July 16, 2026 • 39 mins
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Summer is a great time for some much needed rest after the school year, but it also provides some rare quiet time for reflection and personal projects. For many of us, that includes preparing for an even better year ahead - and that often starts with feeling more confident about math.
So Vanessa assembled this 2-part mini-masterclass to walk you through 8 tiny exercises you can try this summer, starting today with:
- don't do it alone - find a math friend
- replace "proving" with "improving"
- build an evidence folder of your successes
- collect your moments of math confidence
You don't have to do them all! But you do have to text us if you try any :) And tune in next week for 4 more!
*SUBMISSIONS ARE NOW CLOSED* This episode is sponsored by Texas Instruments! Listen to the episode for instructions to enter to win an "Oh My Math" box featuring:
- the new TI-84 Evo graphing calculator + 4-yr license
- an adorable plushie TI calculator keychain!
Contact us:
- Vanessa Vakharia: Instagram, TikTok, Email
- Math Therapy: Text the Podcast
More Math Therapy:
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Vanessa Vakharia (00:03):
math anxiety grows in isolation.
That's actually how anxietyflourishes.
We keep it to ourselves, ourthoughts spiral, we get all in
our heads, and that's how itgrows and takes us over.
But math confidence grows incommunity, because when we have
community, when we have somebodyelse reflecting back to us what
we're doing and what we'rethinking, we see the reality
instead of the tricks anxiety istrying to play on our mind.
(00:28):
Hello, hi, and welcome toanother episode of Math Therapy.
It's me, your host, VanessaVakharia.
I'm staring at a lake.
It is July.
as much as I wanna jump intothat lake that I'm looking at,
and I'm going to as soon as thisis done, I have to record this
episode because yesterday I wason a run and I was like,"Oh my
God, I had a sudden epiphany,and now I need to turn it into
the episode." So, like, I'maware that this sounds like the
(00:49):
ramblings of a crazy person,which it low-key kind of is, but
let me back up and tell youthis.
So as educators, we areconstantly learning.
My teacher friends are, like,the most amazing learners, It's
July, they have the summer off,but I, don't know a single
person who isn't still, like,listening to podcasts or, like,
enrolled in a book study ordoing some casual professional
(01:10):
development or some not casualprofessional development.
A couple of weeks ago, Iactually keynoted the Summer
Learning Institute in Maine, and100 teachers gathered for three
days, like three overnights, tolearn about literacy and
numeracy.
It was actually amazing.
But, like, it's work, right?
Like, they're, they arelearning.
And so many of my teacherfriends are like,"My number one
goal is to feel more confidentin the classroom next
(01:32):
September," you know?
Like,"I've been feeling a bitanxious around math, and I
really wanna feel moreconfident.
I wanna enter the classroom amore confident teacher." And I
feel like the thing we don'ttalk about that often is the
biggest thing standing betweenyou and a more confident
September you isn't, like, newinstructional practices or more
(01:52):
content.
I'm not saying it never is, butI feel like there's a low-key
secret thing that's actuallystanding in the way, and that is
your relationship with math.
And I would even take it onestep further.
Our relationship with math isn'tjust about math.
It's our relationship with doingthings that seem hard or doing
(02:14):
things that we've been told wecan't do or doing things that
feel unsafe.
And for so many of us, educatorsincluded, math is this thing
that has historically made usfeel unsafe.
So we can learn all the contentin the world, and we can develop
all this new pedagogy andinstructional practices and get
all these new strategies and,like, this and that and ways to
start the class and, like, youknow, tasks and blah, blah,
(02:36):
blah, blah, blah.
Those are all great.
But if we feel unsafe, if ournervous systems feel as unsafe
as they always have around math,we're never gonna feel better.
It doesn't mean that we're badteachers.
Doesn't mean that we're notdoing a good job.
But I want you, the listener,you, hello, I want you to feel
good.
I want you to walk intoSeptember and be like,"I got
(02:57):
this.
I fucking got this.
Like, I'm not scared." Becausebeing scared is just a shitty
feeling, and as someone whofeels scared and out of control
a lot, um, I, I'm saying that.
I'm saying that firsthand.
And I say that because you guyshave probably all listened to my
mental breakdown episode abouttaxes.
Well, it's not that I'm comingto you with the same energy
(03:18):
right now, but the energy is notso different.
Because I'm noticing that onceagain, I'm in a spiral around
something that makes me feelunsafe, and that thing for me is
feeling like I, I'm notorganized, feeling like I don't
have organizational systems inplace, and feeling like I don't
understand where to start.
And it is the exact same waythat so many educators and
(03:41):
non-educators feel about math.
"I don't understand it.
I've traditionally never feltgood at it.
It feels like every time I doit, I get it wrong, and ugh,
ick, bleh." Now, let me, let memake this parallel even stronger
right now.
I am an organized person, right?
Like, you guys, you guys knowme.
Like, I mean, I'm not saying I'mthe most organized person, but
(04:01):
I'm obviously organized enough,right?
Like, I run several businesses,I travel all the time, and I
have yet to miss a flight.
I mean, it's Mercury retrograde,so I shouldn't be putting that
out into the ether.
But, like, you know what I mean?
Like, I get shit done.
Like, everything's- I'm livingmy life.
Like, I get it together.
I'm fine.
So I must be organized enough,right?
(04:21):
But it doesn't matter, because Idon't feel organized, right?
So as organized I am, as much asmy...
Like, it's just like you guys,teachers.
You're teaching.
You're doing a great job.
In fact, s- your students areprobably like,"This is the best
math teacher I've ever had." Butyou don't feel confident.
You don't feel like a great mathteacher, and that honestly
matters just as much, if notmore, than the reality.
(04:45):
So I want to get into an episodetoday that is all about how we
are going to get you to feelconfident and safe when you are
teaching math in the fall.
And if you're listening to thisand you're like,"I'm not
teaching math in the fall,"fine.
I want you to feel confident andsafe by the time September rolls
around.
(05:05):
I want you to feel confident andsafe whenever math is present in
your environment.
Now, here's the thing.
Confidence isn't something youhave.
Confidence is something yournervous system learns, and it
learns that through experiencesthat validate the fact that you
are doing the thing that you arescared of doing, and nothing bad
(05:27):
is happening.
It happens through havingexperiences that actually are
safe, and when you completethose experiences or engage in
them, your nervous systemregisters,"Oh, I am safe doing
this thing." And it happensthrough experience because you
have had experiences that haveshowed you the other side.
(05:48):
You've had experiences aroundmath that have shown you,"I'm
not safe doing math.
Bad shit happens when I do math.
I don't feel good when I domath, and I get in trouble when
I do math.
I get yelled at.
I get a bad mark.
Something bad happens.
I get a..." Whatever it is, yournervous system has learned that
it's not safe for you.
So we now need to show itthrough experience that it's not
true anymore, that that is anold story.
(06:09):
And the way we are going to doit is through eight experiments
that show your nervous systemthat it is safe doing math Now,
okay, this was gonna be oneepisode.
I was just gonna do eight thingsin one episode, and then I
realized as I started writingthem out, I was like,"This is
gonna take forever." Like, it'salready been five minutes, and
we're still in the intro of theepisode.
So I'm actually gonna do myfirst, like, two-part, let's
(06:30):
call it a masterclass'cause itsounds great, but, like, a
two-part episode, right?
A two-part mini masterclass onhow you are going to feel more
confident entering the mathclassroom in September.
A two-part mini masterclass ofeight experiments that we are
going to engage in to teach yournervous system that it is safe
to do math, and to, throughsafety, feeling confident around
(06:54):
mathematics.
you don't need to try all ofthem But I want you to find one
thing to try.
So we're about to get into fourthings right now, and then next
week we're gonna do four otherthings.
I want you to find the one thingthat you're like,"Okay, I could,
I could start trying this out.
I could try this out for aweek." Okay?
I want you to do that, and Iwant you to try it.
I also want you to...
I'm sure right now as I'mtalking you're like,"Oh my God,
I know exactly who needs to hearthis episode." Whoever that
(07:16):
person is, text this episode tothem right now.
Get them into the two-part minimasterclass with you.
So for the next two weeks, youguys can listen together, you
can pick a thing to trytogether, and you can engage in
this together, because actually,spoiler alert, my first tip is
going to be about finding aperson to do this with.
Okay?
So we're- I'm jumping aheadhere, but I want you to think of
(07:38):
that person, okay?
I want you to think of thatteacher friend that, like, you,
you know they have so muchpotential to feel good, and
you're just like, ugh, it breaksyour heart every time they,
like, you know, sit with you atlunch or on the weekend or in
your group chat, and they'relike,"Ugh, I feel so shitty, and
I feel like, you know, I don'tfeel confident." And you're
sitting there watching thembeing like,"This person is a
great math teacher, and theyhave the potential to be an even
better math teacher if they justfelt better and they felt more
(08:00):
confident." This episode is forthem.
It's gonna give them actionablethings to try, and you sending
it to them is gonna show them,"Hey, I believe in you.
You have what it takes.
You just need to feel moreconfident, and I believe that
you can do that." So send it tothem.
And you know what?
The eight experiments I'm gonnagive you for your nervous system
have nothing to do withteaching, okay?
Anybody can use these eightthings right now.
(08:22):
And remember, we're only gonnaget into four of them just so,
like, I just wanna preventoverwhelm.
We're gonna get into four thingsyou can try right away.
And you're gonna see this isn'treally about math, right?
I- like, it is about math, ofcourse, but the cool thing that
happens, uh, be- because here's,here's what I'm thinking.
If you're listening to this andyou're like,"I don't feel weird
about math," like,"I feel greatabout math.
I've never been anxious aboutmath," the reason I love
(08:43):
choosing math as a gateway hereis because so many people have
anxiety around math, right?
We know that by the age of 6,50% of kids already have anxiety
around math.
Reports show that 75 to 90% ofNorth Americans have anxiety
around math.
That is crazy, right?
That- that's a lot.
Because so many people feel likemath is this thing that is hard,
(09:05):
that they can't get over, thatmakes them feel unsafe, it is
the perfect gateway Right?
Once we can start feeling moreconfident around math, all of a
sudden it opens up the door tofeeling more confident about
other things.
If we can tackle this thing thathas always felt scary to us,
what else can we do, right?
So you'll see, like, it isn'tabout being like,"Oh my God, I'm
(09:25):
gonna feel better about math, sonow I can, like, enroll in
calculus and become anengineer." No, I want everybody
listening to feel a little bitbetter about their relationship
with math, to feel a little bitsafer, to feel a little more
confident, so then they can goafter the thing they really want
that they have been scared offor years and years and years,
right?
This is just, like, a steppingstone.
Okay, so we're gonna get intoit, but before we do, guess
(09:48):
what, guys?
This episode is sponsored byTexas Instruments, which means
we're doing another giveaway.
Now, I only have one moregiveaway left.
It's happening in August.
If you guys remember, TexasInstruments has given us the,
the, uh, go-ahead to do agiveaway for the new Texas
Instruments Evo calculator, andan entire gift box that goes
(10:08):
along with that, and I've doneone a month since May.
So there's only two left, thisone right now, and then one in
August.
So I- if you guys a- are, like,on, on the TI Instagram, you'll
know that people are goinginsane for this calculator.
I actually presented at CAMT inTexas last week.
It was crazy.
They had this, like, thingwhere, like, 500 people could,
(10:31):
well, you know, could get entryinto, like, this TI party, and
they'd get a gift bag.
Now, no one knew what was in thegift bag, okay?
But I walked through the hallduring the lineup for this
party.
It was like a Taylor Swiftconcert.
There were 500 screaming fans inline, so excited to get in, so
excited for the chance to just,like, party and rage with Texas
Instruments, and it turned outthat all 500 of them got a new
(10:55):
Evo and the cute littlecalculator plushie that comes in
the gift box I'm giving awaythat everyone's obsessed with.
Okay.
So there are so many reasons tobe obsessed with this
calculator.
My newest obsession, okay, I,that I discovered last week.
The points of interest tracefunction.
Let me explain this to you,okay?
So if you've used a graphingcalculator, and even if you
haven't, I want you to pictureyou've got a graph on your
(11:15):
screen, okay?
On their beautiful, shiny,lovely screen, there is a graph.
You can literally trace acrossthat graph, okay?
Trace across the function, andthe calculator will dynamically
highlight key graph featureslike the zeros, the minimums and
the maximums, the Y intercepts,the intersections.
No second function nonsense.
Like, you can just trace, andit'll highlight that all for
you.
So that is amazing, and also,like, it comes in the cutest
(11:37):
colors like berry pink and,like, teal and lavender and
silver.
Like, it's just, the whole thingis stunning.
Okay, so here's how you're gonnawin this calculator.
At some point during thisepisode, I'm gonna share a code
with you, and to enter thegiveaway all you have to do is
text the podcast.
Go to your show notes, click theText Us button, the link,
(11:58):
whatever, and text us the codeword and you will automatically
be entered.
I'll pick a winner next week,and just like that, the TI is
yours.
Okay.
This is a long introduction, butI feel like I've said some very
useful stuff in theintroduction.
So whatever.
It is what it is.
Here we go Part one of atwo-part mini masterclass on how
(12:18):
to feel more confident aboutmath in September by engaging in
eight little experiments thatare going to help your brain
feel safer around math.
We're gonna do four this week,starting with number one, which
is find one math friend.
Now, here's the thing.
There's a whole myth out therethat, like, confident
mathematicians don't need help.
Like, it's a solo sport.
(12:39):
Like, they don't need to ask forhelp during questions.
And in fact, I actually thinkthis is why we have been so
adverse to collaboration in mathclass for so long.
Like, we've really treated mathclass like it's this thing
you're supposed to be able to doon your own.
You asking for help is cheating.
Okay.
This is such bullshit because Iwant you guys to think about the
real world.
I want you to think about whatscientists and mathematicians
(13:01):
have been doing for years, forcenturies.
They have been working with oneanother.
That's what they do.
Any good scientist, they,they're not discovering things
on their own.
They're collaborating, they'reexchanging experiments, they're,
like, doing trials.
They're being like,"Ooh, whatworked for you?
What, like, should I do here?"Like, la, la, la, la, la.
Like, that is how innovationactually happens, and
(13:23):
problem-solving is all aboutcreativity and collaboration.
So that's number one, okay?
We've gotta get rid of this solosport thing.
So I want you out there, ifyou're thinking,"Well, yeah, I
can do math sometimes, andsometimes I get this right, but
I always have to ask someone,"great.
Guess what you're doing when youask someone?
You're acting like amathematician.
If you've been listening to thispodcast for a while, like if
(13:44):
this is not your first episodeever, if this is your first
episode, welcome to the pod, andlike, I know this episode sounds
very unhinged, but I'm notalways this unhinged, and I also
am always this unhinged.
Okay.
Anyways, if you've beenlistening for a while, you will
know that all of our guests areconstantly talking about the
people they love.
They are referencing those thatinspired them to get into field.
(14:06):
They're talking about how otherpeople's works have been a
jumping-off point for theirwork.
Like, we are all workingtogether.
So I want you to know themathiest people you know, like
if you're like,"Oh my God, butthis person's so good at math,"
they, they are standing on theshoulders of greats.
You know?
Someone inspired them.
They used their work.
They're still asking for help.
They're still collaborating withtheir friends.
And I want you to find one mathfriend to collaborate with you
(14:28):
starting right now on yourjourney.
This doesn't mean that you andyour friend have to do math
together every day.
It's that friend that you aregoing to text when you're like,
"Ugh, I'm really, reallystressed.
I can't figure this thing out,"or,"Ugh, I'm so frustrated.
I tried to do this thing and Ifailed.
Can you help me not feel likeshit about myself?" It's your
pep-talking friend.
This friend doesn't need to haveto do anything with math.
(14:50):
Maybe they hate math And if theydo hate math, they, they should
actually engage in this entireprogram with you.
That would even be better.
It's the friend that you'regonna text for that pick-me-up.
It's the teacher friend thatwhen a lesson flops, you message
them to be like,"This thingtotally flopped," and they help
you see the other side.
They help you see what theylearned, okay?
That is gonna be step numberone.
You need someone to engage onthis journey with.
(15:11):
They don't have to do thejourney with you, but they have
to be the person that you'regonna text when you feel like,
ugh, this isn't working the wayI thought.
Because guess what, guys?
You're embarking on a journey,an experimenting journey, which
means what happens when we doexperiments?
They flop a lot of the time,right?
They don't turn out the way weexpect.
That is a whole part, thingabout, like, experimenting.
You've gotta be ready for that,right?
(15:31):
And when you're ready for that,you are gonna be good to go.
Because when you fail, when youencounter an obstacle, which you
will, you'll have that person totext for a little pep talk,
okay?
So think about that one personwho's gonna be your go-to
texter.
Maybe you're even gonna messagethem and be like,"Hey, I don't
know, I'm doing this weird,like, experiment, this mini
masterclass with, like, maththerapy.
It might be nothing, but I mightneed to text you one- once in a
(15:53):
while for a pep talk." You know?
Tell them that right now so theyare ready and they're on board.
I want you to remember mathanxiety grows in isolation.
That's actually how anxietyflourishes.
We keep it to ourselves, ourthoughts spiral, we get all in
our heads, and that's how itgrows and takes us over.
But math confidence grows incommunity, because when we have
(16:14):
community, when we have somebodyelse reflecting back to us what
we're doing and what we'rethinking, we see the reality
instead of the tricks anxiety istrying to play on our mind.
Okay.
Number two, experiment andexperience number two is you are
going to replace proving withimproving.
How often are we secretly tryingto prove that we're good enough,
(16:34):
right?
Especially I feel like ineducation, we are constantly
feeling like we're beingevaluated by our students, by
their parents, by the leaders,by the admin, like by the
whatever, the, the data.
Like, you know what I mean?
Like, it's always like thisfeeling like we've gotta like
show that we are mastering whatwe're doing.
Well, here's the thing What arewe asking our students to do?
We want our students to belearning and growing and
(16:56):
progressing.
We don't want them to beperfect, yet we hold ourselves
to a completely differentstandard, right?
Like, I think a lot of us think,I don't know about you guys, but
I always think when I tellsomeone that I do math or I'm a
math teacher, immediatelysomething in my mind goes,"Okay,
Vanessa, you just told them youare a math teacher.
You now have to get every singlemathematical thing ever perfect
(17:18):
in front of this person," right?
You cannot make a wrongcalculation error.
You can't hesitate.
You can't say,"I don't know."Like, you better be ready to
calculate, to crunch numbers,and to just get it right every
single time, to have everysingle answer.
It's crazy.
Like, I do this work, and Istill feel that way, and I think
it's because, again, I, I...
We could dig so deep into this.
We have this idea that if you'regood at math, you're supposed to
(17:40):
be this, like, genius that's,like, infallible.
And I actually think aboutmusic, you know?
Like, I think...
I, I'm actually wondering thisout loud.
I'm like, if I tell someone I'ma musician, which, like, I am,
I'm a musician, there haveactually been times when people
have done things to challengethat.
I remember our band wasauditioning this drummer once.
Like, we were trying to find anew drummer for the band, and
(18:02):
this guy we were auditioningsaid, he named some band.
He was like,"Oh, blah, blah,blah, I'm really inspired by
whoever." And I was like,"Oh, Idon't know who that is." And he
literally said to me,"You're asinger in a rock band, and you
don't know who blah, blah, blahis?
Like, that should be illegal."And I was like,"Okay, well,
first of all, fuck you.
I'm never hiring you.
It's my band, and you are notgonna be my drummer." But I also
(18:24):
was like, even though I knew itwas bullshit, I was sort of
like,"Oh, like, that's the,that's his standard?" Right?
Is, is that a thing?
Like, if you're a musician, youshould know every single band?
Like, if you're a musician,should you know every single
note?
And it's taken me a while, butI'm very comfortable now with
being like,"Yeah, I'm amusician, and these are the
things I do." Like, I play akeytar, and, like, I can shred a
(18:44):
solo for you, but, like, I don'tknow anything about music
theory.
Like, I think about David,actually, who is one of the best
guitarists I know.
He knows nothing about musictheory.
It doesn't matter.
He's an incredible guitarist,right?
No one would ever debate that.
And I think we've got to carrythat over into math class is,
like, you can be, uh, uh, likesomebody who does math.
(19:05):
You can be good at math.
You can teach math.
You can be a math learner.
You can be a math doer.
You can be a math thinker, andit doesn't suddenly mean you
need to, like, expertly know howto do every single mathematical
thing in the world.
That doesn't even make sense.
There's so much math, right?
So, like, I think this is thething, the idea of replacing
proving with improving.
Instead of being like,"Oh myGod, I need to be 100% at
(19:26):
everything I do," I want you toask this question Okay?
Every single day starting now, Iwant you to ask this question
about anything.
It can be about math, it can beabout math, but remember, these
are eight experiments to getyour nervous system feeling
safer around doing math, AKAaround doing something that you
(19:47):
think is hard, that you don'tfeel confident about right now.
And that doesn't always meandoing math.
It means setting the stage inyour nervous system and mind to
feel better around hard thingsthat make you anxious.
So here's the question you'regonna ask every single day this
week.
What's one thing I couldunderstand 1% better today?
(20:08):
It can be anything.
Maybe I wanna know how AIactually works.
Maybe I wanna understand whydoes my oat milk curdle in
coffee sometimes, but not allthe times.
Like, is it the, is it atemperature?
Is it the type of oat milk?
Like, I don't get it.
How your car works, how GPSactually works, how the thing on
Waze will say, like,"There's apolice person here." Are they
still there?
(20:29):
Like, who has to input that infor that to show up?
Maybe you're trying tounderstand why your hair is
frizzy sometimes.
Like, Maybe you are trying tounderstand why flipping and
multiplying works withfractions.
Maybe it is a math thing you'retrying to understand.
I don't care what it is you'retrying to understand, but I want
you to try to understandsomething.
No, I want you to understandsomething 1% better.
(20:49):
I want you to- don't want you tounderstand the entire thing.
So for example, if I'm like,"Iwanna figure out why my oat milk
is curdling," I might do apreliminary search.
I might ask a barista, and I'mgonna take one piece of
information, and that is gonnamake me 1% smarter about that
thing.
Okay, this is not a mathematicalcalculation, okay?
But, like, the point is, I don'twant you being like,"I am going
to fully research all the insand outs of oat milk and exactly
(21:12):
how curdling works." And, like,a 10 hours later, you have,
like, a 20-page report.
No.
No.
I don't want you to do that.
Why?
Number one, it's overwhelming,and we're not trying to
overwhelm you.
We're trying to show yournervous system it can learn new
things incrementally in a smalland stress-free way.
Okay?
We're trying to show you,"Ididn't understand something, and
(21:34):
now I still don't fullyunderstand it, but I understand
it a little bit more." You'retrying to show your nervous
system it can grow and change.
You're trying to show yournervous system that as your
brain grows and changes, itdoesn't have to be scary.
Do you see what I mean?
So, like, how does GPS work?
That's, that is giving meanxiety even thinking of trying
to learn that.
Maybe I can figure out onequestion.
One question.
(21:55):
Maybe I can go onto Google andbe like,"How does GPS know where
I am right now?" And if I wasreally being smart about it, I'd
be like,"Can you explain to me,like I'm a six-year-old, how
when I open my phone, GPSlocates me in this exact spot?
What is it doing?" Like, I don'tknow, whatever.
Like, do you know what I mean?
Like, what is something thatyou're interested in learning
(22:16):
about that every day you're justlike,"I don't really know.
I don't really care." Right?
Or you're like,"I don't reallyknow and it stresses me out."
You guys know from that episodeI did around taxes right?
You guys know what happened tome.
I had such a meltdown becauseevery day for my entire life I
have not understood how taxeswork.
Really.
Honestly.
And finally, I called anaccountant and asked a few
(22:37):
questions, and it took thetemperature down so much.
I have 10 billion morequestions.
I don't really...
I don't know a lot of things.
But in him explaining a fewthings to me, number one, it
showed me I am capable ofunderstanding things related to
taxes.
Number two, it made me realize,oh, him answering these three
questions make, like, 30 of myother questions null and void.
(23:00):
I don't even have to ask them.
They don't actually reallymatter now that I understand
these three questions.
And three or four, whatevernumber I'm on It signaled to me,
oh, I understand a little morenow.
I'm less confused.
I'm less stressed out becauseI'm less confused.
You know, this kinda reminds meof my episode with Cathy
Marks-Kirpan last week, how shewas talking about how the reason
(23:23):
plane travel and things goingwrong on planes feel so
stressful to her is because ofjust not knowing what's going
on, right?
Like, you're sitting there,you're on the plane, and you're
like...
They're like,"Mechanical issues.
Like, you're just gonna sit herefor some indeterminate amount of
time." And you're like,"I haveno fucking clue what's going
on." Like, what is the technicalissue?
Is it the wing falling off or isit the air conditioning?
Like, what's an indeterminateamount of time?
(23:45):
Could you keep us here for 10hours?
And if like a flight attendantwas just like,"Just FYI, we
can't tell you that much, butjust so you know, the mechanical
issue is just a superficial one.
It's not related to the safetyof the plane.
And regarding timing, we don'tknow how long you'll be here,
but it won't be longer than twohours." You'd be like,"Okay, I
don't know everything, but Iknow 1% more and I feel a lot
better." So number one, itreally turns the temperature
(24:06):
down.
But the key thing about learningthat little 1% is it shows you
you have the ability to learnsomething you did not know.
You wanna give yourself that ahamoment every single day to train
your body, to train your mind toknow I'm getting this aha
moment.
I can get it with math.
And I would start by doing itwith things that feel really
comfortable and not scary.
(24:27):
Like for me, the scariest thingwould be like, all right, I'm
gonna learn 1% about likesomething legal or tax related.
Like, ugh, that's, that's toohigh stakes for me.
That's too stressful.
That's like, you know, someonelistening being like,"I'm gonna
learn 1% more about math." Ifthat's such a trigger, don't
start with math, right?
Start with something else.
Like, start with something youwant to understand.
(24:48):
Maybe you wanna understand,like, why it is that, you know,
some people can dye their hairblonde and others like me can't
because it just starts fallingoff.
Like, I don't know.
I don't know.
I really don't know what youwanna understand.
Start with something low stakes,but every day make sure you're
learning 1% more aboutsomething.
And when you're ready for it,add onto that.
(25:08):
So maybe we're g- let's go backto the oat milk.
One, one little fun fact aboutwhy oat milk curdles, and maybe
tomorrow I'm like,"Okay, Iunderstand that.
I'm gonna, I'm, I'm gonna askfurther." Like, are there
different types of oat milkthat, like, curdle differently?
Then maybe I'm gonna ask thenext day, what about the acidity
of the base that I put the oatmilk in?
Why am I obsessed with this?
I don't know.
But the point is now I'mbuilding on that knowledge,
(25:30):
right?
The goal is for me to learn allabout this thing, but to know
that my goal is never to learn100% of the thing.
That is so overwhelming.
So okay, that's what you'redoing this week, okay?
You are gonna learn 1%.
This is your question (25:43):
What's one thing I could understand 1%
better today?
And I want you to start that assoon as this podcast is over.
What is something you're gonnalearn today?
What is something you're gonnaunderstand 1% better?
And when you're ready, and thisdoes not have to be this week,
maybe it's next week during ourpart two, you are going to ask
yourself about somethingmathematical.
(26:04):
What is something about thisconcept I could understand 1%
better?
But you don't have to do thatyet.
Okay.
Now, it has been a lot.
Oh my God, can you believe I wasgonna try to do eight
experiments/experiences in thisone episode?
We're only at number two andit's already been over 25
minutes.
Okay, don't worry.
I'm gonna be, I'm gonna, I'mgonna wrap things up a little
bit quicker with the next two.
(26:25):
But before I do, it is time forthe Texas Instruments code word,
which is a code sentence, andthat sentence is,"Math is hot."
Go to the app that you'relistening to this podcast to,
click the Text Us link in yourshow notes, and text us the
sentence,"Math is hot," andyou'll automatically be entered
to win the new Texas Instruments84 Evo.
(26:45):
Okay.
So we had experiment number one,which is finding one math
friend.
You're gonna find a math friendthat you are gonna text when
things get rough.
Number two, you're gonna replaceproving with improving.
Okay, you're gonna replace theidea of proving that you're
right to just improving on yourknowledge every single day.
And number three is that you aregonna build an evidence folder.
(27:07):
Now, let me explain this to you.
Our brains are, are wired with anegativity bias, okay?
And that is a protectivemechanism.
I talk about this on the podcasta lot, but as a reminder, our
negativity bias wants toremember the bad shit that has
happened to us.
It is trying to protect us.
It is on the lookout.
It's like,"Ugh, remember thistime though when you did math
(27:29):
and, like, you felt so ashamed,and you shut down, and you
couldn't even, like, breathe,and you couldn't see straight,
and it just sucked, and youcouldn't understand no matter
how much your teacher explainedit to you?
Remember that time?
That could happen again.
Danger.
Danger.
Danger.
Danger." That's what it's doing,okay?
Now, maybe since that timeyou've had, like, 30 great math
experiences.
(27:49):
You understood something.
You taught a lesson.
You taught a ton of lessons.
Everything was fine.
Doesn't matter.
Your brain is still like,"Yeah,but that one time, that one time
could happen again." Because itsentire job is to protect us from
bad shit, which is so nice,right?
Like, so nice of it to, like, beon the lookout for us.
What a great friend.
Like, that's so nice.
We appreciate it.
However, it is really crampingour style at this point because
(28:13):
it is preventing us from doingthe thing we need to do to feel
more confident around math,which is we need to engage in
more mathematical experiences,and we don't want to because
we're scared of this bad shithappening to us.
So here's what we have to do.
We have to build an evidencefolder to show this negativity
bias.
We have to literally be like,"Iget that you're hung up on that
(28:33):
one time, or these few times, orall of grade four, whatever.
I get that you're hung up on it,but look at all the evidence I
have that when I do math andwhen I'm around math, it's
actually a good vibe." We can'tjust experience math in a
positive way.
We have to experience math in apositive way, gather that
(28:54):
evidence, and hold it up to ournegativity bias and be like,
"Hello.
Check it out.
I've got the receipts, babe.
Like, they're all right here."We have to make it so salient to
our brain that we arecounteracting the negativity
bias with all of the positivereceipts Now, remember at the
beginning of this episode I waslike,"It's not like I'm having
(29:15):
another mental breakdown, but,like, I low-key am"?
Here's why.
We, I, I now know what's goingon.
This is exactly like my lastepisode.
I get v- I get really worked uparound feeling disorganized.
I am constantly feeling likethere are better systems, there
are better ways of doing things,I'm so behind, I'm being
inefficient.
It, it's my trigger.
It's just my thing, okay?
And every time it comes up, Istart spiraling.
(29:37):
All I'm thinking about arespreadsheets and apps that I've
never even used, but that I'mconvinced must be better than
what I'm doing now.
I'm like,"I must have somebetter system." Like,"Oh my God,
I almost missed this thing.
Like, my spreadsheet isn'tcomplete.
I didn't fill out this thing.
Like, my website is missingthe..." Like, I start focusing
on all the things I have notdone, I'm not doing, I could and
should be doing.
(29:58):
This morning in my journal, Iwrote down that one of my goals
for today was to collectreceipts for my negativity bias
of all the ways I am organized.
It is so hard to do, guys.
It's so hard to do, but that'swhy I'm on here telling you to
do it.
We are both doing it.
I am your math friend now.
We are now doing step onetogether.
Like, we are accountable to oneanother.
I am trying to s- to rewire, toshow my negativity bias,"But
(30:20):
babe, we are organized.
Like, sure, there's all thesethings we could be doing, but
look at all the things we aredoing.
I'm sitting here recording apodcast episode at the exact
date that it's due.
I'm not even late.
I'm recording it right now.
I have answered all of theemails in my inbox that are
urgent.
Like, those are done." But ofcourse, my negativity bias is
like,"But all the other onessitting in there, you could be
(30:43):
answering those, too." And nowI'm like,"I know I could be, but
I've answered all the ones Ihave to." Right?
Like, this is collecting thereceipts.
This is collecting evidence.
And honestly, me saying it outloud to you is solidifying it
more.
But if, if you, if I was you, ifyou were me, whatever, I mean,
you could start your ownpodcast, but I need you to write
them down.
I need you to write them down.
I need you to take pictures.
(31:03):
I need you to create an evidencefolder.
And what are you findingevidence of?
You are finding evidence thatyou are capable of learning new
things and doing hard things,okay?
Learning new things, doing hardthings.
Again, they can be related tomath if you want them to be.
To me, that is the next stepthat we don't even have to start
(31:24):
till next week.
We don't even have to bring mathinto it.
But hey, babe, if you wannastart with some mathy things
that you have learned Or thatyou have done, please put those
in the evidence folder.
The whole point of the evidencefolder is to show the negativity
bias,"Hey, when you do math,it's not always bad.
Hey, when you learn new things,it's not always bad.
(31:46):
Hey, when you do hard things,it's not always bad.
In fact, it's often great."Okay?
So I need you to gather thatevidence because the more you
can show your negativity bias,"Hey, I know you're scared, I
know bad things can happen, butlook at all the great things
that have happened as a resultof me learning new things, doing
hard things, and doing math,"the less scared you are and the
(32:08):
more your nervous systemregisters,"It's safe to do math.
It's safe to do hard things.
It's safe to do things I don'tknow how to do." So I want you
to collect moments, small winsover things you found
frustrating, understandingsomething that felt tricky.
Like, it doesn't have to be mathrelated, as I said, but it has
to be related to the fact thatyou are learning new things or
doing hard things because we areflexing the same muscle as when
(32:31):
you tackle the thing that feelsscary to you, which for many of
you listening is math, right?
So the more we can flex thatmuscle, the more we can
strengthen it, the more we canjust show the nervous system it
is safe to engage in this typeof activity, the more confident
you're gonna feel in the fall,but also the more confident
you're gonna feel to try moremath throughout the rest of the
summer.
(32:51):
Remember, confidence is notpositive thinking.
It's not like s- looking in themirror and being like,"I can do
hard things." Like,"I'm notscared.
Math doesn't scare me." I lovemath-firmations.
I love them, but that's notwhere confidence comes from.
Confidence isn't positivethinking.
Confidence is rememberedevidence.
(33:12):
It really is.
It's embodied evidence thatcomes from experience.
Okay, and finally, forexperiment/experience number
four, you are...
Okay, you just finishedcollecting your evidence.
You're gonna be collectingevidence every single day.
Now you are gonna collect mathmoments, and this is the only,
like, fully mathy one that weare gonna do this week.
(33:33):
Here's what you're gonna do.
You're collecting evidence thatyou can do hard things, you can
learn new things, you can growand change, you can have aha
moments, like, whatever.
Now, what you're gonna do is youare going to show your, not just
your negativity bias, okay?
But you're gonna actually showyour reticular activating
system.
Don't worry, big word, we'll getinto it in a second.
You're gonna show it that youhave been around and engaging
(33:57):
with math every single day, andit's actually been a great time.
Now, our reticular activatingsystem/RAS is this thing in our
brain that, like, it's kind oflike our algorithm in our
phones.
It catches on to the fact thatwe're interested in something,
and it shows it to us.
So for example, you guys know Ilove 222.
It's my angel number.
I see 222 literally everywhere.
(34:18):
It's not because 222 is, like,popping up more than normal for
me.
It's because I'm seeing it morethan other people.
Like, you and I could go throughthe exact same day in the same
place with the same clocks andtechnology around us, and I'm
gonna see 222 more than youbecause my brain, my reticular
activating system, is on highalert to point it out when it
(34:38):
happens.
It doesn't mean you're not gonnasee it, but you're not gonna
register it or care, right?
Our reticular activating systemworks for us.
It works for us.
It's like a work bitchsituation, right?
Like, we're like,"I wanna seethis.
Show me this." Now, normally wedo this subconsciously, but we
are gonna do it consciously.
We are gonna say to it,"I wantyou to show me all the math I am
doing and all the math aroundme, starting right now.
(35:01):
You are literally gonna become amath detective.
Okay?
You and your RAS are gonna belike cute little PIs, and you're
gonna be like,"All right, we'reon the hunt." As you're walking
around the day, I want you tonotice things.
You pay for your coffee, younotice the temperature of that
warm beverage.
You're in the park and you seethe symmetry of the flowers.
You hear music at a grocerystore and you're like,"This
(35:23):
really is off tempo for the factthat I'm shopping for tomato
sauce right now.
I just don't feel like thesethings are vibing.
The rhythm is really off."You're gonna notice architecture
around you.
You're gonna notice howbuildings are designed.
Maybe you're on a trip andyou're like,"Oh my God, wow, it
looks so different here.
What's making it lookdifferent?" Maybe it's the
angles of the houses.
Maybe it's the way that thingsare constructed and built.
(35:44):
You are going to be watchingsports, and you're gonna notice
moves that people are gonnamaking.
You're gonna be talking aboutthe score, and all th- You're
already doing these things.
You're already doing thesethings, but I want you and your
RAS to work together to say,"Ding, ding, ding, math alert."
Okay?
Just like that.
"Ding, ding, ding, math alert"every single time.
You go to a yoga class, you'renoticing that that teacher is
(36:06):
sequencing things so perfectly.
You're realizing that you canfollow the pattern
subconsciously because, oh myGod, wow, I'm in tune with this
pattern and sequence withouteven meaning to.
How mathematical of me.
Ding, ding, ding, math alert.
Right?
Like, I want you to like, you'reon a beach and you're looking at
the waves, and the pattern ofthe waves, and the tide, and
whatever.
(36:26):
I want you to, you're collectingmath moments, and you're ding,
ding, dinging math alert all theway home.
Okay?
So for the next week, that'swhat you're doing.
Again, write these down.
What you're doing here, thisisn't just like,"Oh, cool, yeah,
I'm doing math," and then inyour mind you're like,"But this
isn't actually scary math."That's not the point of this.
The point of this, again, is toshow your nervous system math is
around me, I'm doing math, I'mnoticing math, I'm wondering
(36:49):
about math, I'm engaging inmath, and nothing bad is
happening.
That is the entire point ofthese four things that we've
done together today.
Okay?
Right?
The point of these four thingsis not to suddenly make you a
fractions expert.
The point is to show yournervous system when math is
around me, when I engage inmath, when I try new things that
are hard, when I approach thingsthat I'm anxious about, nothing
bad happens.
I am safe.
(37:11):
And when you're safe, you have agateway to confidence.
You cannot feel confident whenyou are in fear.
We are just trying to get you tofeel safe so that next week in
part two of this mini masterclass, this mini Math Therapy
master class.
Oh my God, why wasn't I sayingthat from the beginning?
Next week in our part two of ourmini Math Therapy master class
series...
(37:31):
okay, whatever.
I'll workshop that.
We will start getting into fourother experiments and
experiences you can engage in tohelp you feel even safer and
more confident when you headinto the math classroom in the
fall.
Okay.
Oh my God, that was long.
That was really long.
Okay, are we ready?
So let's wrap up.
So we have four things for youto try doing.
Let's go over them.
(37:52):
Number one is find one mathfriend or just that friend,
right?
Like, we're calling this persona math friend, but it's that
person you can text in a pinchwhen you're feeling like,"Ugh,
this feels frustrating," or itfeels hard, or,"I don't know if
I can carry on." Number two, youare gonna replace the word
proving with improving by askingyourself,"What's one thing I
could understand 1% bettertoday?" Number three, you are
(38:12):
gonna build an evidence folder.
Evidence that you can learn newthings and do hard things, okay?
I want you to fill that evidencefolder.
And number four, you're gonnastart collecting math moments.
You and your RAS are gonna beding, ding, ding, math alerting
your way through the week.
Okay?
So now, you are going to tell mewhich one you're gonna do.
Reminder about the giveaway, bythe way, right?
(38:32):
I said the code word after thesecond tip, so you can text the
code word/code sentence to us byhitting the link in your show
notes that says Text Us.
While you're at it, tell me theone thing you're gonna try this
week.
Out of these four, tell me theone thing you're gonna try this
week.
And remember to tune in nextweek for part two.
And of course, if you'relistening to this and you're
(38:53):
like,"Oh my God.
Oh my God.
I know who needs to try this",text this to them right now, and
in fact, they can be your mathfriend.
You texting them this podcastcan be you doing experiment
number one, which is to find amath friend.
So there you go.
There you go.
Thank you guys so much forlistening.
You're the best.
I hope you're having the bestsummer.
I can't wait to hear from you,and I can't wait for us to all
feel more confident around mathand safer in our bodies starting
(39:15):
right now.
math anxiety grows in isolation.
That's actually how anxietyflourishes.
We keep it to ourselves, ourthoughts spiral, we get all in
our heads, and that's how itgrows and takes us over.
But math confidence grows incommunity, because when we have
community, when we have somebodyelse reflecting back to us what
we're doing and what we'rethinking, we see the reality
instead of the tricks anxiety istrying to play on our mind.
(00:28):
Hello, hi, and welcome toanother episode of Math Therapy.
It's me, your host, VanessaVakharia.
I'm staring at a lake.
It is July.
as much as I wanna jump intothat lake that I'm looking at,
and I'm going to as soon as thisis done, I have to record this
episode because yesterday I wason a run and I was like,"Oh my
God, I had a sudden epiphany,and now I need to turn it into
the episode." So, like, I'maware that this sounds like the
(00:49):
ramblings of a crazy person,which it low-key kind of is, but
let me back up and tell youthis.
So as educators, we areconstantly learning.
My teacher friends are, like,the most amazing learners, It's
July, they have the summer off,but I, don't know a single
person who isn't still, like,listening to podcasts or, like,
enrolled in a book study ordoing some casual professional
(01:10):
development or some not casualprofessional development.
A couple of weeks ago, Iactually keynoted the Summer
Learning Institute in Maine, and100 teachers gathered for three
days, like three overnights, tolearn about literacy and
numeracy.
It was actually amazing.
But, like, it's work, right?
Like, they're, they arelearning.
And so many of my teacherfriends are like,"My number one
goal is to feel more confidentin the classroom next
(01:32):
September," you know?
Like,"I've been feeling a bitanxious around math, and I
really wanna feel moreconfident.
I wanna enter the classroom amore confident teacher." And I
feel like the thing we don'ttalk about that often is the
biggest thing standing betweenyou and a more confident
September you isn't, like, newinstructional practices or more
(01:52):
content.
I'm not saying it never is, butI feel like there's a low-key
secret thing that's actuallystanding in the way, and that is
your relationship with math.
And I would even take it onestep further.
Our relationship with math isn'tjust about math.
It's our relationship with doingthings that seem hard or doing
(02:14):
things that we've been told wecan't do or doing things that
feel unsafe.
And for so many of us, educatorsincluded, math is this thing
that has historically made usfeel unsafe.
So we can learn all the contentin the world, and we can develop
all this new pedagogy andinstructional practices and get
all these new strategies and,like, this and that and ways to
start the class and, like, youknow, tasks and blah, blah,
(02:36):
blah, blah, blah.
Those are all great.
But if we feel unsafe, if ournervous systems feel as unsafe
as they always have around math,we're never gonna feel better.
It doesn't mean that we're badteachers.
Doesn't mean that we're notdoing a good job.
But I want you, the listener,you, hello, I want you to feel
good.
I want you to walk intoSeptember and be like,"I got
(02:57):
this.
I fucking got this.
Like, I'm not scared." Becausebeing scared is just a shitty
feeling, and as someone whofeels scared and out of control
a lot, um, I, I'm saying that.
I'm saying that firsthand.
And I say that because you guyshave probably all listened to my
mental breakdown episode abouttaxes.
Well, it's not that I'm comingto you with the same energy
(03:18):
right now, but the energy is notso different.
Because I'm noticing that onceagain, I'm in a spiral around
something that makes me feelunsafe, and that thing for me is
feeling like I, I'm notorganized, feeling like I don't
have organizational systems inplace, and feeling like I don't
understand where to start.
And it is the exact same waythat so many educators and
(03:41):
non-educators feel about math.
"I don't understand it.
I've traditionally never feltgood at it.
It feels like every time I doit, I get it wrong, and ugh,
ick, bleh." Now, let me, let memake this parallel even stronger
right now.
I am an organized person, right?
Like, you guys, you guys knowme.
Like, I mean, I'm not saying I'mthe most organized person, but
(04:01):
I'm obviously organized enough,right?
Like, I run several businesses,I travel all the time, and I
have yet to miss a flight.
I mean, it's Mercury retrograde,so I shouldn't be putting that
out into the ether.
But, like, you know what I mean?
Like, I get shit done.
Like, everything's- I'm livingmy life.
Like, I get it together.
I'm fine.
So I must be organized enough,right?
(04:21):
But it doesn't matter, because Idon't feel organized, right?
So as organized I am, as much asmy...
Like, it's just like you guys,teachers.
You're teaching.
You're doing a great job.
In fact, s- your students areprobably like,"This is the best
math teacher I've ever had." Butyou don't feel confident.
You don't feel like a great mathteacher, and that honestly
matters just as much, if notmore, than the reality.
(04:45):
So I want to get into an episodetoday that is all about how we
are going to get you to feelconfident and safe when you are
teaching math in the fall.
And if you're listening to thisand you're like,"I'm not
teaching math in the fall,"fine.
I want you to feel confident andsafe by the time September rolls
around.
(05:05):
I want you to feel confident andsafe whenever math is present in
your environment.
Now, here's the thing.
Confidence isn't something youhave.
Confidence is something yournervous system learns, and it
learns that through experiencesthat validate the fact that you
are doing the thing that you arescared of doing, and nothing bad
(05:27):
is happening.
It happens through havingexperiences that actually are
safe, and when you completethose experiences or engage in
them, your nervous systemregisters,"Oh, I am safe doing
this thing." And it happensthrough experience because you
have had experiences that haveshowed you the other side.
(05:48):
You've had experiences aroundmath that have shown you,"I'm
not safe doing math.
Bad shit happens when I do math.
I don't feel good when I domath, and I get in trouble when
I do math.
I get yelled at.
I get a bad mark.
Something bad happens.
I get a..." Whatever it is, yournervous system has learned that
it's not safe for you.
So we now need to show itthrough experience that it's not
true anymore, that that is anold story.
(06:09):
And the way we are going to doit is through eight experiments
that show your nervous systemthat it is safe doing math Now,
okay, this was gonna be oneepisode.
I was just gonna do eight thingsin one episode, and then I
realized as I started writingthem out, I was like,"This is
gonna take forever." Like, it'salready been five minutes, and
we're still in the intro of theepisode.
So I'm actually gonna do myfirst, like, two-part, let's
(06:30):
call it a masterclass'cause itsounds great, but, like, a
two-part episode, right?
A two-part mini masterclass onhow you are going to feel more
confident entering the mathclassroom in September.
A two-part mini masterclass ofeight experiments that we are
going to engage in to teach yournervous system that it is safe
to do math, and to, throughsafety, feeling confident around
(06:54):
mathematics.
you don't need to try all ofthem But I want you to find one
thing to try.
So we're about to get into fourthings right now, and then next
week we're gonna do four otherthings.
I want you to find the one thingthat you're like,"Okay, I could,
I could start trying this out.
I could try this out for aweek." Okay?
I want you to do that, and Iwant you to try it.
I also want you to...
I'm sure right now as I'mtalking you're like,"Oh my God,
I know exactly who needs to hearthis episode." Whoever that
(07:16):
person is, text this episode tothem right now.
Get them into the two-part minimasterclass with you.
So for the next two weeks, youguys can listen together, you
can pick a thing to trytogether, and you can engage in
this together, because actually,spoiler alert, my first tip is
going to be about finding aperson to do this with.
Okay?
So we're- I'm jumping aheadhere, but I want you to think of
(07:38):
that person, okay?
I want you to think of thatteacher friend that, like, you,
you know they have so muchpotential to feel good, and
you're just like, ugh, it breaksyour heart every time they,
like, you know, sit with you atlunch or on the weekend or in
your group chat, and they'relike,"Ugh, I feel so shitty, and
I feel like, you know, I don'tfeel confident." And you're
sitting there watching thembeing like,"This person is a
great math teacher, and theyhave the potential to be an even
better math teacher if they justfelt better and they felt more
(08:00):
confident." This episode is forthem.
It's gonna give them actionablethings to try, and you sending
it to them is gonna show them,"Hey, I believe in you.
You have what it takes.
You just need to feel moreconfident, and I believe that
you can do that." So send it tothem.
And you know what?
The eight experiments I'm gonnagive you for your nervous system
have nothing to do withteaching, okay?
Anybody can use these eightthings right now.
(08:22):
And remember, we're only gonnaget into four of them just so,
like, I just wanna preventoverwhelm.
We're gonna get into four thingsyou can try right away.
And you're gonna see this isn'treally about math, right?
I- like, it is about math, ofcourse, but the cool thing that
happens, uh, be- because here's,here's what I'm thinking.
If you're listening to this andyou're like,"I don't feel weird
about math," like,"I feel greatabout math.
I've never been anxious aboutmath," the reason I love
(08:43):
choosing math as a gateway hereis because so many people have
anxiety around math, right?
We know that by the age of 6,50% of kids already have anxiety
around math.
Reports show that 75 to 90% ofNorth Americans have anxiety
around math.
That is crazy, right?
That- that's a lot.
Because so many people feel likemath is this thing that is hard,
(09:05):
that they can't get over, thatmakes them feel unsafe, it is
the perfect gateway Right?
Once we can start feeling moreconfident around math, all of a
sudden it opens up the door tofeeling more confident about
other things.
If we can tackle this thing thathas always felt scary to us,
what else can we do, right?
So you'll see, like, it isn'tabout being like,"Oh my God, I'm
(09:25):
gonna feel better about math, sonow I can, like, enroll in
calculus and become anengineer." No, I want everybody
listening to feel a little bitbetter about their relationship
with math, to feel a little bitsafer, to feel a little more
confident, so then they can goafter the thing they really want
that they have been scared offor years and years and years,
right?
This is just, like, a steppingstone.
Okay, so we're gonna get intoit, but before we do, guess
(09:48):
what, guys?
This episode is sponsored byTexas Instruments, which means
we're doing another giveaway.
Now, I only have one moregiveaway left.
It's happening in August.
If you guys remember, TexasInstruments has given us the,
the, uh, go-ahead to do agiveaway for the new Texas
Instruments Evo calculator, andan entire gift box that goes
(10:08):
along with that, and I've doneone a month since May.
So there's only two left, thisone right now, and then one in
August.
So I- if you guys a- are, like,on, on the TI Instagram, you'll
know that people are goinginsane for this calculator.
I actually presented at CAMT inTexas last week.
It was crazy.
They had this, like, thingwhere, like, 500 people could,
(10:31):
well, you know, could get entryinto, like, this TI party, and
they'd get a gift bag.
Now, no one knew what was in thegift bag, okay?
But I walked through the hallduring the lineup for this
party.
It was like a Taylor Swiftconcert.
There were 500 screaming fans inline, so excited to get in, so
excited for the chance to just,like, party and rage with Texas
Instruments, and it turned outthat all 500 of them got a new
(10:55):
Evo and the cute littlecalculator plushie that comes in
the gift box I'm giving awaythat everyone's obsessed with.
Okay.
So there are so many reasons tobe obsessed with this
calculator.
My newest obsession, okay, I,that I discovered last week.
The points of interest tracefunction.
Let me explain this to you,okay?
So if you've used a graphingcalculator, and even if you
haven't, I want you to pictureyou've got a graph on your
(11:15):
screen, okay?
On their beautiful, shiny,lovely screen, there is a graph.
You can literally trace acrossthat graph, okay?
Trace across the function, andthe calculator will dynamically
highlight key graph featureslike the zeros, the minimums and
the maximums, the Y intercepts,the intersections.
No second function nonsense.
Like, you can just trace, andit'll highlight that all for
you.
So that is amazing, and also,like, it comes in the cutest
(11:37):
colors like berry pink and,like, teal and lavender and
silver.
Like, it's just, the whole thingis stunning.
Okay, so here's how you're gonnawin this calculator.
At some point during thisepisode, I'm gonna share a code
with you, and to enter thegiveaway all you have to do is
text the podcast.
Go to your show notes, click theText Us button, the link,
(11:58):
whatever, and text us the codeword and you will automatically
be entered.
I'll pick a winner next week,and just like that, the TI is
yours.
Okay.
This is a long introduction, butI feel like I've said some very
useful stuff in theintroduction.
So whatever.
It is what it is.
Here we go Part one of atwo-part mini masterclass on how
(12:18):
to feel more confident aboutmath in September by engaging in
eight little experiments thatare going to help your brain
feel safer around math.
We're gonna do four this week,starting with number one, which
is find one math friend.
Now, here's the thing.
There's a whole myth out therethat, like, confident
mathematicians don't need help.
Like, it's a solo sport.
(12:39):
Like, they don't need to ask forhelp during questions.
And in fact, I actually thinkthis is why we have been so
adverse to collaboration in mathclass for so long.
Like, we've really treated mathclass like it's this thing
you're supposed to be able to doon your own.
You asking for help is cheating.
Okay.
This is such bullshit because Iwant you guys to think about the
real world.
I want you to think about whatscientists and mathematicians
(13:01):
have been doing for years, forcenturies.
They have been working with oneanother.
That's what they do.
Any good scientist, they,they're not discovering things
on their own.
They're collaborating, they'reexchanging experiments, they're,
like, doing trials.
They're being like,"Ooh, whatworked for you?
What, like, should I do here?"Like, la, la, la, la, la.
Like, that is how innovationactually happens, and
(13:23):
problem-solving is all aboutcreativity and collaboration.
So that's number one, okay?
We've gotta get rid of this solosport thing.
So I want you out there, ifyou're thinking,"Well, yeah, I
can do math sometimes, andsometimes I get this right, but
I always have to ask someone,"great.
Guess what you're doing when youask someone?
You're acting like amathematician.
If you've been listening to thispodcast for a while, like if
(13:44):
this is not your first episodeever, if this is your first
episode, welcome to the pod, andlike, I know this episode sounds
very unhinged, but I'm notalways this unhinged, and I also
am always this unhinged.
Okay.
Anyways, if you've beenlistening for a while, you will
know that all of our guests areconstantly talking about the
people they love.
They are referencing those thatinspired them to get into field.
(14:06):
They're talking about how otherpeople's works have been a
jumping-off point for theirwork.
Like, we are all workingtogether.
So I want you to know themathiest people you know, like
if you're like,"Oh my God, butthis person's so good at math,"
they, they are standing on theshoulders of greats.
You know?
Someone inspired them.
They used their work.
They're still asking for help.
They're still collaborating withtheir friends.
And I want you to find one mathfriend to collaborate with you
(14:28):
starting right now on yourjourney.
This doesn't mean that you andyour friend have to do math
together every day.
It's that friend that you aregoing to text when you're like,
"Ugh, I'm really, reallystressed.
I can't figure this thing out,"or,"Ugh, I'm so frustrated.
I tried to do this thing and Ifailed.
Can you help me not feel likeshit about myself?" It's your
pep-talking friend.
This friend doesn't need to haveto do anything with math.
(14:50):
Maybe they hate math And if theydo hate math, they, they should
actually engage in this entireprogram with you.
That would even be better.
It's the friend that you'regonna text for that pick-me-up.
It's the teacher friend thatwhen a lesson flops, you message
them to be like,"This thingtotally flopped," and they help
you see the other side.
They help you see what theylearned, okay?
That is gonna be step numberone.
You need someone to engage onthis journey with.
(15:11):
They don't have to do thejourney with you, but they have
to be the person that you'regonna text when you feel like,
ugh, this isn't working the wayI thought.
Because guess what, guys?
You're embarking on a journey,an experimenting journey, which
means what happens when we doexperiments?
They flop a lot of the time,right?
They don't turn out the way weexpect.
That is a whole part, thingabout, like, experimenting.
You've gotta be ready for that,right?
(15:31):
And when you're ready for that,you are gonna be good to go.
Because when you fail, when youencounter an obstacle, which you
will, you'll have that person totext for a little pep talk,
okay?
So think about that one personwho's gonna be your go-to
texter.
Maybe you're even gonna messagethem and be like,"Hey, I don't
know, I'm doing this weird,like, experiment, this mini
masterclass with, like, maththerapy.
It might be nothing, but I mightneed to text you one- once in a
(15:53):
while for a pep talk." You know?
Tell them that right now so theyare ready and they're on board.
I want you to remember mathanxiety grows in isolation.
That's actually how anxietyflourishes.
We keep it to ourselves, ourthoughts spiral, we get all in
our heads, and that's how itgrows and takes us over.
But math confidence grows incommunity, because when we have
(16:14):
community, when we have somebodyelse reflecting back to us what
we're doing and what we'rethinking, we see the reality
instead of the tricks anxiety istrying to play on our mind.
Okay.
Number two, experiment andexperience number two is you are
going to replace proving withimproving.
How often are we secretly tryingto prove that we're good enough,
(16:34):
right?
Especially I feel like ineducation, we are constantly
feeling like we're beingevaluated by our students, by
their parents, by the leaders,by the admin, like by the
whatever, the, the data.
Like, you know what I mean?
Like, it's always like thisfeeling like we've gotta like
show that we are mastering whatwe're doing.
Well, here's the thing What arewe asking our students to do?
We want our students to belearning and growing and
(16:56):
progressing.
We don't want them to beperfect, yet we hold ourselves
to a completely differentstandard, right?
Like, I think a lot of us think,I don't know about you guys, but
I always think when I tellsomeone that I do math or I'm a
math teacher, immediatelysomething in my mind goes,"Okay,
Vanessa, you just told them youare a math teacher.
You now have to get every singlemathematical thing ever perfect
(17:18):
in front of this person," right?
You cannot make a wrongcalculation error.
You can't hesitate.
You can't say,"I don't know."Like, you better be ready to
calculate, to crunch numbers,and to just get it right every
single time, to have everysingle answer.
It's crazy.
Like, I do this work, and Istill feel that way, and I think
it's because, again, I, I...
We could dig so deep into this.
We have this idea that if you'regood at math, you're supposed to
(17:40):
be this, like, genius that's,like, infallible.
And I actually think aboutmusic, you know?
Like, I think...
I, I'm actually wondering thisout loud.
I'm like, if I tell someone I'ma musician, which, like, I am,
I'm a musician, there haveactually been times when people
have done things to challengethat.
I remember our band wasauditioning this drummer once.
Like, we were trying to find anew drummer for the band, and
(18:02):
this guy we were auditioningsaid, he named some band.
He was like,"Oh, blah, blah,blah, I'm really inspired by
whoever." And I was like,"Oh, Idon't know who that is." And he
literally said to me,"You're asinger in a rock band, and you
don't know who blah, blah, blahis?
Like, that should be illegal."And I was like,"Okay, well,
first of all, fuck you.
I'm never hiring you.
It's my band, and you are notgonna be my drummer." But I also
(18:24):
was like, even though I knew itwas bullshit, I was sort of
like,"Oh, like, that's the,that's his standard?" Right?
Is, is that a thing?
Like, if you're a musician, youshould know every single band?
Like, if you're a musician,should you know every single
note?
And it's taken me a while, butI'm very comfortable now with
being like,"Yeah, I'm amusician, and these are the
things I do." Like, I play akeytar, and, like, I can shred a
(18:44):
solo for you, but, like, I don'tknow anything about music
theory.
Like, I think about David,actually, who is one of the best
guitarists I know.
He knows nothing about musictheory.
It doesn't matter.
He's an incredible guitarist,right?
No one would ever debate that.
And I think we've got to carrythat over into math class is,
like, you can be, uh, uh, likesomebody who does math.
(19:05):
You can be good at math.
You can teach math.
You can be a math learner.
You can be a math doer.
You can be a math thinker, andit doesn't suddenly mean you
need to, like, expertly know howto do every single mathematical
thing in the world.
That doesn't even make sense.
There's so much math, right?
So, like, I think this is thething, the idea of replacing
proving with improving.
Instead of being like,"Oh myGod, I need to be 100% at
(19:26):
everything I do," I want you toask this question Okay?
Every single day starting now, Iwant you to ask this question
about anything.
It can be about math, it can beabout math, but remember, these
are eight experiments to getyour nervous system feeling
safer around doing math, AKAaround doing something that you
(19:47):
think is hard, that you don'tfeel confident about right now.
And that doesn't always meandoing math.
It means setting the stage inyour nervous system and mind to
feel better around hard thingsthat make you anxious.
So here's the question you'regonna ask every single day this
week.
What's one thing I couldunderstand 1% better today?
(20:08):
It can be anything.
Maybe I wanna know how AIactually works.
Maybe I wanna understand whydoes my oat milk curdle in
coffee sometimes, but not allthe times.
Like, is it the, is it atemperature?
Is it the type of oat milk?
Like, I don't get it.
How your car works, how GPSactually works, how the thing on
Waze will say, like,"There's apolice person here." Are they
still there?
(20:29):
Like, who has to input that infor that to show up?
Maybe you're trying tounderstand why your hair is
frizzy sometimes.
Like, Maybe you are trying tounderstand why flipping and
multiplying works withfractions.
Maybe it is a math thing you'retrying to understand.
I don't care what it is you'retrying to understand, but I want
you to try to understandsomething.
No, I want you to understandsomething 1% better.
(20:49):
I want you to- don't want you tounderstand the entire thing.
So for example, if I'm like,"Iwanna figure out why my oat milk
is curdling," I might do apreliminary search.
I might ask a barista, and I'mgonna take one piece of
information, and that is gonnamake me 1% smarter about that
thing.
Okay, this is not a mathematicalcalculation, okay?
But, like, the point is, I don'twant you being like,"I am going
to fully research all the insand outs of oat milk and exactly
(21:12):
how curdling works." And, like,a 10 hours later, you have,
like, a 20-page report.
No.
No.
I don't want you to do that.
Why?
Number one, it's overwhelming,and we're not trying to
overwhelm you.
We're trying to show yournervous system it can learn new
things incrementally in a smalland stress-free way.
Okay?
We're trying to show you,"Ididn't understand something, and
(21:34):
now I still don't fullyunderstand it, but I understand
it a little bit more." You'retrying to show your nervous
system it can grow and change.
You're trying to show yournervous system that as your
brain grows and changes, itdoesn't have to be scary.
Do you see what I mean?
So, like, how does GPS work?
That's, that is giving meanxiety even thinking of trying
to learn that.
Maybe I can figure out onequestion.
One question.
(21:55):
Maybe I can go onto Google andbe like,"How does GPS know where
I am right now?" And if I wasreally being smart about it, I'd
be like,"Can you explain to me,like I'm a six-year-old, how
when I open my phone, GPSlocates me in this exact spot?
What is it doing?" Like, I don'tknow, whatever.
Like, do you know what I mean?
Like, what is something thatyou're interested in learning
(22:16):
about that every day you're justlike,"I don't really know.
I don't really care." Right?
Or you're like,"I don't reallyknow and it stresses me out."
You guys know from that episodeI did around taxes right?
You guys know what happened tome.
I had such a meltdown becauseevery day for my entire life I
have not understood how taxeswork.
Really.
Honestly.
And finally, I called anaccountant and asked a few
(22:37):
questions, and it took thetemperature down so much.
I have 10 billion morequestions.
I don't really...
I don't know a lot of things.
But in him explaining a fewthings to me, number one, it
showed me I am capable ofunderstanding things related to
taxes.
Number two, it made me realize,oh, him answering these three
questions make, like, 30 of myother questions null and void.
(23:00):
I don't even have to ask them.
They don't actually reallymatter now that I understand
these three questions.
And three or four, whatevernumber I'm on It signaled to me,
oh, I understand a little morenow.
I'm less confused.
I'm less stressed out becauseI'm less confused.
You know, this kinda reminds meof my episode with Cathy
Marks-Kirpan last week, how shewas talking about how the reason
(23:23):
plane travel and things goingwrong on planes feel so
stressful to her is because ofjust not knowing what's going
on, right?
Like, you're sitting there,you're on the plane, and you're
like...
They're like,"Mechanical issues.
Like, you're just gonna sit herefor some indeterminate amount of
time." And you're like,"I haveno fucking clue what's going
on." Like, what is the technicalissue?
Is it the wing falling off or isit the air conditioning?
Like, what's an indeterminateamount of time?
(23:45):
Could you keep us here for 10hours?
And if like a flight attendantwas just like,"Just FYI, we
can't tell you that much, butjust so you know, the mechanical
issue is just a superficial one.
It's not related to the safetyof the plane.
And regarding timing, we don'tknow how long you'll be here,
but it won't be longer than twohours." You'd be like,"Okay, I
don't know everything, but Iknow 1% more and I feel a lot
better." So number one, itreally turns the temperature
(24:06):
down.
But the key thing about learningthat little 1% is it shows you
you have the ability to learnsomething you did not know.
You wanna give yourself that ahamoment every single day to train
your body, to train your mind toknow I'm getting this aha
moment.
I can get it with math.
And I would start by doing itwith things that feel really
comfortable and not scary.
(24:27):
Like for me, the scariest thingwould be like, all right, I'm
gonna learn 1% about likesomething legal or tax related.
Like, ugh, that's, that's toohigh stakes for me.
That's too stressful.
That's like, you know, someonelistening being like,"I'm gonna
learn 1% more about math." Ifthat's such a trigger, don't
start with math, right?
Start with something else.
Like, start with something youwant to understand.
(24:48):
Maybe you wanna understand,like, why it is that, you know,
some people can dye their hairblonde and others like me can't
because it just starts fallingoff.
Like, I don't know.
I don't know.
I really don't know what youwanna understand.
Start with something low stakes,but every day make sure you're
learning 1% more aboutsomething.
And when you're ready for it,add onto that.
(25:08):
So maybe we're g- let's go backto the oat milk.
One, one little fun fact aboutwhy oat milk curdles, and maybe
tomorrow I'm like,"Okay, Iunderstand that.
I'm gonna, I'm, I'm gonna askfurther." Like, are there
different types of oat milkthat, like, curdle differently?
Then maybe I'm gonna ask thenext day, what about the acidity
of the base that I put the oatmilk in?
Why am I obsessed with this?
I don't know.
But the point is now I'mbuilding on that knowledge,
(25:30):
right?
The goal is for me to learn allabout this thing, but to know
that my goal is never to learn100% of the thing.
That is so overwhelming.
So okay, that's what you'redoing this week, okay?
You are gonna learn 1%.
This is your question (25:43):
What's one thing I could understand 1%
better today?
And I want you to start that assoon as this podcast is over.
What is something you're gonnalearn today?
What is something you're gonnaunderstand 1% better?
And when you're ready, and thisdoes not have to be this week,
maybe it's next week during ourpart two, you are going to ask
yourself about somethingmathematical.
(26:04):
What is something about thisconcept I could understand 1%
better?
But you don't have to do thatyet.
Okay.
Now, it has been a lot.
Oh my God, can you believe I wasgonna try to do eight
experiments/experiences in thisone episode?
We're only at number two andit's already been over 25
minutes.
Okay, don't worry.
I'm gonna be, I'm gonna, I'mgonna wrap things up a little
bit quicker with the next two.
(26:25):
But before I do, it is time forthe Texas Instruments code word,
which is a code sentence, andthat sentence is,"Math is hot."
Go to the app that you'relistening to this podcast to,
click the Text Us link in yourshow notes, and text us the
sentence,"Math is hot," andyou'll automatically be entered
to win the new Texas Instruments84 Evo.
(26:45):
Okay.
So we had experiment number one,which is finding one math
friend.
You're gonna find a math friendthat you are gonna text when
things get rough.
Number two, you're gonna replaceproving with improving.
Okay, you're gonna replace theidea of proving that you're
right to just improving on yourknowledge every single day.
And number three is that you aregonna build an evidence folder.
(27:07):
Now, let me explain this to you.
Our brains are, are wired with anegativity bias, okay?
And that is a protectivemechanism.
I talk about this on the podcasta lot, but as a reminder, our
negativity bias wants toremember the bad shit that has
happened to us.
It is trying to protect us.
It is on the lookout.
It's like,"Ugh, remember thistime though when you did math
(27:29):
and, like, you felt so ashamed,and you shut down, and you
couldn't even, like, breathe,and you couldn't see straight,
and it just sucked, and youcouldn't understand no matter
how much your teacher explainedit to you?
Remember that time?
That could happen again.
Danger.
Danger.
Danger.
Danger." That's what it's doing,okay?
Now, maybe since that timeyou've had, like, 30 great math
experiences.
(27:49):
You understood something.
You taught a lesson.
You taught a ton of lessons.
Everything was fine.
Doesn't matter.
Your brain is still like,"Yeah,but that one time, that one time
could happen again." Because itsentire job is to protect us from
bad shit, which is so nice,right?
Like, so nice of it to, like, beon the lookout for us.
What a great friend.
Like, that's so nice.
We appreciate it.
However, it is really crampingour style at this point because
(28:13):
it is preventing us from doingthe thing we need to do to feel
more confident around math,which is we need to engage in
more mathematical experiences,and we don't want to because
we're scared of this bad shithappening to us.
So here's what we have to do.
We have to build an evidencefolder to show this negativity
bias.
We have to literally be like,"Iget that you're hung up on that
(28:33):
one time, or these few times, orall of grade four, whatever.
I get that you're hung up on it,but look at all the evidence I
have that when I do math andwhen I'm around math, it's
actually a good vibe." We can'tjust experience math in a
positive way.
We have to experience math in apositive way, gather that
(28:54):
evidence, and hold it up to ournegativity bias and be like,
"Hello.
Check it out.
I've got the receipts, babe.
Like, they're all right here."We have to make it so salient to
our brain that we arecounteracting the negativity
bias with all of the positivereceipts Now, remember at the
beginning of this episode I waslike,"It's not like I'm having
(29:15):
another mental breakdown, but,like, I low-key am"?
Here's why.
We, I, I now know what's goingon.
This is exactly like my lastepisode.
I get v- I get really worked uparound feeling disorganized.
I am constantly feeling likethere are better systems, there
are better ways of doing things,I'm so behind, I'm being
inefficient.
It, it's my trigger.
It's just my thing, okay?
And every time it comes up, Istart spiraling.
(29:37):
All I'm thinking about arespreadsheets and apps that I've
never even used, but that I'mconvinced must be better than
what I'm doing now.
I'm like,"I must have somebetter system." Like,"Oh my God,
I almost missed this thing.
Like, my spreadsheet isn'tcomplete.
I didn't fill out this thing.
Like, my website is missingthe..." Like, I start focusing
on all the things I have notdone, I'm not doing, I could and
should be doing.
(29:58):
This morning in my journal, Iwrote down that one of my goals
for today was to collectreceipts for my negativity bias
of all the ways I am organized.
It is so hard to do, guys.
It's so hard to do, but that'swhy I'm on here telling you to
do it.
We are both doing it.
I am your math friend now.
We are now doing step onetogether.
Like, we are accountable to oneanother.
I am trying to s- to rewire, toshow my negativity bias,"But
(30:20):
babe, we are organized.
Like, sure, there's all thesethings we could be doing, but
look at all the things we aredoing.
I'm sitting here recording apodcast episode at the exact
date that it's due.
I'm not even late.
I'm recording it right now.
I have answered all of theemails in my inbox that are
urgent.
Like, those are done." But ofcourse, my negativity bias is
like,"But all the other onessitting in there, you could be
(30:43):
answering those, too." And nowI'm like,"I know I could be, but
I've answered all the ones Ihave to." Right?
Like, this is collecting thereceipts.
This is collecting evidence.
And honestly, me saying it outloud to you is solidifying it
more.
But if, if you, if I was you, ifyou were me, whatever, I mean,
you could start your ownpodcast, but I need you to write
them down.
I need you to write them down.
I need you to take pictures.
(31:03):
I need you to create an evidencefolder.
And what are you findingevidence of?
You are finding evidence thatyou are capable of learning new
things and doing hard things,okay?
Learning new things, doing hardthings.
Again, they can be related tomath if you want them to be.
To me, that is the next stepthat we don't even have to start
(31:24):
till next week.
We don't even have to bring mathinto it.
But hey, babe, if you wannastart with some mathy things
that you have learned Or thatyou have done, please put those
in the evidence folder.
The whole point of the evidencefolder is to show the negativity
bias,"Hey, when you do math,it's not always bad.
Hey, when you learn new things,it's not always bad.
(31:46):
Hey, when you do hard things,it's not always bad.
In fact, it's often great."Okay?
So I need you to gather thatevidence because the more you
can show your negativity bias,"Hey, I know you're scared, I
know bad things can happen, butlook at all the great things
that have happened as a resultof me learning new things, doing
hard things, and doing math,"the less scared you are and the
(32:08):
more your nervous systemregisters,"It's safe to do math.
It's safe to do hard things.
It's safe to do things I don'tknow how to do." So I want you
to collect moments, small winsover things you found
frustrating, understandingsomething that felt tricky.
Like, it doesn't have to be mathrelated, as I said, but it has
to be related to the fact thatyou are learning new things or
doing hard things because we areflexing the same muscle as when
(32:31):
you tackle the thing that feelsscary to you, which for many of
you listening is math, right?
So the more we can flex thatmuscle, the more we can
strengthen it, the more we canjust show the nervous system it
is safe to engage in this typeof activity, the more confident
you're gonna feel in the fall,but also the more confident
you're gonna feel to try moremath throughout the rest of the
summer.
(32:51):
Remember, confidence is notpositive thinking.
It's not like s- looking in themirror and being like,"I can do
hard things." Like,"I'm notscared.
Math doesn't scare me." I lovemath-firmations.
I love them, but that's notwhere confidence comes from.
Confidence isn't positivethinking.
Confidence is rememberedevidence.
(33:12):
It really is.
It's embodied evidence thatcomes from experience.
Okay, and finally, forexperiment/experience number
four, you are...
Okay, you just finishedcollecting your evidence.
You're gonna be collectingevidence every single day.
Now you are gonna collect mathmoments, and this is the only,
like, fully mathy one that weare gonna do this week.
(33:33):
Here's what you're gonna do.
You're collecting evidence thatyou can do hard things, you can
learn new things, you can growand change, you can have aha
moments, like, whatever.
Now, what you're gonna do is youare going to show your, not just
your negativity bias, okay?
But you're gonna actually showyour reticular activating
system.
Don't worry, big word, we'll getinto it in a second.
You're gonna show it that youhave been around and engaging
(33:57):
with math every single day, andit's actually been a great time.
Now, our reticular activatingsystem/RAS is this thing in our
brain that, like, it's kind oflike our algorithm in our
phones.
It catches on to the fact thatwe're interested in something,
and it shows it to us.
So for example, you guys know Ilove 222.
It's my angel number.
I see 222 literally everywhere.
(34:18):
It's not because 222 is, like,popping up more than normal for
me.
It's because I'm seeing it morethan other people.
Like, you and I could go throughthe exact same day in the same
place with the same clocks andtechnology around us, and I'm
gonna see 222 more than youbecause my brain, my reticular
activating system, is on highalert to point it out when it
(34:38):
happens.
It doesn't mean you're not gonnasee it, but you're not gonna
register it or care, right?
Our reticular activating systemworks for us.
It works for us.
It's like a work bitchsituation, right?
Like, we're like,"I wanna seethis.
Show me this." Now, normally wedo this subconsciously, but we
are gonna do it consciously.
We are gonna say to it,"I wantyou to show me all the math I am
doing and all the math aroundme, starting right now.
(35:01):
You are literally gonna become amath detective.
Okay?
You and your RAS are gonna belike cute little PIs, and you're
gonna be like,"All right, we'reon the hunt." As you're walking
around the day, I want you tonotice things.
You pay for your coffee, younotice the temperature of that
warm beverage.
You're in the park and you seethe symmetry of the flowers.
You hear music at a grocerystore and you're like,"This
(35:23):
really is off tempo for the factthat I'm shopping for tomato
sauce right now.
I just don't feel like thesethings are vibing.
The rhythm is really off."You're gonna notice architecture
around you.
You're gonna notice howbuildings are designed.
Maybe you're on a trip andyou're like,"Oh my God, wow, it
looks so different here.
What's making it lookdifferent?" Maybe it's the
angles of the houses.
Maybe it's the way that thingsare constructed and built.
(35:44):
You are going to be watchingsports, and you're gonna notice
moves that people are gonnamaking.
You're gonna be talking aboutthe score, and all th- You're
already doing these things.
You're already doing thesethings, but I want you and your
RAS to work together to say,"Ding, ding, ding, math alert."
Okay?
Just like that.
"Ding, ding, ding, math alert"every single time.
You go to a yoga class, you'renoticing that that teacher is
(36:06):
sequencing things so perfectly.
You're realizing that you canfollow the pattern
subconsciously because, oh myGod, wow, I'm in tune with this
pattern and sequence withouteven meaning to.
How mathematical of me.
Ding, ding, ding, math alert.
Right?
Like, I want you to like, you'reon a beach and you're looking at
the waves, and the pattern ofthe waves, and the tide, and
whatever.
(36:26):
I want you to, you're collectingmath moments, and you're ding,
ding, dinging math alert all theway home.
Okay?
So for the next week, that'swhat you're doing.
Again, write these down.
What you're doing here, thisisn't just like,"Oh, cool, yeah,
I'm doing math," and then inyour mind you're like,"But this
isn't actually scary math."That's not the point of this.
The point of this, again, is toshow your nervous system math is
around me, I'm doing math, I'mnoticing math, I'm wondering
(36:49):
about math, I'm engaging inmath, and nothing bad is
happening.
That is the entire point ofthese four things that we've
done together today.
Okay?
Right?
The point of these four thingsis not to suddenly make you a
fractions expert.
The point is to show yournervous system when math is
around me, when I engage inmath, when I try new things that
are hard, when I approach thingsthat I'm anxious about, nothing
bad happens.
I am safe.
(37:11):
And when you're safe, you have agateway to confidence.
You cannot feel confident whenyou are in fear.
We are just trying to get you tofeel safe so that next week in
part two of this mini masterclass, this mini Math Therapy
master class.
Oh my God, why wasn't I sayingthat from the beginning?
Next week in our part two of ourmini Math Therapy master class
series...
(37:31):
okay, whatever.
I'll workshop that.
We will start getting into fourother experiments and
experiences you can engage in tohelp you feel even safer and
more confident when you headinto the math classroom in the
fall.
Okay.
Oh my God, that was long.
That was really long.
Okay, are we ready?
So let's wrap up.
So we have four things for youto try doing.
Let's go over them.
(37:52):
Number one is find one mathfriend or just that friend,
right?
Like, we're calling this persona math friend, but it's that
person you can text in a pinchwhen you're feeling like,"Ugh,
this feels frustrating," or itfeels hard, or,"I don't know if
I can carry on." Number two, youare gonna replace the word
proving with improving by askingyourself,"What's one thing I
could understand 1% bettertoday?" Number three, you are
(38:12):
gonna build an evidence folder.
Evidence that you can learn newthings and do hard things, okay?
I want you to fill that evidencefolder.
And number four, you're gonnastart collecting math moments.
You and your RAS are gonna beding, ding, ding, math alerting
your way through the week.
Okay?
So now, you are going to tell mewhich one you're gonna do.
Reminder about the giveaway, bythe way, right?
(38:32):
I said the code word after thesecond tip, so you can text the
code word/code sentence to us byhitting the link in your show
notes that says Text Us.
While you're at it, tell me theone thing you're gonna try this
week.
Out of these four, tell me theone thing you're gonna try this
week.
And remember to tune in nextweek for part two.
And of course, if you'relistening to this and you're
(38:53):
like,"Oh my God.
Oh my God.
I know who needs to try this",text this to them right now, and
in fact, they can be your mathfriend.
You texting them this podcastcan be you doing experiment
number one, which is to find amath friend.
So there you go.
There you go.
Thank you guys so much forlistening.
You're the best.
I hope you're having the bestsummer.
I can't wait to hear from you,and I can't wait for us to all
feel more confident around mathand safer in our bodies starting
(39:15):
right now.
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