3 Simple Easy Ways to Minimize Math Phobia

 

3 Super Easy Ways to Minimize Math Phobia! So last time we established that Yes! Math Phobia (the fear of Math) is a real thing. Contrary to popular belief, students can suffer from it too.. It’s NOT JUST THE TEACHERS! In my last post, we explored some reasons why our students might have Math Phobia as well as some practical teaching strategies with how to help them. (Did you miss it? Click here to catch up!) 

Today, we’re going to get into 3 super easy (very practical) ways to minimize Math Phobia for your students! AND don’t miss out on the Math Freebie!! Here we go! 

 So I want you to understand that your students with Math Phobia literally have locked doors on their brains from anxiety. This means that they have shut down and basically prevented themselves from learning before you have even started teaching. It’s not their fault and most of them couldn’t even tell you that… all they know is that they feel defeated before the lesson begins. So what do you do if you come across a locked door? Well, you have to find another way in. Stop trying to go through a door if it’s locked (unless you can “unlock” it with the strategies from my last post!) So this brings us to Math Phobia Teaching Tip #1 

1. FUN and GAMES!! I just can’t begin to describe the POWER of calling something a “Game” (even when it’s not really one!) As soon as you mention that Math is going to be “Fun” today and then you kick your Math lesson off with an unconventional method like a Game… you have immediately found a way back into engaging with your students’ minds. It’s super easy and it’s super effective! It really only takes a few minutes to tweak your lesson plans to allow for a Fun way to shake things up. Games can be integrated as part of teaching a new concept or as a fun review! However they are used, they will lessen anxiety and maybe, just maybe motivate your students to look forward to Math everyday (gasp!)! But if your brain doesn’t naturally think “fun” and if need some help getting there, don’t worry! I have taken the time and done the work for you! Hop on over to The Owl Spot at TpT to find all kinds of Math Games including: Math Puzzle Races, Math Boggle, Emoji Multiplication Mystery Pictures, a Decimal Game Pack and SO MUCH MORE! Remember structure and routine are so important for learning but it can also be those times when things are out of the routine that you have piqued curiosity and generated some enthusiastic attention from your students. Use Fun and Games to your advantage and you will minimize Math Phobia for sure! Here’s a super fun Math FREEBIE on Division Practice to get you started! 

2. Use Food Whenever Possible. Yes. I’m absolutely serious. (Just remind them that there is no eating until the end of the lesson!) Are you teaching a lesson that requires manipulatives? Bring out the goldfish crackers and just watch your kids become the most motivated math students ever! M&M’s work great for sorting, for teaching fractions in relation to parts of a set as well as all the operations! (Just remember to have them do their addition and multiplication before the subtraction because subtraction means EATING!) If you’re worried about food allergies, use mini marshmallows or even the time old classic Cheerios! (Don’t want to use food? Try substituting your boring paper manipulatives for Legos, or Hot Wheels cars, mini erasers, or other mini toys. It’s out of the ordinary so it will grab your students’ attention FAST!) 

3. Create Personalized Word Problems. So even your students that don’t feel Math Phobia for regular math lessons, may begin to feel their hearts race when those word problems surface! There is something about applying math that makes it especially overwhelming! Remembering this about your students can further motivate you to find ways to get them to relax (maybe even laugh a little!) so that they can strategically think through how to solve a problem. Take some time and write out your own word problems with silly storylines or with names of people that you know (including yourself or maybe have the principal buying donuts for a staff meeting!), or with fads or trends that the kids are all talking about anyway! Some kids love to see their own names used in word problems! (Just be sensitive about what the problem is about and remember that some kids wouldn’t like their name included!) 

I hope that these 3 super easy teaching tricks can help you to minimize Math Phobia for your students! Teaching math so that all of your students understand can be a challenge. I once read a reminder that if your students are willing and eager to learn, then it is up to us as teachers to FIND A WAY to help them understand and learn. That’s a pretty powerful perspective. I hope that these strategies will help you help your students! 

Join Me Next Time for More Teaching Tips! 

Martha

Math Phobia

 

MATH PHOBIA!!! It’s Real. And for some of your students, it’s keeping them from succeeding. 

Math Phobia It’s that terrifying fear of Math that plagues some kids. But what is it REALLY? Well, it really boils down to that fear of failure and that fear of not understanding. Each year, more and more kids suffer from Math Phobia. I would argue that this is because so much of Math builds on previously learned concepts. Many students who have Math Phobia have somehow fallen through the cracks in Math Mastery in previous years. Thankfully, we have an opportunity to help them by reviewing basic concepts before moving on to new material. 

Today’s strategy for minimizing Math Phobia is to Review the Basic Building Block Operations. Since so much of math can be dissected down to simpler concepts, we need to review those concepts with our students in order to provide immediate feedback on which concept is giving them trouble. Believe it or not, one of the most important concepts to review, and one of the best starting points, is the time honored Basic Math Facts. Helping your students master those math facts will help them get one step closer to feeling confident in their math skills. Please don’t assume that your students know their facts… even if they’re in upper elementary grades! ALL of your students can benefit from some math fact review, especially as those standardized assessments are drawing near! To save you some time, I’ve already created some fun and non-threatening ways to review those basic operations! You can check them out here. If those state assessments are already weighing heavily on your mind, feel free to use my great math test prep resources! 

Helping your students master those math facts, reassures both you and them that they are ready to then apply those basic math operations in more advanced concepts. Remember that your students’ math negativity could be caused by Math Phobia, so they might just need someone to make sure that they have mastered all of the basic math concepts needed before they tackle the more advanced ones. 

Sometimes if we’ve been teaching math for a while, we can lose sight of what it’s like for our students. For example, have you ever thought about everything that is wrapped up in understanding fractions? Mastering fractions really means not only knowing your math facts, but also understanding the difference between factors and multiples as well as how to find both of them, memorizing when you need to find a common denominator and when you don’t (and how to find one!) plus understanding when the denominator stays the same and only the numerator changes and when they both change. And of course then there is how to simplify fractions! Somehow kids also have to learn that dividing fractions is solved by multiplying by the reciprocal! WHEW! There is A LOT that kids need to keep track of and build upon. We as teachers are prone to over simplify and think that our students might struggle with “fractions”, but in reality, they might not understand a number of the key foundational concepts. Remember that so many math concepts are foundations built by much smaller building blocks. It doesn’t take too long for a motivated teacher to figure out just where the breakdown in mastery is. It’s a wise use of time to Review the Basic Building Block Operations. 

Sometimes teachers actually work a lot more like detectives when it comes to remedial help as they look for clues and solve the mystery of what is hindering mastery. Remember that a lot of Math Phobia can be addressed by simply working with your students step by step (giving timely feedback) to make sure that they understand each building block of their foundational math. It’s worth that extra time to review! Join me next time as we discuss another strategy for tackling Math Phobia! 

Teach in order to Transform Lives, 

Martha 

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MATH TEST PREP FOR ELEMENTARY STUDENTS 

Do you struggle with finding resources for math to get your students ready for state testing? 

Here are some links from "The Owl Spot" on Teachers Pay Teachers that you may want to check out. Just click the image for a direct link to the product.

I created them for my students to review skills before testing. My kiddos were engaged during class, and they rocked the test!

Multiplication Football Partner Game

Division Riddles and Worksheets

Color By Code for Addition and Subtraction

Color By Code for Multiplication and Division

Coordinate Pair Graphing Game (similar to Battleship!)

Place Value Riddles

Equivalent Fractions Snowman Activity

Digital Multiplication Charts - Whole Class Game

Multiplication Task Cards

Fractions Conversions Pizza Activity

Fraction Task Cards

Classifying Angles Activities

4th Grade Whole Number Place Value and Operations Task Cards 

3rd Grade Whole Number Place Value and Operations Task Cards

5th Grade Place Value and Operations Task Cards

Order of Operations Task Cards

Order of Operations: Truth or Lie Partner Game

Order of Operations Partner Games