Today, instead of talking about a specific way you use math every day, I’m going to take you through a bit of the backstory of the podcast. I’ll share why I’m so passionate about the topic of math people and why I believe it’s important to see yourself as a math person.
Back in 2008, I did something I never, ever thought I’d do. I made the leap from teaching first grade to teaching middle school math. There’s a longer story in there and maybe I’ll share that another time. For now, it’s enough to know that when I majored in elementary education, it was because i liked small children and I never imagined in a million years I’d teach middle school. (And now, I teach college kids, so…) It’s also important you know at that time I was teaching in a really small school with one class of each grade level from kindergarten to eighth grade. So, while making a jump from teaching six year olds to teaching tweens and early teens seems like a huge change, it was somewhat offset by the fact that I already knew the students and their families and I only moved down the hall. That’s not to say there wasn’t a learning curve. There absolutely was. But in this case, the most noticeable difference in my classroom was that the children were taller and the math I was teaching was more involved.
I have at the very least enjoyed math since I was 8 years old. My earliest memory of math class is from the third grade, and all throughout school I thought I was pretty good at it. So much so, that when tasked with choosing a subject concentration to go along with my elementary education degree, I chose math. Nowhere in my memory of the 27 credit hours of math I had to take is hearing anyone say they weren’t a math person. That includes the time I spent getting help in the math lab.
It was during my time in middle school where I started to notice a pattern. In conference after conference with parents, I kept hearing them say they were never very good at math, so they didn’t expect their children to be either. Sometimes they even said this in front of the child. As someone who enjoyed math and as someone who saw children as their own beings, this confused and saddened me. I didn’t know it at the time, but this experience would eventually lead me here. To creating this website and eventually to creating the companion podcast, I See Math People.
Those first few months teaching math to middle schoolers, I naturally tried to teach my students in the same ways I was taught math as a child. After all, I excelled in that kind of environment and thought they would too. While that was true of a few, others struggled. And some REALLY struggled. In my quest to understand why they were struggling, I discovered my own understanding was weak.
I quickly realized, in spite of completing of all those college math classes, I really didn’t know the math.
You see, when I was in school learning math, and maybe this is true for you, too, the emphasis was placed on memorizing facts and rules and the steps (or procedures) for solving equations and problems. Turns out I was very good at memorizing and remembering all of that. What I missed out on, was the beautiful connections between mathematical concepts which form the basis for WHY math works the way it does.
And that is a pretty big miss.
I truly believe this is the primary reason so many people believe math isn’t for them. That they aren’t math people. Because the way they were taught led them to believe they had to memorize all the things and be fast in their recall to do well in math. The emphasis in math class was not on true understanding.
In the years since, I’ve discovered many of those beautiful connections and developed a good understanding of the concepts and how they interact with each other. It’s safe to say I always learn something new from my students. Whether it’s a new way of looking at a concept or another connection I find while working with a student, I’m still learning.
In 2015. I was ini the middle of my graduate school experience. While the others in my cohort were applying everything we were learning to reading and writing, I was viewing it all through the lens of mathematics. It was here that I learned something shocking to me…I don’t remember the exact numbers, but a large percentage of people who never finished college, dropped out because they couldn’t successfully complete the math requirements.
That did not sit well with me at all.
Combining this knowledge with my previous experience in parent teacher conferences, I landed on a research topic for my thesis. In a nutshell, I wanted to know how a parent’s attitude toward math affected their child’s attitude and achievement in math…if it even did.
The details of that study don’t really matter here, although I’m happy to share them with anyone who is interested. (In fact, you can find a more detailed explanation here.) What is important is that my research suggested there just might be a connection between a child’s grades in math and their parent’s view of their own math ability. If this is true, how much of an impact did what those middle school parents say in front of their children have on their own attitudes toward math and, subsequently, their grades?
We know that mindset plays a huge role in the achievement of any skill. Learning to ride a bike is often easier for those who believe it’s possible for them and are willing to get back up after a fall and try again. Math is no different. It’s a skill that can be learned, and learned well, if you believe you are capable and if you are willing to keep trying until you get it.
And this brings me to why we are here. My main message to you is one of empowerment and encouragement.
You interact with mathematical ideas every day. That makes you a math person.
Maybe you are one of those people who didn’t finish college because you couldn’t get through the math. Or, you changed your course of study to something you weren’t as passionate about to avoid the math classes. Or, maybe you didn’t even try college because you were afraid of the math. Would having a different view of yourself have changed your outcome? Would having a belief that you are capable of learning math helped you persevere and go after your dreams?
Success, whatever that is for you, begins with mindset. Mindset begins with the image you hold of yourself. Shift how you see yourself and your mindset shifts, too. You will be absolutely amazed at what you can do. And that, my friend, is why I do what I do here. Why I write these posts for the website. Why I sit in my closet and record the podcast each week. Why I talk in my stories and share reels and posts on Instagram. So you can start to see yourself for the math person you really are and start to release yourself from the thoughts that are holding you back.
If any of this resonates with you, let’s continue the conversation. Subscribe to the newsletter. Follow the podcast. Visit me over on Instagram. Just a little disclaimer… math is not the only thing I talk about over there. Share your thoughts with me by commenting on posts, getting in my dms, or by emailing me. I’m the only one who reads and responds to your messages.
I hope you’ve enjoyed this little peek behind the scenes of the website and podcast and that it shows you a bit of the heart I put into it. See you soon!
