Math Gangs
Math (n): The abstract science of number, quantity, and space, either as abstract concepts (pure), or as applied to other disciplines such as physics and engineering (applied).
With all that fancy language, it’s no wonder there is a lot of confusion and anxiety around this subject. As soon as you read that first word, you probably had an immediate reaction.
Either you cringed and had a flood of bad memories and emotions, or you felt all warm and fuzzy as if you were Forrest Gump coming home to Mama. There are rarely people who are in between. People usually say “I love Math” or “I hate Math,” but rarely are we moderate in our feelings about Math. And we act like this is the Math Gang we are in for life: Math Haters or Math Warm & Fuzzies. Unconsciously, and unfortunately, we pass along our Math Gang Affiliation to our kids.
If you are a Hater, I would argue it is not actually the math you hate. It’s your experiences with math that sucked the ever-living life out of you. Math itself is an abstract science (see the expert Oxford’s definition above) – just a way of thinking and applying information. I am guessing that somewhere along the way, your learning experiences were not positive and you associate that yucky feeling with math, even though math itself never did anything to hurt you. Remember: Math is not the enemy!
On the other hand, if you are a Warm & Fuzzy, you probably had positive learning experiences. You were most likely introduced to the concepts under supportive and safe conditions, you may have been taught to take risks, question regularly, look for patterns, and make connections to the science of math and your real life. Or, if you were an education major, you may have realized in your math methods course that Math (big M) is not the enemy. Somewhere along the way you realized Math is actually your friend.
As adults in education, it’s time we make up with Math.
If you want to move from being a Hater towards being a Warm & Fuzzy, you can baby step this thing. Many of you who are Math Haters are Literature Warm & Fuzzies. You get that warm and fuzzy feeling around books. You could jump in them and love them and they are your friends. So, leverage this. Why don’t you start to use some picture books in Math to increase your comfort and interest?
You can use picture books as part of your mini-lessons, part of your stations, part of your small groups, and there are even some novels that lend themselves to Math.
If you want some titles to get started, click here and here for some math books that have won awards.
Becoming a Math Warm & Fuzzy won’t happen overnight. It’s ok. Give yourself permission to slowly change your Hater ways. No need to get all crazy, just try to plan a math lesson or two that includes some actual books. It’s not as hard as you think.
#TeamWarmAndFuzzy