July 23, 2026 • 29 mins
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Today we bring you part 2 in Vanessa's two part Math Therapy Masterclass on how to start the coming school year with renewed confidence - for yourself and for your students!
In part 1 she shared 4 exercises/experiences you can try this summer (check it out here ICYMI), and she's back with 4 more:
5) practice being bad at something
6) find a mindset/psychology book/podcast (suggestions below)
7) try Duolingo Math
8) face your math trauma as a grown up
Let us know if you tried any of these and what happened!
Books/podcasts mentioned:
- Mel Robbins Podcast
- Let Them Theory by Mel Robbins
- The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle
- The Four Agreements by Miguel Ruiz
- Atomic Habits by James Clear
- How Minds Change by David McRaney
- Mindset by Carol Dweck
- Daring Greatly by Brené Brown
Contact us:
- Vanessa Vakharia: Instagram, TikTok, Email
- Math Therapy: Text the Podcast
More Math Therapy:
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Vanessa Vakharia (00:03):
Hello, it's me.
Welcome back to another episodeof Math Therapy, and this is the
first time I've done, like, atwo-part series.
So I guess, welcome to part twoof our two-part Math Therapy
mini masterclass series.
Now, if you're like,"Oh God,part two?
I haven't listened to part one,"don't worry, don't panic.
Just go listen to part one.
(00:24):
Honestly, it'll make more senseif you go listen to part one.
But if you're like,"I refuse, Ionly wanna listen to the newest
episode," then fine, let me tellyou what's going on.
So what we're doing right now iswe are doing a two-part Math
Therapy mini masterclass serieson how to feel more confident
when you step into the classroomin the fall, okay?
(00:44):
And for those of us who are notteachers, who are not stepping
into any classroom, okay, justhow to feel more confident about
math by the time September rollsaround.
Literally, that you're gonnafeel more confident about math.
You're gonna feel more confidentdoing math.
You're gonna feel more confidentwhen math is present.
Even if you don't, like,officially do math in a
classroom setting, you're gonnafeel more confident when math is
(01:06):
around you.
Why?
Because we are engaging in eighttiny experiences and experiments
to help your brain and body feelmore safe around math.
We are retraining the nervoussystem.
So to recap, last week we didhalf of the eight experiments,
okay?
So we went through four of them,and those four were, number one,
finding a math friend, okay?
(01:26):
Or, like, an accountabilitypartner, someone who can just
hype you up when you're feelingdown.
Number two was replacing theword proving with improving.
So just asking yourself daily,What is one thing I could
understand 1% better today?
Number three was to build anevidence folder and start
collecting evidence, evidence,evidence, evidence of every
(01:47):
single time you learn somethingnew or do something hard.
Okay?
You are showing your brain andbody and your negativity bias,
"Hi, I can do hard things.
I can do new things, and I stillfeel safe, and I still feel
great." And number four was tostart collecting math moments,
right?
To start noticing all the matharound you that you're engaging
in, that you're observing, thatyou're noticing to again show
your nervous system,"Hey, mathis around.
(02:09):
I'm vibing.
I'm fine.
I'm safe." And now we are goingto get into the back half of the
four.
So four more tiny experiencesand experiments we can engage in
between now and the fall so thatwe can feel more confident
around math because we feelsafer around math.
Now remember, it's never toolate to start, so you can start
(02:31):
right now, and you don't have todo all eight.
I would love for you to listenwith the vibe of what's one
thing here that feels likesomething easy I can do.
It needs to be easy.
It needs to be quick.
It needs to be fun.
It needs to be low stakes, and Ijust want you to remember,
consistency trumps quantity,right?
Just small, consistent action.
That's why I'm giving you guyseight tiny experiments and
(02:53):
experiences.
These things should take liketwo to five minutes daily max,
okay?
Because that is going to startgetting into your brain, into
your body, into your nervoussystem.
We are rewiring.
We are reaffirming.
We are redoing.
We are rewriting our storyphysically, mentally,
emotionally, spiritually aroundwhat it means to be somebody who
(03:14):
does math.
Okay, here we go.
So we are going to start withtip number one for today, but
tip number five overall, whichis, this is my favorite one, to
be honest, so we are startingoff strong.
Practice being bad at something.
You heard me.
If you are listening to this,actually, if you are listening
and you are like,"Yeah, I'mlistening because I'm hoping to
(03:37):
get some advice for my friendsbecause I don't really
understand this whole mathanxiety thing.
I've never felt a- anxiousaround math," and especially if
you're a teacher listening tothis, this experiment is for
you.
I want you to get in the shoesof your students and your
colleagues and the people aroundyou in day-to-day life who are
afraid of math, and I want youto practice being bad at
something.
(03:57):
There's a whole saying in yoga,you know, in the practice, and
when we talk about yoga andmeditation, one of the biggest
concepts that we need to lockdown from day one is the idea of
beginner's mind.
Beginner's mind.
What does it mean to be startingsomething new, to be learning
something for the first time, tonot be an expert at that thing?
(04:18):
When we get in the seat ofbeginner's mind, it actually is
quite a relief.
Gone are the expectations thatwe have to know everything, but
with that relief also comes thatreflex anxiety of,"I have no
fucking idea what I'm doing."But the beautiful thing about
beginner's mind is we are towelcome that feeling, to say,"I
don't expect myself to knowanything about this, to be,
(04:39):
quote, unquote, good at it.
I just expect myself to sit downand do it like a beginner would,
and to see what comes up." Now,beginner's mind for you, the
listener, means that you need topractice being bad at something.
That means go do something thatyou don't feel good at, that
maybe you've never tried before,certainly not that you have
(05:00):
mastered, because it allows youto understand how your students
are feeling about math.
Maybe you don't feel that wayabout math, but maybe you feel
that way about playing guitar,or playing an instrument, or
singing, or playing a sport, orlearning how to tap dance, or
chess, or learning a language,or juggling, or pickleball.
Whatever I'm saying right nowthat is triggering you to be
(05:22):
like,"Oh God, I would suck atthat," or,"I've never been good
at that," ding, ding, ding.
Why am I saying ding, ding, dingso much?
I did it last episode, too.
Anyways, that's your thing.
There, I found it for you.
That's your thing Whatever thething is that you're alwa- you
know how everyone's like,"I'mnot a math person," and you're
like,"Everyone's a math person"?
I know low-key you're saying,"I'm not a blank person." I
don't know what it is, but Iknow you're saying it.
(05:43):
"I'm not an artist.
I'm not a creative person.
I'm not good with maps." Idon't, I don't know.
I don't know what you're saying.
But whatever that thing is, thatis the thing you are going to
start practicing.
How are you gonna practice it?
Well, I'm not sure.
You're gonna just do something,five minutes of that thing.
If it's a guitar, you are goingto pick up a guitar and start
(06:04):
strumming, or you're gonna goonto YouTube and click Guitar
Lessons for Absolute Beginners,and you are just gonna start
practicing.
If it's chess, you're gonnawatch a tutorial and play.
You're gonna call your friendthat plays chess, and you're
gonna say,"Can you come over andplay a game with me?" If it's a
language, well, there are appsfor that.
If it is knitting, go buy someknitting needles and some, I
(06:25):
don't know, yarn.
Is that what they knit with?
And again, y- well, there'sYouTube now.
There's so much stuff.
Like, just look up a lesson onsomething and do it, or find a
friend who is good at the thingthat you suck at and be like,
"Can you teach me one thingabout this today?" That's it.
And you are going to practice.
You're gonna practice every day,every week, five minutes.
That's all I want is fiveminutes.
(06:46):
Because imagine, this is whatyou'd say to your students.
You'd say,"Just do five minutesof math a day." So I want you to
do five minutes of the thingthat scares you, that you don't
feel good at, a day.
I don't just want you to do thisso you'll get better at it.
Okay?
So first of all, here's what'sgonna happen.
You're gonna get better at it.
You are.
You're gonna notice that you'regetting better.
You're not gonna be where youwanna be.
You're still gonna think yousuck, but you're going to be
getting better at it.
And you getting better at it isgoing to show your brain, your
(07:08):
body, your mind, your soul,"Ican get better at things that I
don't feel good at." Now, guesswhat?
For many of you, practicingbeing bad at something, you're
gonna think to yourself,"Well, Imight as well practice being bad
at math because I feel like I'mbad at math." I'm not saying you
can't do that.
You can.
But I would love for you toactually practice being bad at
(07:32):
something other than math tostart with.
I really would, because it isthe same muscle you're
exercising, and my guess is mathis too laden with, like, meaning
and overwhelm, and the stakesare high, and you've gotta go
teach it.
And, uh, like, it feel...
it might be too triggering tostart with math.
I would like you to start withsomething you feel bad at that
(07:54):
has, like, zero stakes.
Like, you don't ever have to doit.
You don't have to do it as ajob.
Maybe it's cooking.
Maybe you're like,"I'm so bad atcooking," and you could just
start learning how to make somebasic meals.
Or like, I don't know, how to,like, chop carrots.
Like, I don't understand howpeople do it so thinly, you know
what I mean?
Like, maybe it's that.
Start with something low stakes.
Do it for a couple of weeks.
Again, you are showing yournervous system,"I can do new
(08:15):
things.
I can do hard things.
I can change." Right?
Once that starts getting intoyour bones, you can transfer
that to math.
You know, Mel Robbins has beenall over my feed lately saying
every time you start your daydoing something hard, for
example, exercising, it makesthe rest of the day easier
because you've already done thishard thing, so in comparison,
(08:36):
everything's like, oh, that'skind of chill.
I...
A lot of my friends feel thisway about cold plunging.
They're like,"If you just coldplunge first thing in the
morning, I've done the hardestthing I'm gonna do that day.
Everything feels easier." That'show I feel about math.
Honestly, that's why I'm doingthis entire program.
Yes, it's about math, but it'sabout math as a gateway.
Once you show yourself you canprogress with math, you can get
(08:57):
over this fear, you can justfeel more confident around math,
all of a sudden, that thing setsthe tone.
You're like,"Oh, if I could dothat with math, what else can I
do it with?" And that's why thisis so important, is to practice
being bad at something.
Whatever that thing is for youthat you just think you can't
get better at, I want you topractice being bad at it,
(09:20):
realize it's okay to be bad atit, to not be where you are, and
also to see yourself changingand growing, and to remember, if
you're doing it in that area,you can also do it in math.
I also wanna-- want you tonotice how quickly do you get
frustrated?
How uncomfortable is theconfusion?
When do you wanna quit?
What stops you from quitting?
Because that is exactly whereyour students live in your class
(09:40):
every single day.
Confusion isn't failure.
Confusion is what learning feelslike, but it doesn't feel good,
and I want you to feel that.
I want you to feel that so thatyou feel it every day, and by
day five, you're like,"Oh, thisis just normal.
It's not that scary anymore.
I recognize this is just a partof the learning process." Okay,
so that wasexperiment/experience number
(10:01):
five.
Let's move on to number six, thesixth tiny experiment you can do
to help yourself feel moreconfident in math class in the
fall.
I want you to read one mindsetor psychology book or listen to
a podcast.
You heard me.
Notice I didn't say read a mathbook.
That's because maybe yourbiggest challenge isn't the math
knowledge, it's actually yourrelationship with yourself.
(10:22):
I actually know that to be true.
I know that to be true fromyears and years of experience in
tutoring and teaching students.
Often my most anxious students,the ones who thought they were
least capable of math, the oneswho were the least confident,
were the ones getting thehighest grades and achieving the
highest mastery andunderstanding of the concepts.
It had nothing to do with theircontent knowledge.
(10:44):
It had to do with so many otherthings, right?
It had to do with what peoplehad told them.
It had to do with socialconceptions.
It had to do withrepresentation.
It had to do with, you know,like ex- it had to do with the
experiences they've had.
At the end of the day, it had todo with experiences they had
had, not the knowledge theypossessed.
And that's why I say I want youto read or listen to self-help
(11:07):
mindset psychology content.
I want you to understand howyour mind is working.
I want you to hear it fromsomeone other than me or your
bestie that you can change theway you feel about something,
and that your thoughts are notfacts.
I want you to feed your brainideas that make you kinder to
yourself, but also that targetthe believe part of my favorite
saying,"Believe, behave,become," right?
(11:29):
A lot of these experiments andexperiences I'm giving you have
to do with actually engaging inbehavior that is going to lead
to a belief, right?
So you're engaging in behavior,you're practicing being bad at
something, and that's gonna showyou, oh, wow, I believe that I
can get better at something, orI believe trying hard things or
trying new things isn't soscary.
Now I want you to start withbelief, and I want you to start
(11:50):
planting some seeds in yourmind.
I want you to start learningabout the psychology of what
gets us over these humps.
Some of my favorite books, okay?
Let Them Theory by Mel Robbins.
I feel any Mel Robbins book.
To be honest, any Mel Robbins,and some of them are exclusive
on Audible.
I've listened to all of herbooks.
I've never even read one byhand, except for Let Them
Theory.
Every single one of her books isamazing.
(12:11):
And if you're gonna go for apodcast, listen to her podcast.
There are so many episodes thatare gonna be perfect for you
right?
One's around mindset.
One's around making new habits.
One's around overcoming failure.
Like she's just got so much goodcontent.
So I would go Mel Robbins.
Honestly, every single time Iread a self-help book or a
mindset book, it immediately tome applies to math.
(12:32):
Like I'm reading, um, The Powerof Now by Eckhart Tolle, and I
was like,"This has all to dowith math learning." The Four
Agreements, to me, I just keepbeing like,"Oh my God, this is
so applicable to math class."Like talking about the ego and
how fragile it is, and liketaking things personally.
Okay, Atomic Habits by JamesClear.
Oh my God, that is such a goodbook.
It's all about building newhabits and how we, like, build
(12:53):
habits to do things that we feelresistant to.
How Minds Change by DavidMcRaney.
It might seem like why would Iread this?
But it's really fascinating.
It's just all about how, like,our minds change around what we
are and aren't capable of.
Mindset by Carol Dweck.
Like, if you haven't read it,you have to read it.
Like, I'm, I'm forcing you toread it.
Daring Greatly by Brené Brown,another great one.
(13:16):
Um, you can obviously pick upthe book Math Therapy, written
by yours truly.
Um, okay, here are some of thebooks that I've read that you
might be like,"How does this tiein?" But I'm telling you, every
single time I read a book aroundmindset, psychology, or
self-help, my first thought ismath therapy, our relationship
with math.
It all ties together because weare emotional beings.
We are emotional, spiritual,cognitive beings.
(13:39):
All of these things workholistically together to
determine our relationship withanything, and our relationship
with math is no different.
So here, I'm gonna list a bunch.
I'm gonna put them in the shownotes, and then just pick one to
read or find a podcast that'sadjacent to any of these people.
And all of these books areavailable on Audible.
I actually only listen tononfiction on audiobook.
It's just a thing.
(13:59):
I, like, read fiction paperback,but, like, I like to listen to
nonfiction.
So I know you're like,"Vanessa,I really don't wanna read an
entire self-help book rightnow," and you don't have to, but
I'm telling you, mindset workwill be key because your
relationship with math is tiedto something much bigger, and
that is your relationship toyourself and your ability to
grow and change.
(14:20):
Honestly.
The point is all of this is tiedtogether.
We cannot divorce ourrelationship with mathematics
from our relationship withourselves.
The way we approach obstacle,the way we approach things that
are difficult, the way weapproach things that are new,
the stories we've been toldabout ourselves, they are one
and the same, right?
Our relationship with math isjust an offshoot of that.
So that's why I think, you know,reading one of these books, or
(14:43):
you know what, if you're like,"Idon't have time for a book,"
seriously, just go listen to MelRobbins' podcast.
Every episode is great.
You can scroll and find one thatspeaks to you.
There's so much good stuff inthere.
It's one hour of your life.
Put it on one point five speed.
It's, like, forty-five minutes.
And getting some thought intoyour head that's not just from
me or, like, your bestie abouthow our minds work, about
well-known and researchedscientifically based hacks on
(15:07):
how to overcome our fear ofadversity and failure is gonna
be key to your journey.
Okay, so that's what you'regonna do.
That is the next tip.
Okay, tip number seven,experiment, mini, tiny, little
cutie experiment number seventhat you're gonna do is you're
gonna download Duolingo Math.
That's right.
You are gonna go and downloadDuolingo, the app.
(15:27):
That's right, the language app.
And now you're thinking toyourself,"But Vanessa, I don't
wanna learn Italian.
I maybe wanna learn a bit ofmath." Okay, maybe you're even
thinking,"I don't wanna learnany math." Okay, here, it
doesn't matter what you'rethinking.
What I'm thinking is this.
A couple of years ago, Duolingoadded both math and music to
their app.
This is a language app.
You probably have friends thatuse Duolingo.
(15:48):
Maybe you've been learning it tosecretly learn Swedish for the
past year, and you haven't toldanyone.
I don't really know.
The fact that they added mathand music spoke volumes, because
they are treating them as alanguage.
Now, here's what you need toknow.
This is not...
I'm not sending you here tolearn math content, okay?
I'm not sending you here becauseyou're like,"But Vanessa, I feel
like I'm not confident aroundfractions," and I'm like,"Oh,
(16:09):
Duolingo will teach you aboutfractions." That's not what's
gonna happen, at all.
I mean, it might happen, butthat's not the point.
I'm not signing you up for acourse.
I'm sending you to Duolingobecause it's not even five
minutes a day.
It is small, bite-sized,mathematical experience and
experiment.
That is what is going to happenwhen you open it.
You're not gonna know what'shappening.
There's gonna be no instruction.
There's gonna be no lesson.
(16:30):
There's gonna be some questions,and you're gonna do them.
There's gonna be some games.
You're gonna engage in them.
And slowly but surely, your mindis going to register,"I am doing
math.
Nothing bad is happening.
And in fact, I know more than Ithought I did." Hopefully you're
noticing right now that thesenice, cute little bite-sized
experiments I'm giving you worktogether because this works with
(16:51):
an experiment and experience Igave you in the first part of
this miniseries, which was tocollect small math moments.
You're gonna download DuolingoMath, and you're gonna start
using it, and every day you'regonna collect that small math
moment.
You're gonna collect thatevidence, and you're gonna put
it in your evidence folder.
That's two of the experiments,right?
You're not only collecting asmall math moment, That was
experiment number four, you'renow collecting evidence, that
(17:13):
was experiment number three, andyou're downloading Duolingo
Math, that was experiment numberseven.
So like you're doing threethings at once here.
You are going to show yourself,"I'm engaging in math and
nothing bad is happening.
I'm engaging in math and I knowmore than I think I did.
I'm engaging in math and it'skind of fun.
I'm engaging in math and I'mgetting better at it." That's
why you're gonna do it.
The thing is, this is lowstakes.
(17:33):
It's tiny wins.
You're gonna click the beginneroption and you're just gonna go
for it.
You're gonna get some stuffwrong.
You're not always gonna get theright answer.
You're gonna see that it's notthat big of a thing.
And you know what?
If you have a friend who's usingDuolingo or maybe you are that
friend, I noticed somethingabout these Duolingo people.
They're so into Duolingo.
I've got friends learninglanguages they have no need to
learn or use.
(17:54):
I have this friend who's beenlearning Turkish for three
years, and there's no reasonwhy.
He's just doing it.
He-- I think he had a crush onlike a Turkish girl at one point
and he started learning it andnow he's like obsessed with his
streak.
Every day he does his Duolingo.
I don't know if he's ever, he'sever spoken the language, if
he's ever used it.
But there's something aboutDuolingo, it's gamified, number
one, so it keeps you kind ofhooked, right?
(18:15):
Like, if you're into like any ofthose New York Times games like
Wordle or like Pips orConnections, I'm very into
those.
I just-- I kind of-- I-- It'slike my dopamine, right?
But I'm learning, but it's alsomy dopamine.
That's how Duolingo has it setup.
It's on your phone.
It's an app.
It's gamified.
It gives you some dopamine whilealso it's slowly reworking your
brain, right?
My dad has been secretlylearning Italian on Duolingo for
(18:38):
two years.
I didn't know this.
The only reason I know is'causelast week we went to this
Italian cafe and, you know, thebarista said something, and my
dad responded in Italian.
And I was like,"I, I'm, I'msorry.
Did you..." They started havinga full conversation in fucking
Italian.
Now, was his Italian perfect?
I don't think so.
I don't know.
(18:58):
I don't speak Italian.
He was able to understand him.
He had a convers- I was like,"What's going on?" He was like,
"Oh, I've been doing ItalianDuolingo for two years." What?
I had no idea.
And the pleasure on his face,the excitement, like he just
looked like a tiny kid gettingso excited when this barista
started talking back to himbecause he understood what he
was saying.
And I was like,"This is just socool." I really think Duolingo
(19:20):
has it figured out, and you knowthis if you use it or know
people who use it.
They, there's-- they're notlike,"Ugh, I gotta do my
Duolingo." They like it, right?
They h- because what's happeningis in small bite-sized doses,
they are learning something.
They're feeling good about it.
There's nothing explicit goingon.
There's no test at the end ofit.
Actually, I do think they mighthave like some little quizzes
(19:41):
and stuff here and there.
But the point is that it's allfeel good because- You're kind
of casually learning this thingin a very low stakes
environment.
Even if you get something wrong,there's an opportunity for you
to correct yourself, and thenyou just move on with the
lesson, and before you know it,you know Italian, whereas you
never knew Italian to beginwith.
(20:02):
And that's what's gonna happenwith math.
So I want you to download thisapp, and I want you to just
start it.
Notice no one's walking aroundsaying,"I'm not a Wordle
person," or,"I'm not a Pipsperson." That's not like a thing
because there's no type ofperson who's like mastered
Wordle.
We're all just doing it for funand learning, and we have
different strategies.
There's no way to be the best atWordle, and that's the same
(20:22):
thing with Duolingo Math.
There's no like mastery, I'm thenumber one person on Duolingo
Math.
We're all just on there.
We have been on there for adifferent amount of days.
We have different streaks.
We're engaged in differentthings, and it's just a low
stakes way to, again, what arewe doing?
Showing your nervous system it'ssafe when it does math.
It's safe when it does math.
Not only is it safe, it gets alittle bit excited when it's
(20:44):
math time the next day becauseyou're gonna get that dopamine
hit.
Remember, confidence growsthrough hundreds and thousands
of many tiny safe experiences,and this is just another one of
those experiences you can giveyourself every day without
having to like do a full mathlesson or a course or a
worksheet.
And finally, the last experimentof the eight, this is a big one,
(21:08):
okay?
Remember, I am here to show youhow to feel more confident about
math in the fall, and one of thethings, one of our biggest
triggers for all of us, one ofthe reasons we're here right now
listening to this podcast isbecause something broke our
heart.
There was a math concept orlesson that broke us, and we
have never healed.
(21:29):
And so experiment number eightis to go back and relearn the
thing that broke your heart.
And if you're anything like meright now, you're like,"No, no,
no," your entire body isfighting this.
Like, that's as though I wassaying,"Okay, Vanessa, the thing
you have to do is go and finallylearn how taxes work." I would
also-- I would throw mymicrophone out the window and be
like,"I hate you now." I get it.
(21:51):
I get it.
But before you press stop and,like, decide to disown me and
never listen to this podcastagain, let me tell you something
right now.
The thing that broke your heartin math class was probably
something you learned, like,under the age of 14.
I j- I just want you to thinkabout it this way.
I'm not trying to excuse myself,but I'm like, taxes are like a
grown-up thing, okay?
So they're scarier because it'smore recent that this thing
(22:13):
started stressing me out.
For you guys, the thing thatbroke your heart in math class
was probably something youlearned under the age of 14.
It was probably fractions, ormaybe it was algebra.
Maybe it was when letters gotintroduced into math class, as a
lot of people say, right?
Like, maybe it was your timestables.
Maybe it happened that young.
(22:34):
Maybe it was long division.
Like, I'm just stating somecommon ones, but maybe it was
something else.
My point is, as an adult, youhave now dealt with a million
things that are way harder andway more higher stakes than not
being able to add two fractionstogether.
At the time, it seemedimpossible.
At the time, think about youryoung brain, like your
nine-year-old brain.
(22:55):
The knowledge it had to draw onwas very limited compared to all
of the knowledge you have todraw on now.
You are going to be able tolearn that thing.
I know you don't believe me, butit is not gonna be as scary as
you remember it.
Your body is remembering andhanging on to the trauma
response of the math trauma thatoccurred when you tried to learn
(23:16):
this thing and you couldn'tlearn it, something bad
happened, or you simply werejust like,"I can't learn this
thing, and I feel really, reallydumb." Your body's gonna
remember that forever unless youteach it a different story, and
you can only teach it adifferent story by giving it a
different experience.
So you need to go back andrelearn that thing.
Now, listen I'm not asking youto relearn this thing because
you're gonna teach it.
Maybe you're listening andyou're like,"I don't- I'm- I
teach grade two.
(23:37):
I don't need to go back andlearn algebra.
I don't e-" You don't need to.
You don't need to learn it'causeyou're gonna teach it.
But learning it is going toprove something so major to you
that I really want you to do it.
I want you to do it for you, notfor the kids you're gonna teach.
I want you to do it for you.
So first you need to get reallyclear.
What was that thing?
I might have already said it andyou were like,"Oh God, just
(23:58):
don't.
Fractions.
No." Like, I don't know what itwas.
What was that thing?
Let's get clear.
What was it?
Once you're clear on it, let'sfigure out how you're gonna
learn it.
I want you to picture you had toteach it to somebody.
What would you do?
Like imagine you had to teach itto your younger self.
What would you have done forthat person?
Would you have pulled on someresources that maybe didn't even
exist during that time?
Like, we've got so much at ourfingertips right now, right?
(24:20):
Like, would you pull on someresources?
Would you get your best friendto do it?
Would you get, like, yourfavorite math teacher that you
know now to teach it to you?
Would you ask ChatGPT?
Would you need something moretactile and visual?
Would you want manipulatives?
Would you...
Like, I don't, I don't know.
Whatever it is you need, we canget it for you, right?
(24:40):
Like we're-- It's 2026.
We can get whatever that thingis you need, right?
Like, I know so many incrediblemath teachers, some of you are
probably listening to thispodcast, that I'm like, if I
ever had to explain a concept tothe younger me or to a student
right now, I'd be like,"Oh,get...
Honestly, get Deborah Peart.
There.
Just get..." I, I know for afact she's gonna teach it in the
best way.
Like, do you know what I mean?
(25:01):
Like, I'm like, if Deborahtaught me anything, like, I
would learn it.
It would, it would be the-- Thatwould, that would be the end of
that.
Do you know what I mean?
Or like Allison Mello.
I'm like,"Yeah, you teach mesomething." You know what I
mean?
Like, there are people, and, andyou, especially if you work in a
school, if you're a teacher, youprobably know the person that
you're like,"Oh, that mathteacher.
I wish that..." That person thatyou're like,"I wish that person
was my math teacher," get themto reteach you the concept that
(25:23):
broke your heart.
That's what we're doing.
That's it.
That's it.
And this isn't because you haveto teach it, right?
It's because the younger versionof you deserve that rom-com
ending, and you're gonna get itright now.
The truth is, every time youradult brain understands
something that your younger selfcouldn't, you are rewriting the
story, and that is math therapy.
(25:45):
That's what it's all about.
Okay, guys, I'm really excitedfor you.
We have now done eight thingstogether.
On this episode, we've only donefour, but I wanna recap all
eight of them so you have eighttiny experiences and experiments
you can try starting right nowto feel more confident about
math in the fall and to rewireyour nervous system so it begins
to feel safer around math sothat confidence is possible.
(26:08):
Are we ready?
Let's run them down.
Okay, number one, find that onemath friend, your pep talker,
that person that's gonna...
You know, you can text when youfeel stuck, when you feel like
you don't wanna do this anymore,that's gonna be like,"You're
cool.
Don't worry about it.
Keep going." Number two, replacethe word proving with improving
by asking yourself,"What's onething I could understand 1%
better today?" Number three,build an evidence folder.
(26:29):
Evidence that you are doing hardthings and you are learning new
things, and nothing bad ishappening.
Number four, start collectingmath moments.
Those are moments around youthat you're observing math,
you're engaging in math, you'redoing math, you're around math,
and you're not scared, and maybeyou're even having a little bit
of fun.
Number five, practice being badat something, anything.
I don't care what it is.
(26:49):
Practice and practiceconsistently and see what
happens.
Number six, read one mindset orpsychology book or listen to one
mindset or psychology podcast.
Number seven, download DuolingoMath and start right now every
single day.
It's like two to three minutes.
You've got this.
And number eight, go back andlearn the thing that broke your
heart.
Are we ready?
You guys have got this.
I want you to text me right now.
(27:11):
Tell me what you did last week,if you did anything.
Tell me what you're committed todoing this week, and hey, there
are eight things.
You could even pick one a weekstarting right now if you want.
So text me.
Click the link in your shownotes that says Text Us or Text
Me or whatever it says, and tellme the one experiment you are
gonna start doing right now, andlet's see how it goes.
(27:33):
And remember, if you arelistening to this and you're
like,"Oh my God.
Oh my God.
Oh my God," you know who needsto do this, I want you to send
it to that person.
I want you to send this to yourgroup chat.
Maybe you have a group chat ofteachers that you're like,"Guys,
let's all do this together."Okay, guys.
Thank you so much for listeningto my first ever Math Therapy
Mini Masterclass series.
That was so fun.
I can't wait to hear from you,and I believe in you.
(27:53):
I have faith in you.
Remember, this is not aboutperfection.
It is about just witnessing ourprogress, witnessing what
happens when we willingly andintentionally engage
consistently in these tinyexperiments and experiences.
When we do, we change.
Let's observe that changetogether.
Let's observe it and show ournegativity bias,"Hey.
(28:16):
Hi.
I have the receipts.
I can do anything I put my mindto, including rebuilding my
relationship with math." Thetruth is, your students don't
just learn math from you.
They learn how to feel aboutmath from you, and you doing
this with me right now is such agreat gift, not only to you, but
to them.
Because I can't wait for you totell them about it when you get
(28:36):
into class in September.
Thank you guys so much for beingalong for the ride.
I can't wait to hear from you.
Text me, and I will see you nextweek, same time, same channel,
same place, same sweaty, hotroom where I've been staring at
the lake now for two hourswanting to jump in.
And guess what, guys?
I'm gonna go jump in right now.
Hello, it's me.
Welcome back to another episodeof Math Therapy, and this is the
first time I've done, like, atwo-part series.
So I guess, welcome to part twoof our two-part Math Therapy
mini masterclass series.
Now, if you're like,"Oh God,part two?
I haven't listened to part one,"don't worry, don't panic.
Just go listen to part one.
(00:24):
Honestly, it'll make more senseif you go listen to part one.
But if you're like,"I refuse, Ionly wanna listen to the newest
episode," then fine, let me tellyou what's going on.
So what we're doing right now iswe are doing a two-part Math
Therapy mini masterclass serieson how to feel more confident
when you step into the classroomin the fall, okay?
(00:44):
And for those of us who are notteachers, who are not stepping
into any classroom, okay, justhow to feel more confident about
math by the time September rollsaround.
Literally, that you're gonnafeel more confident about math.
You're gonna feel more confidentdoing math.
You're gonna feel more confidentwhen math is present.
Even if you don't, like,officially do math in a
classroom setting, you're gonnafeel more confident when math is
(01:06):
around you.
Why?
Because we are engaging in eighttiny experiences and experiments
to help your brain and body feelmore safe around math.
We are retraining the nervoussystem.
So to recap, last week we didhalf of the eight experiments,
okay?
So we went through four of them,and those four were, number one,
finding a math friend, okay?
(01:26):
Or, like, an accountabilitypartner, someone who can just
hype you up when you're feelingdown.
Number two was replacing theword proving with improving.
So just asking yourself daily,What is one thing I could
understand 1% better today?
Number three was to build anevidence folder and start
collecting evidence, evidence,evidence, evidence of every
(01:47):
single time you learn somethingnew or do something hard.
Okay?
You are showing your brain andbody and your negativity bias,
"Hi, I can do hard things.
I can do new things, and I stillfeel safe, and I still feel
great." And number four was tostart collecting math moments,
right?
To start noticing all the matharound you that you're engaging
in, that you're observing, thatyou're noticing to again show
your nervous system,"Hey, mathis around.
(02:09):
I'm vibing.
I'm fine.
I'm safe." And now we are goingto get into the back half of the
four.
So four more tiny experiencesand experiments we can engage in
between now and the fall so thatwe can feel more confident
around math because we feelsafer around math.
Now remember, it's never toolate to start, so you can start
(02:31):
right now, and you don't have todo all eight.
I would love for you to listenwith the vibe of what's one
thing here that feels likesomething easy I can do.
It needs to be easy.
It needs to be quick.
It needs to be fun.
It needs to be low stakes, and Ijust want you to remember,
consistency trumps quantity,right?
Just small, consistent action.
That's why I'm giving you guyseight tiny experiments and
(02:53):
experiences.
These things should take liketwo to five minutes daily max,
okay?
Because that is going to startgetting into your brain, into
your body, into your nervoussystem.
We are rewiring.
We are reaffirming.
We are redoing.
We are rewriting our storyphysically, mentally,
emotionally, spiritually aroundwhat it means to be somebody who
(03:14):
does math.
Okay, here we go.
So we are going to start withtip number one for today, but
tip number five overall, whichis, this is my favorite one, to
be honest, so we are startingoff strong.
Practice being bad at something.
You heard me.
If you are listening to this,actually, if you are listening
and you are like,"Yeah, I'mlistening because I'm hoping to
(03:37):
get some advice for my friendsbecause I don't really
understand this whole mathanxiety thing.
I've never felt a- anxiousaround math," and especially if
you're a teacher listening tothis, this experiment is for
you.
I want you to get in the shoesof your students and your
colleagues and the people aroundyou in day-to-day life who are
afraid of math, and I want youto practice being bad at
something.
(03:57):
There's a whole saying in yoga,you know, in the practice, and
when we talk about yoga andmeditation, one of the biggest
concepts that we need to lockdown from day one is the idea of
beginner's mind.
Beginner's mind.
What does it mean to be startingsomething new, to be learning
something for the first time, tonot be an expert at that thing?
(04:18):
When we get in the seat ofbeginner's mind, it actually is
quite a relief.
Gone are the expectations thatwe have to know everything, but
with that relief also comes thatreflex anxiety of,"I have no
fucking idea what I'm doing."But the beautiful thing about
beginner's mind is we are towelcome that feeling, to say,"I
don't expect myself to knowanything about this, to be,
(04:39):
quote, unquote, good at it.
I just expect myself to sit downand do it like a beginner would,
and to see what comes up." Now,beginner's mind for you, the
listener, means that you need topractice being bad at something.
That means go do something thatyou don't feel good at, that
maybe you've never tried before,certainly not that you have
(05:00):
mastered, because it allows youto understand how your students
are feeling about math.
Maybe you don't feel that wayabout math, but maybe you feel
that way about playing guitar,or playing an instrument, or
singing, or playing a sport, orlearning how to tap dance, or
chess, or learning a language,or juggling, or pickleball.
Whatever I'm saying right nowthat is triggering you to be
(05:22):
like,"Oh God, I would suck atthat," or,"I've never been good
at that," ding, ding, ding.
Why am I saying ding, ding, dingso much?
I did it last episode, too.
Anyways, that's your thing.
There, I found it for you.
That's your thing Whatever thething is that you're alwa- you
know how everyone's like,"I'mnot a math person," and you're
like,"Everyone's a math person"?
I know low-key you're saying,"I'm not a blank person." I
don't know what it is, but Iknow you're saying it.
(05:43):
"I'm not an artist.
I'm not a creative person.
I'm not good with maps." Idon't, I don't know.
I don't know what you're saying.
But whatever that thing is, thatis the thing you are going to
start practicing.
How are you gonna practice it?
Well, I'm not sure.
You're gonna just do something,five minutes of that thing.
If it's a guitar, you are goingto pick up a guitar and start
(06:04):
strumming, or you're gonna goonto YouTube and click Guitar
Lessons for Absolute Beginners,and you are just gonna start
practicing.
If it's chess, you're gonnawatch a tutorial and play.
You're gonna call your friendthat plays chess, and you're
gonna say,"Can you come over andplay a game with me?" If it's a
language, well, there are appsfor that.
If it is knitting, go buy someknitting needles and some, I
(06:25):
don't know, yarn.
Is that what they knit with?
And again, y- well, there'sYouTube now.
There's so much stuff.
Like, just look up a lesson onsomething and do it, or find a
friend who is good at the thingthat you suck at and be like,
"Can you teach me one thingabout this today?" That's it.
And you are going to practice.
You're gonna practice every day,every week, five minutes.
That's all I want is fiveminutes.
(06:46):
Because imagine, this is whatyou'd say to your students.
You'd say,"Just do five minutesof math a day." So I want you to
do five minutes of the thingthat scares you, that you don't
feel good at, a day.
I don't just want you to do thisso you'll get better at it.
Okay?
So first of all, here's what'sgonna happen.
You're gonna get better at it.
You are.
You're gonna notice that you'regetting better.
You're not gonna be where youwanna be.
You're still gonna think yousuck, but you're going to be
getting better at it.
And you getting better at it isgoing to show your brain, your
(07:08):
body, your mind, your soul,"Ican get better at things that I
don't feel good at." Now, guesswhat?
For many of you, practicingbeing bad at something, you're
gonna think to yourself,"Well, Imight as well practice being bad
at math because I feel like I'mbad at math." I'm not saying you
can't do that.
You can.
But I would love for you toactually practice being bad at
(07:32):
something other than math tostart with.
I really would, because it isthe same muscle you're
exercising, and my guess is mathis too laden with, like, meaning
and overwhelm, and the stakesare high, and you've gotta go
teach it.
And, uh, like, it feel...
it might be too triggering tostart with math.
I would like you to start withsomething you feel bad at that
(07:54):
has, like, zero stakes.
Like, you don't ever have to doit.
You don't have to do it as ajob.
Maybe it's cooking.
Maybe you're like,"I'm so bad atcooking," and you could just
start learning how to make somebasic meals.
Or like, I don't know, how to,like, chop carrots.
Like, I don't understand howpeople do it so thinly, you know
what I mean?
Like, maybe it's that.
Start with something low stakes.
Do it for a couple of weeks.
Again, you are showing yournervous system,"I can do new
(08:15):
things.
I can do hard things.
I can change." Right?
Once that starts getting intoyour bones, you can transfer
that to math.
You know, Mel Robbins has beenall over my feed lately saying
every time you start your daydoing something hard, for
example, exercising, it makesthe rest of the day easier
because you've already done thishard thing, so in comparison,
(08:36):
everything's like, oh, that'skind of chill.
I...
A lot of my friends feel thisway about cold plunging.
They're like,"If you just coldplunge first thing in the
morning, I've done the hardestthing I'm gonna do that day.
Everything feels easier." That'show I feel about math.
Honestly, that's why I'm doingthis entire program.
Yes, it's about math, but it'sabout math as a gateway.
Once you show yourself you canprogress with math, you can get
(08:57):
over this fear, you can justfeel more confident around math,
all of a sudden, that thing setsthe tone.
You're like,"Oh, if I could dothat with math, what else can I
do it with?" And that's why thisis so important, is to practice
being bad at something.
Whatever that thing is for youthat you just think you can't
get better at, I want you topractice being bad at it,
(09:20):
realize it's okay to be bad atit, to not be where you are, and
also to see yourself changingand growing, and to remember, if
you're doing it in that area,you can also do it in math.
I also wanna-- want you tonotice how quickly do you get
frustrated?
How uncomfortable is theconfusion?
When do you wanna quit?
What stops you from quitting?
Because that is exactly whereyour students live in your class
(09:40):
every single day.
Confusion isn't failure.
Confusion is what learning feelslike, but it doesn't feel good,
and I want you to feel that.
I want you to feel that so thatyou feel it every day, and by
day five, you're like,"Oh, thisis just normal.
It's not that scary anymore.
I recognize this is just a partof the learning process." Okay,
so that wasexperiment/experience number
(10:01):
five.
Let's move on to number six, thesixth tiny experiment you can do
to help yourself feel moreconfident in math class in the
fall.
I want you to read one mindsetor psychology book or listen to
a podcast.
You heard me.
Notice I didn't say read a mathbook.
That's because maybe yourbiggest challenge isn't the math
knowledge, it's actually yourrelationship with yourself.
(10:22):
I actually know that to be true.
I know that to be true fromyears and years of experience in
tutoring and teaching students.
Often my most anxious students,the ones who thought they were
least capable of math, the oneswho were the least confident,
were the ones getting thehighest grades and achieving the
highest mastery andunderstanding of the concepts.
It had nothing to do with theircontent knowledge.
(10:44):
It had to do with so many otherthings, right?
It had to do with what peoplehad told them.
It had to do with socialconceptions.
It had to do withrepresentation.
It had to do with, you know,like ex- it had to do with the
experiences they've had.
At the end of the day, it had todo with experiences they had
had, not the knowledge theypossessed.
And that's why I say I want youto read or listen to self-help
(11:07):
mindset psychology content.
I want you to understand howyour mind is working.
I want you to hear it fromsomeone other than me or your
bestie that you can change theway you feel about something,
and that your thoughts are notfacts.
I want you to feed your brainideas that make you kinder to
yourself, but also that targetthe believe part of my favorite
saying,"Believe, behave,become," right?
(11:29):
A lot of these experiments andexperiences I'm giving you have
to do with actually engaging inbehavior that is going to lead
to a belief, right?
So you're engaging in behavior,you're practicing being bad at
something, and that's gonna showyou, oh, wow, I believe that I
can get better at something, orI believe trying hard things or
trying new things isn't soscary.
Now I want you to start withbelief, and I want you to start
(11:50):
planting some seeds in yourmind.
I want you to start learningabout the psychology of what
gets us over these humps.
Some of my favorite books, okay?
Let Them Theory by Mel Robbins.
I feel any Mel Robbins book.
To be honest, any Mel Robbins,and some of them are exclusive
on Audible.
I've listened to all of herbooks.
I've never even read one byhand, except for Let Them
Theory.
Every single one of her books isamazing.
(12:11):
And if you're gonna go for apodcast, listen to her podcast.
There are so many episodes thatare gonna be perfect for you
right?
One's around mindset.
One's around making new habits.
One's around overcoming failure.
Like she's just got so much goodcontent.
So I would go Mel Robbins.
Honestly, every single time Iread a self-help book or a
mindset book, it immediately tome applies to math.
(12:32):
Like I'm reading, um, The Powerof Now by Eckhart Tolle, and I
was like,"This has all to dowith math learning." The Four
Agreements, to me, I just keepbeing like,"Oh my God, this is
so applicable to math class."Like talking about the ego and
how fragile it is, and liketaking things personally.
Okay, Atomic Habits by JamesClear.
Oh my God, that is such a goodbook.
It's all about building newhabits and how we, like, build
(12:53):
habits to do things that we feelresistant to.
How Minds Change by DavidMcRaney.
It might seem like why would Iread this?
But it's really fascinating.
It's just all about how, like,our minds change around what we
are and aren't capable of.
Mindset by Carol Dweck.
Like, if you haven't read it,you have to read it.
Like, I'm, I'm forcing you toread it.
Daring Greatly by Brené Brown,another great one.
(13:16):
Um, you can obviously pick upthe book Math Therapy, written
by yours truly.
Um, okay, here are some of thebooks that I've read that you
might be like,"How does this tiein?" But I'm telling you, every
single time I read a book aroundmindset, psychology, or
self-help, my first thought ismath therapy, our relationship
with math.
It all ties together because weare emotional beings.
We are emotional, spiritual,cognitive beings.
(13:39):
All of these things workholistically together to
determine our relationship withanything, and our relationship
with math is no different.
So here, I'm gonna list a bunch.
I'm gonna put them in the shownotes, and then just pick one to
read or find a podcast that'sadjacent to any of these people.
And all of these books areavailable on Audible.
I actually only listen tononfiction on audiobook.
It's just a thing.
(13:59):
I, like, read fiction paperback,but, like, I like to listen to
nonfiction.
So I know you're like,"Vanessa,I really don't wanna read an
entire self-help book rightnow," and you don't have to, but
I'm telling you, mindset workwill be key because your
relationship with math is tiedto something much bigger, and
that is your relationship toyourself and your ability to
grow and change.
(14:20):
Honestly.
The point is all of this is tiedtogether.
We cannot divorce ourrelationship with mathematics
from our relationship withourselves.
The way we approach obstacle,the way we approach things that
are difficult, the way weapproach things that are new,
the stories we've been toldabout ourselves, they are one
and the same, right?
Our relationship with math isjust an offshoot of that.
So that's why I think, you know,reading one of these books, or
(14:43):
you know what, if you're like,"Idon't have time for a book,"
seriously, just go listen to MelRobbins' podcast.
Every episode is great.
You can scroll and find one thatspeaks to you.
There's so much good stuff inthere.
It's one hour of your life.
Put it on one point five speed.
It's, like, forty-five minutes.
And getting some thought intoyour head that's not just from
me or, like, your bestie abouthow our minds work, about
well-known and researchedscientifically based hacks on
(15:07):
how to overcome our fear ofadversity and failure is gonna
be key to your journey.
Okay, so that's what you'regonna do.
That is the next tip.
Okay, tip number seven,experiment, mini, tiny, little
cutie experiment number seventhat you're gonna do is you're
gonna download Duolingo Math.
That's right.
You are gonna go and downloadDuolingo, the app.
(15:27):
That's right, the language app.
And now you're thinking toyourself,"But Vanessa, I don't
wanna learn Italian.
I maybe wanna learn a bit ofmath." Okay, maybe you're even
thinking,"I don't wanna learnany math." Okay, here, it
doesn't matter what you'rethinking.
What I'm thinking is this.
A couple of years ago, Duolingoadded both math and music to
their app.
This is a language app.
You probably have friends thatuse Duolingo.
(15:48):
Maybe you've been learning it tosecretly learn Swedish for the
past year, and you haven't toldanyone.
I don't really know.
The fact that they added mathand music spoke volumes, because
they are treating them as alanguage.
Now, here's what you need toknow.
This is not...
I'm not sending you here tolearn math content, okay?
I'm not sending you here becauseyou're like,"But Vanessa, I feel
like I'm not confident aroundfractions," and I'm like,"Oh,
(16:09):
Duolingo will teach you aboutfractions." That's not what's
gonna happen, at all.
I mean, it might happen, butthat's not the point.
I'm not signing you up for acourse.
I'm sending you to Duolingobecause it's not even five
minutes a day.
It is small, bite-sized,mathematical experience and
experiment.
That is what is going to happenwhen you open it.
You're not gonna know what'shappening.
There's gonna be no instruction.
There's gonna be no lesson.
(16:30):
There's gonna be some questions,and you're gonna do them.
There's gonna be some games.
You're gonna engage in them.
And slowly but surely, your mindis going to register,"I am doing
math.
Nothing bad is happening.
And in fact, I know more than Ithought I did." Hopefully you're
noticing right now that thesenice, cute little bite-sized
experiments I'm giving you worktogether because this works with
(16:51):
an experiment and experience Igave you in the first part of
this miniseries, which was tocollect small math moments.
You're gonna download DuolingoMath, and you're gonna start
using it, and every day you'regonna collect that small math
moment.
You're gonna collect thatevidence, and you're gonna put
it in your evidence folder.
That's two of the experiments,right?
You're not only collecting asmall math moment, That was
experiment number four, you'renow collecting evidence, that
(17:13):
was experiment number three, andyou're downloading Duolingo
Math, that was experiment numberseven.
So like you're doing threethings at once here.
You are going to show yourself,"I'm engaging in math and
nothing bad is happening.
I'm engaging in math and I knowmore than I think I did.
I'm engaging in math and it'skind of fun.
I'm engaging in math and I'mgetting better at it." That's
why you're gonna do it.
The thing is, this is lowstakes.
(17:33):
It's tiny wins.
You're gonna click the beginneroption and you're just gonna go
for it.
You're gonna get some stuffwrong.
You're not always gonna get theright answer.
You're gonna see that it's notthat big of a thing.
And you know what?
If you have a friend who's usingDuolingo or maybe you are that
friend, I noticed somethingabout these Duolingo people.
They're so into Duolingo.
I've got friends learninglanguages they have no need to
learn or use.
(17:54):
I have this friend who's beenlearning Turkish for three
years, and there's no reasonwhy.
He's just doing it.
He-- I think he had a crush onlike a Turkish girl at one point
and he started learning it andnow he's like obsessed with his
streak.
Every day he does his Duolingo.
I don't know if he's ever, he'sever spoken the language, if
he's ever used it.
But there's something aboutDuolingo, it's gamified, number
one, so it keeps you kind ofhooked, right?
(18:15):
Like, if you're into like any ofthose New York Times games like
Wordle or like Pips orConnections, I'm very into
those.
I just-- I kind of-- I-- It'slike my dopamine, right?
But I'm learning, but it's alsomy dopamine.
That's how Duolingo has it setup.
It's on your phone.
It's an app.
It's gamified.
It gives you some dopamine whilealso it's slowly reworking your
brain, right?
My dad has been secretlylearning Italian on Duolingo for
(18:38):
two years.
I didn't know this.
The only reason I know is'causelast week we went to this
Italian cafe and, you know, thebarista said something, and my
dad responded in Italian.
And I was like,"I, I'm, I'msorry.
Did you..." They started havinga full conversation in fucking
Italian.
Now, was his Italian perfect?
I don't think so.
I don't know.
(18:58):
I don't speak Italian.
He was able to understand him.
He had a convers- I was like,"What's going on?" He was like,
"Oh, I've been doing ItalianDuolingo for two years." What?
I had no idea.
And the pleasure on his face,the excitement, like he just
looked like a tiny kid gettingso excited when this barista
started talking back to himbecause he understood what he
was saying.
And I was like,"This is just socool." I really think Duolingo
(19:20):
has it figured out, and you knowthis if you use it or know
people who use it.
They, there's-- they're notlike,"Ugh, I gotta do my
Duolingo." They like it, right?
They h- because what's happeningis in small bite-sized doses,
they are learning something.
They're feeling good about it.
There's nothing explicit goingon.
There's no test at the end ofit.
Actually, I do think they mighthave like some little quizzes
(19:41):
and stuff here and there.
But the point is that it's allfeel good because- You're kind
of casually learning this thingin a very low stakes
environment.
Even if you get something wrong,there's an opportunity for you
to correct yourself, and thenyou just move on with the
lesson, and before you know it,you know Italian, whereas you
never knew Italian to beginwith.
(20:02):
And that's what's gonna happenwith math.
So I want you to download thisapp, and I want you to just
start it.
Notice no one's walking aroundsaying,"I'm not a Wordle
person," or,"I'm not a Pipsperson." That's not like a thing
because there's no type ofperson who's like mastered
Wordle.
We're all just doing it for funand learning, and we have
different strategies.
There's no way to be the best atWordle, and that's the same
(20:22):
thing with Duolingo Math.
There's no like mastery, I'm thenumber one person on Duolingo
Math.
We're all just on there.
We have been on there for adifferent amount of days.
We have different streaks.
We're engaged in differentthings, and it's just a low
stakes way to, again, what arewe doing?
Showing your nervous system it'ssafe when it does math.
It's safe when it does math.
Not only is it safe, it gets alittle bit excited when it's
(20:44):
math time the next day becauseyou're gonna get that dopamine
hit.
Remember, confidence growsthrough hundreds and thousands
of many tiny safe experiences,and this is just another one of
those experiences you can giveyourself every day without
having to like do a full mathlesson or a course or a
worksheet.
And finally, the last experimentof the eight, this is a big one,
(21:08):
okay?
Remember, I am here to show youhow to feel more confident about
math in the fall, and one of thethings, one of our biggest
triggers for all of us, one ofthe reasons we're here right now
listening to this podcast isbecause something broke our
heart.
There was a math concept orlesson that broke us, and we
have never healed.
(21:29):
And so experiment number eightis to go back and relearn the
thing that broke your heart.
And if you're anything like meright now, you're like,"No, no,
no," your entire body isfighting this.
Like, that's as though I wassaying,"Okay, Vanessa, the thing
you have to do is go and finallylearn how taxes work." I would
also-- I would throw mymicrophone out the window and be
like,"I hate you now." I get it.
(21:51):
I get it.
But before you press stop and,like, decide to disown me and
never listen to this podcastagain, let me tell you something
right now.
The thing that broke your heartin math class was probably
something you learned, like,under the age of 14.
I j- I just want you to thinkabout it this way.
I'm not trying to excuse myself,but I'm like, taxes are like a
grown-up thing, okay?
So they're scarier because it'smore recent that this thing
(22:13):
started stressing me out.
For you guys, the thing thatbroke your heart in math class
was probably something youlearned under the age of 14.
It was probably fractions, ormaybe it was algebra.
Maybe it was when letters gotintroduced into math class, as a
lot of people say, right?
Like, maybe it was your timestables.
Maybe it happened that young.
(22:34):
Maybe it was long division.
Like, I'm just stating somecommon ones, but maybe it was
something else.
My point is, as an adult, youhave now dealt with a million
things that are way harder andway more higher stakes than not
being able to add two fractionstogether.
At the time, it seemedimpossible.
At the time, think about youryoung brain, like your
nine-year-old brain.
(22:55):
The knowledge it had to draw onwas very limited compared to all
of the knowledge you have todraw on now.
You are going to be able tolearn that thing.
I know you don't believe me, butit is not gonna be as scary as
you remember it.
Your body is remembering andhanging on to the trauma
response of the math trauma thatoccurred when you tried to learn
(23:16):
this thing and you couldn'tlearn it, something bad
happened, or you simply werejust like,"I can't learn this
thing, and I feel really, reallydumb." Your body's gonna
remember that forever unless youteach it a different story, and
you can only teach it adifferent story by giving it a
different experience.
So you need to go back andrelearn that thing.
Now, listen I'm not asking youto relearn this thing because
you're gonna teach it.
Maybe you're listening andyou're like,"I don't- I'm- I
teach grade two.
(23:37):
I don't need to go back andlearn algebra.
I don't e-" You don't need to.
You don't need to learn it'causeyou're gonna teach it.
But learning it is going toprove something so major to you
that I really want you to do it.
I want you to do it for you, notfor the kids you're gonna teach.
I want you to do it for you.
So first you need to get reallyclear.
What was that thing?
I might have already said it andyou were like,"Oh God, just
(23:58):
don't.
Fractions.
No." Like, I don't know what itwas.
What was that thing?
Let's get clear.
What was it?
Once you're clear on it, let'sfigure out how you're gonna
learn it.
I want you to picture you had toteach it to somebody.
What would you do?
Like imagine you had to teach itto your younger self.
What would you have done forthat person?
Would you have pulled on someresources that maybe didn't even
exist during that time?
Like, we've got so much at ourfingertips right now, right?
(24:20):
Like, would you pull on someresources?
Would you get your best friendto do it?
Would you get, like, yourfavorite math teacher that you
know now to teach it to you?
Would you ask ChatGPT?
Would you need something moretactile and visual?
Would you want manipulatives?
Would you...
Like, I don't, I don't know.
Whatever it is you need, we canget it for you, right?
(24:40):
Like we're-- It's 2026.
We can get whatever that thingis you need, right?
Like, I know so many incrediblemath teachers, some of you are
probably listening to thispodcast, that I'm like, if I
ever had to explain a concept tothe younger me or to a student
right now, I'd be like,"Oh,get...
Honestly, get Deborah Peart.
There.
Just get..." I, I know for afact she's gonna teach it in the
best way.
Like, do you know what I mean?
(25:01):
Like, I'm like, if Deborahtaught me anything, like, I
would learn it.
It would, it would be the-- Thatwould, that would be the end of
that.
Do you know what I mean?
Or like Allison Mello.
I'm like,"Yeah, you teach mesomething." You know what I
mean?
Like, there are people, and, andyou, especially if you work in a
school, if you're a teacher, youprobably know the person that
you're like,"Oh, that mathteacher.
I wish that..." That person thatyou're like,"I wish that person
was my math teacher," get themto reteach you the concept that
(25:23):
broke your heart.
That's what we're doing.
That's it.
That's it.
And this isn't because you haveto teach it, right?
It's because the younger versionof you deserve that rom-com
ending, and you're gonna get itright now.
The truth is, every time youradult brain understands
something that your younger selfcouldn't, you are rewriting the
story, and that is math therapy.
(25:45):
That's what it's all about.
Okay, guys, I'm really excitedfor you.
We have now done eight thingstogether.
On this episode, we've only donefour, but I wanna recap all
eight of them so you have eighttiny experiences and experiments
you can try starting right nowto feel more confident about
math in the fall and to rewireyour nervous system so it begins
to feel safer around math sothat confidence is possible.
(26:08):
Are we ready?
Let's run them down.
Okay, number one, find that onemath friend, your pep talker,
that person that's gonna...
You know, you can text when youfeel stuck, when you feel like
you don't wanna do this anymore,that's gonna be like,"You're
cool.
Don't worry about it.
Keep going." Number two, replacethe word proving with improving
by asking yourself,"What's onething I could understand 1%
better today?" Number three,build an evidence folder.
(26:29):
Evidence that you are doing hardthings and you are learning new
things, and nothing bad ishappening.
Number four, start collectingmath moments.
Those are moments around youthat you're observing math,
you're engaging in math, you'redoing math, you're around math,
and you're not scared, and maybeyou're even having a little bit
of fun.
Number five, practice being badat something, anything.
I don't care what it is.
(26:49):
Practice and practiceconsistently and see what
happens.
Number six, read one mindset orpsychology book or listen to one
mindset or psychology podcast.
Number seven, download DuolingoMath and start right now every
single day.
It's like two to three minutes.
You've got this.
And number eight, go back andlearn the thing that broke your
heart.
Are we ready?
You guys have got this.
I want you to text me right now.
(27:11):
Tell me what you did last week,if you did anything.
Tell me what you're committed todoing this week, and hey, there
are eight things.
You could even pick one a weekstarting right now if you want.
So text me.
Click the link in your shownotes that says Text Us or Text
Me or whatever it says, and tellme the one experiment you are
gonna start doing right now, andlet's see how it goes.
(27:33):
And remember, if you arelistening to this and you're
like,"Oh my God.
Oh my God.
Oh my God," you know who needsto do this, I want you to send
it to that person.
I want you to send this to yourgroup chat.
Maybe you have a group chat ofteachers that you're like,"Guys,
let's all do this together."Okay, guys.
Thank you so much for listeningto my first ever Math Therapy
Mini Masterclass series.
That was so fun.
I can't wait to hear from you,and I believe in you.
(27:53):
I have faith in you.
Remember, this is not aboutperfection.
It is about just witnessing ourprogress, witnessing what
happens when we willingly andintentionally engage
consistently in these tinyexperiments and experiences.
When we do, we change.
Let's observe that changetogether.
Let's observe it and show ournegativity bias,"Hey.
(28:16):
Hi.
I have the receipts.
I can do anything I put my mindto, including rebuilding my
relationship with math." Thetruth is, your students don't
just learn math from you.
They learn how to feel aboutmath from you, and you doing
this with me right now is such agreat gift, not only to you, but
to them.
Because I can't wait for you totell them about it when you get
(28:36):
into class in September.
Thank you guys so much for beingalong for the ride.
I can't wait to hear from you.
Text me, and I will see you nextweek, same time, same channel,
same place, same sweaty, hotroom where I've been staring at
the lake now for two hourswanting to jump in.
And guess what, guys?
I'm gonna go jump in right now.
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