Traniece, if you could?
8:05 "I heard you say... Geometry. Want to try?" (response) "ohhh."
9:25 Finding the perfect problem that Traniece never knew how to do
11:15 "Perfection is not the goal."
14:30 Traniece independently tackles a problem!
15:10 Heartfelt exchange. My favorite part of our conversation.
16:17 "That wasn't that bad!"

This endeavor is made possible by my wonderful friends and partners at Carnegie Learning. Our core values align, such as the belief that all students are capable learners, and the importance of enabling them to become lifelong learners. Thank you for the chance to partner and create meaningful and positive outcomes for students everywhere. Check out their work, and our groundbreaking endeavor we're making together, called MATHstream! If you'd like to set up a free demo for your school, please DM me or leave a comment on this video and I'll follow up with you.
https://www.carnegielearning.com/solu...