Chapter Seven: Teaching Difficult Academic Material

"I got lost in my math class- this one little thing, "SOHCAHTOA," got me off track. He sees that a couple of students understand it and he assumes we all do, and he moves on. I don't feel comfortable asking for help. He's so intent on moving ahead that he doesn't make space for us to ask," -Lauraliz (page 135).

This is exactly why math anxiety is such a problem in the education system today! Math teachers expect students to see a problem on the board, solve it, and move on. Little do they realize, the students are completely overwhelmed and too embarrassed to ask questions because they do not want to hold back the class.

Lauraliz's quote completely reminds me of the story that Dr. Theresa was telling our class about the little girl who said, "Math is a bunch of numbers on a piece of paper that somebody else has the answers to". Many teachers are guilty for moving on and leaving some students behind. The problematic issue that arises from this is that students are developing serious cases of anxiety... especially when it comes to math. Speaking from my own experience, I hated math with a passion. The teacher would always expect me to understand and when I did not, he would tell me to ask another student. When I asked my peer for help, the peer could not explain it to me and just would give me the answer. I never learned anything. When it came time to move on, I was utterly confused. But I would never ask for help! I never wanted to be that kid who held the class behind by asking questions that were obvious to other students. It was embarrassing. So, I kept my mouth shut. This repetitive cycle of confusion led me to believe that math was a scary topic because no matter what, I would never understand the material, and I would never succeed. This cycle in the education system needs to end. Teachers need to understand that students learn at different paces and just because one student cannot keep up with the rest, that does not mean that the particular student is stupid or that the child cannot understand the material. If educators are able to recognize the fact that they cannot conform to teaching by the pace of a textbook, then they will not only begin to notice a change in the success rate of their students, but they will also notice a decrease in the amount of students with math (or any other subject) anxiety.