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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