Math Therapy

We’re often talking about trauma from the student perspective: how it happens in the classroom, and how it follows them into adulthood.  But one group is often overlooked in this discussion - teachers!  Today Vanessa chats with educator Brittany Hege about the challenges teachers often face in keeping up with changing pedagogies, while already being strapped for time and often struggling with math traumas of their own!  This is an ...

Of the truly infinite things Vanessa likes to rant about, few top the list like math’s marketing problem - which is why she was elated to chat with social media mathstar Howie Hua!  Today Howie shares how his own experiences with math anxiety sucked the joy out of math when he was a student, and how he started to bring it back for both himself and his students when he became a teacher.  He’s built a massive following on TikTok and ...

When you picture a mathematician, what comes to mind?  Now … what about a “mathematical explorer”?  Well, that’s what Francis Su calls himself, and when Vanessa picked up his book Mathematics for Human Flourishing, she couldn’t put it down. On today's episode they explore how mathematical discovery can unleash the wonder and curiosity innate within us all.  They also discuss some deep questions, like why do people have differe...

Longtime listeners (like today’s guest, as you’ll discover…) will recall one name popping up in almost every interview last season, so Vanessa needed to find out for herself: who is Zak Champagne & why do people like him so much?! Through today’s rollercoaster episode she discovered a teacher with boundless enthusiasm for the joys of teaching, grounded in a deep respect for his students. 

They unpack what we really mea...

On the Season 6 premiere of Math Therapy, Vanessa chats with Dr. Pamela Seda, an expert in all things education and inspiration!  They dive deep into hot topics like how teachers can build trust in the classroom by modelling vulnerability, the benefits of cultivating community over competition, and a fascinating metaphor that illustrates what equity and accommodations truly mean in our schools.

About Pam (Website, Insta, Twitter, Fa...

It's March 14th, aka 3.14 ... so Happy Pi Day!  To help you get in the zone, we're re-airing an episode from last year recounting the Math Therapy team's Pi Day 2023 trip to Bellamy Creek Correctional Facility in Michigan.  This stemmed from Vanessa's Season 3, Episode 10 interview with Christopher Havens, an inmate serving a 25-year sentence for murder who has rehabilitated himself with math and founded the Pri...

The rumours are true!  (The rumours that Vanessa has been spreading herself.)  Season 6 of Math Therapy launches March 28th!

To get you hyped while we get this batch of episodes ready for you, here are some brief thoughts she recorded immediately after we finished a marathon 10 interviews over 4 days.  What themes did she cover? Will she or her guests get cancelled this season?  How much did she annoy her producer David?  ...

Don't worry, Math Therapy isn't going anywhere ... but here's a fun bonus episode as we look back on an incredible 5th season!  It was a total success in every possible way, except one: for whatever reason, Vanessa lost the ability to simply say "goodbye" at the end of the interviews.

This hadn't been an issue in previous seasons but she somehow got very in her head about it, and when her prod...

In Vanessa's masters thesis titled "Imagining a World Where Paris Hilton Loves Math", there was nobody quoted more frequently than today's guest, Stanford professor Dr. Jo Boaler.  On the season 5 finale of Math Therapy, Vanessa sits down with her math ed hero to discuss how limiting beliefs vs a growth mindset impact the brain, how struggle and mistake-making benefit learning, and the extremely personal resista...

Peter Liljedahl is literally changing the math classroom.  His book "Building Thinking Classrooms" has taken the educational world by storm with a simple message: instead of teaching students to memorize, we have to teach them to think.  Sounds trite, but if you ... think about it, traditional classrooms are not designed that way!

Today, Peter explains to Vanessa how a "thinking classroom" swaps out tab...

Should mistake-making be encouraged in math class? Or should mistakes be shamed because “in the real world” you can get fired from your job from making a mistake? You can probably guess how Vanessa feels, but a fellow educator recently disagreed … so of course she took to Twitter and a spirited convo ensued!

On today’s episode she further outer-processes her thoughts on this topic, and shares two classroom exercises that encourage c...

Today's guest literally entered the chat wearing a t-shirt that read "TRUTH MATTERS”, and that sure set the tone for this wide-ranging episode!  Crystal M. Watson is an educator who firmly believes in centering student voices in the classroom, and she also advocates for empowering students by making math practical and meaningful to their life experience.  Throw in some discussion on defining success, different approaches ...

In today's episode, Vanessa explores the dangers of narrowly defining success and argues that contrary to popular belief, failure and success are actually BFF, not opposites (looking at you, Merriam-Webster!).  She also shares a practical classroom tool for teachers and students to collaborate on shared definitions of success to support everyone's learning.

Connect with us:

• Vanessa Vakharia: @themathguru (Inst...

In honour of Pride Month, we're taking a mid-season 5 break to re-air one of our all-time fave episodes featuring mathematician / drag queen Kyne Santos.  Drag has been in the news lately for all the wrong reasons, so we wanted to share Kyne's inspiring story of breaking stereotypes and defying the haters.

If you're new to the podcast we also highly recommend going back and listening to the season 4 finale ...

Think of this week's episode as a kind of reverse palate cleanser ... Vanessa and today's guest Robert Kaplinsky more than make up for the lack of swearing last week!  What got them fired up?  Oh, just the systemic barriers to educational reform and the lack of support for both teachers and students when it comes to working through math anxiety ... But don't worry, it's not all doom and gloom; Robert is certain ...

Last week's episode featured a deep dive with Vanessa into math trauma: what it is and how to avoid it. Today, brain expert Liesl McConchie joins her to explain the neurological science of trauma, debunk the myth of the "math gene", and discuss the hopeful promise of neuroplasticity.  And not to be all clickbaity, but Vanessa ends up sharing some pretty intense math trauma of her own...

About Liesl:  (Twitte...

Each episode, Vanessa discusses the impacts that math trauma can have on our collective relationship with math.  But she realized she's never explained what it is!  In this episode she defines what math trauma actually is, unpacks why traumatic educational experiences happen more often in math than in other subjects, and lists 8 common causes of math trauma for educators to be aware of.

• The tweet that started it all
• Free web...

You know how readers read and writers write?  Well one day Deborah Peart decided that math should also be a verb, so she created the Mather movement.  She and Vanessa discuss the difference between a "mather" and a "mathematician", how numeracy and literacy are basically the same thing, and how bringing a mindfulness approach to her classrooms led to her being known by her students simply as "Peace Lady&quo...