A Story About Turning Math Anxiety into Achievement

“Grow up dear and start solving your own problems”.

This popular meme floating on social media always triggers my thinking. It seems to be an age-old way to vent out the stress created by the subject. The last few decades have seen so much shift in the teaching-learning pedagogy, however, the math phobia remains. Researchers have proved that around 50 percent of the population is affected by math anxiety. It is more prevalent in women than in men. Also, it can start as early as age 5 when numbers are being just introduced. Philosophers and thinkers list various reasons for the same. Going through all those reasons I realized that teaching-learning practices are at their core. We need to update them and sync them with needs of the Gen X.

Thus began my journey of unlearning and relearning my math skill. I had to do it for my students, to ensure no stress classroom during math lessons. I started reading, exploring experimenting to have students love the subject. As Math skill will go with them beyond schooling years, for which they need a strong base.

Enters Shriya, whose smile seems to vanish as soon as she heard me say “Let us start with Math now”. Shriya, generally a regular and independent student, who actively took part in various class engagements frequently missed online math lessons. When approached, she very happily would blame it on the net or state some random excuse.

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But then started her ordeal of physically being present in my class after the schools reopened post-pandemic. Her parents had already confided in me about her math phobia. Shriya too very innocently stated that “It’s so boring, I cannot even mute the call, close the screen, and have to listen to you”.

“OK Dear!” was my reply. “Let us make the class a little interesting for you. Would you like to give out numbers to classmates to solve?” With a heavy heart, she came forward and picked out the number card and flashed it for her peers to note and start their calculations. While I was busy interacting with other students Shriya sat silently looking at the numbers she had picked. Students around her were busy playing with numbers and trying to solve the given task. Once the class completed the task, we all thanked Shriya for taking those numbers out for us. As the task had turned out to be easy because of that. We collectively decided to make her the star of the day.

I started involving Shriya more and more during the math lesson, giving her responsibilities and involving her in various simple random tasks. To my surprise, Shriya would wait for taking out numbers for the upcoming math lessons. However, as a class rule, we could not give her a chance again, so she decided to sit and be on the other side. I quietly whispered into her years that she could pick her own numbers to do the task. And am glad I did that as she picked up easy numbers to solve the given task. Though she missed out on getting the golden star, which I give out for all correct, I asked her to draw out an ice cream cone for herself for a good attempt. “Do colour the cone with your favourite ice cream flavour” And she smiled.

During the morning circle time, I started with simple math based games, like boom bam, make a sentence, and math magic tricks with students. They really liked it and tried to guess the solution. They started asking friends from other sections and became math magicians. Shriya however still did not have the courage to approach peers as she was not confident with her calculations. So she took the trick home and tried it with her family. She practiced it a couple of times before she confronted them. I was her first audience. Even with her first few fails, I could read her eyes, how much she wanted to taste success here. As a result of emotional learning curriculum being done in school, peers too came forward and supported her. The encouragement she got from there boosted her morale so much that she could not stop talking about it in class.

Then came the concept of fractions where all-time favorite pizza is frequently used as an example. I used stories as a tool to introduce the concept. Students were involved in a follow up activity, which gave them hands-on learning experience of the concept. Once the basics was understood, I moved on to using pizza as an example and every time Shriya would solve fractions properly, I would message her mother, who in turn would cater for a pizza meal.

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“My family sat around the table and I had to give one fifth of the pizza to all members”, reported Shriya, the very next day. Great dear, today try eating two thirds of apple pieces at home. I was confident that Shriya would be able to calculate how many pieces of apple to eat, as I had already messaged her mother to cut the apple into six pieces. Shriya was able to make 3 groups of  the given apple pieces, but not able to decide how much to eat, so she send me a pic over WhatsApp. I just replied with a guiding question and next minute got a smiling picture with correct apple pieces next to a smiling face.

Shriya then volunteered to take a flip classroom for the next math lesson on fractions. She not only prepared herself for the explanation but also got worksheets ready for her peers. Shriya even gave out stars to all students who deserved them as per her, and in turn, she got the gold star from me. I had to encourage her for her efforts.

Next few concepts, saw Shriya taking a keen interest in the subject and trying her level best. Stumbling at places, this new Shriya did not mind redoing the task. She now had understood that understanding basics were the key to success and that one day she would get the gold star for all correct tasks.

I on my end kept on with my research and tried to make my lesson more engaging, interactive and one with which students could connect with. A mock market was set up in class to practice the concept of money. A number line was made on the floor for understanding decimals. Hopscotch was used for jumping on place values in the international number system.   Students played the game of battleship after understanding the coordinates. The class game of Housie was customized to revisit and recap the concepts done. “Who will become the next millionaire” TV show was enacted in my class with a student sitting on the hot seat till they give correct answers to mathematical questions.

Finally came the day, Shriya not only earned her golden star, but it did not stop there, as she was now aiming to get the Math Marshall badge I gave out to students who not only mastered the concept but were ready for peer teaching. And the day she did that, I realized that Math had itself solved its own problem by being supportive in Shriya’s journey from a math hater to a math lover.

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Authored By- 
Smriti Sajjanhar,
PBL Coordinator,
Bugle Editorial Board, Genesis Global School, Noida