Math should be a passion, not a requirement for success.
As a person who genuinely loves math and loves teaching math, I truly believe it’s not for everyone.
When people ask me what I do and I tell them I’m a math coach and former professor, they are astounded and automatically create this idea in their mind of the type of person and educator I must be. They see me as someone who will be able to magically make their kids understand or even love math and who believes that math is essential for life. I’m the complete opposite. For starters, I don’t think everyone needs to be an expert in math. People who don’t have a genuine passion or desire to learn it won’t die or somehow be doomed for life. Nor will they not succeed in life because they aren’t that great at it. I think it’s more effective to get students to see their brain as a muscle like any other part of their body. Just like other muscles are kept in shape if you workout and go to the gym, so is your brain. At the gym, an effective workout calls for you to focus on different areas of your body on different days of the week. Similarly, math works a part of the brain that you can choose to focus on or not.
That’s how we have to approach math when teaching it. Is this a muscle this person needs to work out to prepare them for later? Similarly, does every kid in high school need to take math up to and through calculus? If they choose a field of study in college that will require higher levels of math then, of course, they should learn more in order to build up their skills, otherwise I would say the answer is no.
As an unconventional teacher of math, I completely agree with students when they ask “when will I ever use this?” Or when I see social media posts from 40-year olds who admit that they still have not used the quadratic formula in real life because they are absolutely right. Truthfully, they may never use it in the way that it is taught in class, with formulas and equations. Most people will not use formulas in your daily life unless they choose a career where formulas are required to perform the job.
If you love math, it is not hard for you and you’re interested in doing it, then I want to be your coach to help you reach your goals. Oftentimes kids are forced into learning math because their parents think it’s important for them to know it or their parents want them to be a doctor or scientist. Their parents may believe they won’t be successful in life if they don’t master math. None of those ideas are true. More importantly, I want to know what the kid wants and if math will be a part of their plans. In my work with kids, I know that they learn best when they are motivated and have a passion for their subject. I have been approached by people who think that this Coronavirus pandemic is my time to shine as a math tutor/coach. They believe I should be elated to take on the challenge of reaching kids through math now that there is an increased need for one-on-one coaching. However, teaching math to kids who have zero desire to learn it makes me more of a drill coach. That’s not what inspires me about being a math coach.
For parents who are trying to be there for their kids while also trying to be their math teacher, don’t stress if you can’t do both. School systems are forcing them into the role of teacher, which many are not trained or prepared. As someone who is trained and has taught lots of kids with varying abilities math, it is a challenging task, particularly as math generates a lot of anxieties in young people. In this moment, being a parent for your kid is more important than trying to teach something you don’t really even understand.
As we continue to deal with COVID-19, I hope school systems reconsider their approach to students struggling to learn math. As a parent and math educator, I want to push back on the assumptions that school districts are making about the ease of teaching students math and transitioning to a fully online school. In order to be successful at math, your kids need to be self-motivated and able to learn without significant help. Those conditions are likely not happening during a pandemic, which will make the task even more difficult. So, for those parents who feel like they have to be perfect, let that go. Try to find a way to make math fun for your kids. If you don’t understand math enough to teach it to your kids, there is no reason to be embarrassed or anxious, it’s meant to be something that takes practice and training.
The bottom line is I love math and believe not everybody has to study it. If you hire me to be your kid’s math coach, I’m going to be honest and direct about the challenges. I won’t take the job just so I can get paid. If your kid is stressed out about math, my job will be to focus on the stressor/point of anxiousness, help eliminate it, and transform their confusion into clarity. At times it may feel like such an unconventional learning environment but my style of teaching works. I focus on alleviating math anxiety while building math confidence. I want to be the person to show your kid that math can be fun, connect some dots between the math they already know and the math they’re trying to learn and help them relax. Math is important, but only for those who believe it is something they will need for their passions.
