Are you good in math?

If this question causes you just a little anxiety, you are not alone. I am seriously tempted to list the horror stories of my education. One of them was a deep insecurity about my abilities with math. It is an example that I use often in the class that I teach. It is especially common with women, and I teach mostly women. 

I heard an excellent interview today on KQED Forum with Jo Boaler, an education instructor at Stanford. She works to release people, especially children, from their math phobias. I was gratified to be able to hear her speak. She reenforced what I teach in my class: that talents and beliefs about our abilities are mostly a mental construct that prevent us from reaching our full potential. 

She really talks the talk and walks the walk of a positive mindset. 

We all have had experiences long in our past that help us to form our beliefs about ourselves. Unfortunately those beliefs have little to do with the reality of who we are and what we can do. They are tied to emotions and pictures in our brain that confirm our image of who we are. So when we have several bad experience with math as children, we form a self image that we are bad in math. All we have to do is change the picture. Create visualizations where we are succeeding in math. Repeat affirmations that confirm our abilities. Most importantly we must get rid of the negative self-talk. 

Here is the link: http://www.kqed.org/a/forum/R201601251000

It is well worth listening to. Also here is Ms. Boaler’s website:  https://www.youcubed.org/ I would click on the link that leads one to “Growth Mindset”. This concept is key to becoming a confident person. 

If you are still reading, I will relate one math story from my adulthood. I grew up with many insecurities about my ability to learn anything that school taught me, especially math. My father nurtured my love of art, and insured that I have a positive self concept of myself as an artist, but little else. I struggled into high school, flunked and repeated my freshman year. Since I did better taking these classes the second time, it did boost my self confidence a bit.

Amazingly I became a teacher. In the late 1980’s I ended up teaching math in a continuation school. The reason is that in a continuation school, the number of teachers are limited, and one must just step up to the plate. I went to a math conference at Asilomar. My first day I got up early and went to a workshop on Algebraic equations.  Everyone except me was an experienced math instructor.  Problems would be given, and I ended up being the only person in the room who could not solve them.  I left the workshop  feeling embarrassed and insure about my abilities.

If I had the consciousness that I have now, things would have been different in that room. Here I was, the perfect example of the student who cannot get it. And these all math teachers could not construct a lesson to help me feel comfortable about math. Instead I felt the room full of excitement because these teachers were reveling in how smart they were. Now I would turn the situation around. I would say: “Here you are in the perfect teaching situation. How are you going to make this student feel good about him or herself? How can you teach this concept in a way that instills confidence, not shame and insecurity? 

Photographs courtesy of Jo Boaler's site youcubed.

My Heroes

I am teaching a class now called Career Transitions. It is actually a class that helps build self confidence in students. I will write more about the class in another blog, but I use the following videos in the class. I am teaching it for the second time, it has been very rewarding.

I used to think that I did not have heroes. In fact I am not entirely sure "hero" is the correct word. These are three people who inspire me, give me hope, and are models of human courage.

You may have seen the first video as it made the rounds on Facebook. The man's name is Arthur Boorman. As much as I could find out about him came from one of the YouTube comments:

"This guy is a Special Ed teacher & adviser for the Sci-fi & Fantasy Club at my high school. To learn that someone who seems like a pretty normal, laid-back guy overcame such insurmountable obstacles is truly mind-blowing to me. My respect for him has increased beyond comprehension. Mr. Boorman, your story is one of the most inspirational things I've ever heard of. Thank you."

I cry every time that I see this video, and I am almost reluctant to show it, because it is hard to compose myself afterward.

Click here to watch Arthur's story.

Lizzy Velasquez has quite a following these days. You can follow her, correspond with her, become a fan, and read her blog. Again this is another hard hitting video. Probably one of the reasons that it affects me so much is that I was heavily bullied in elementary school, and even into my first year of high school. I still get angry when I see bullying. Also part of the power of Lizzie's talk is the credit that she gives her parents. (Another campaign: Please do not become an accidental parent. It is an awesome responsibility.) Lizzie's story is also one of amazing parenting and the great courage and determination of Lizzie, herself.



Click here to watch Lizzie's Ted Talk


I found Aimee while looking for athletes that embody the qualities that I want to see in my students. By now you must know that I teach (and dean) at a small career college in Northern California. I happen to think that it is one of the best in the United States. Nevertheless we get many students with difficult histories, who are ready to start life anew. They may feel broken inside, under-equipped for the task or just lack confidence, All of these wonderful people help me tell my students that their potential is unlimited, and despite what messages that they have received in the past, they are well equipped to succeed.

I am giving two links, because I love the informality of the first, and it really allows Aimee to tell her story. In the second video Aimee takes head on the issue of "disability". I must also confess that I think that Aimee is incredibly beautiful- certainly on the outside, but on the inside too.



Watch this Ted Talk FIrst


Watch this Ted Talk Second

What Happened to 2015?

Below is basically our late Christmas letter or New Year Letter

I orignially composed it and Donna and Anna laughed, because the news seemed to depressing to them. Anna reworked it, and I corrected her grammar.

This year Ed and Donna have experienced their first months as empty nesters. Their children now understand that empty nesting means: “My parents are so hard to get a hold of.” , They have flown the coop to pursue in their own adventures.

Donna enjoys her job at a Sebastopol’s community clinic, almost literally putting out fires, as a neighboring clinic recently burned down. Her Sebastopol location has taken even a larger workload as a result. Donna spends her free time as a professional Gaita player performing with the internationally known Carlos Núñez Muñoz. She recently part of a vocal ensemble performing the challenging Bach Requiem, and sang for a group of dancers in an improvisation song and dance performance.

Ed still loves his job as the night dean of Empire Collage. He is teaching a regular class that he loves called Career Transitions. The class is designed not only to keep students in school, but  to boost self-esteem. He is still painting and has entered the upcoming Abstract show at the Sebastopol Center for the Arts. He is also preparing to participate in his fourth “Art at the Source” open studios in June.

Truckee and his girlfriend Lauren recently relocated to an amazing apartment in Berkeley with their two kitties Middles and Shipley. Lauren is harvesting her new career as a horticulturist, going to school and working at local landscaping business. Truckee is swatting the freelance work off like flies, he is being to paid to do the nerdy meticulous art he has always done for just the joy of it.

Anna has been working at a small music store in Alaska for the past year while balancing a successful musical career. She was even pitched to the Discovery Channel for a show about young singer songwriters in Alaska.  She’s indifferent about the idea of being a reality star, so if it doesn’t work out, she might even feel a little relived. Anna also decided that after 7 straight winters in Alaska , now was a great time to quit her job, sell her car and travel around the country, while writing her second studio album. Portland, Denver, and Austin are on the roadmap so far. She also brought with her from Alaska, her 28 toed club footed cat who is convinced she is the princess of the new household, and is having a little trouble sharing with the house's current matriarch Fern.

Joey is majoring in economics at Santa Cruz. He has a great house right near the Santa Cruz boardwalk, which came with his new BFF, a snuggly pit-bull named Napoleon. He is still very involved in his musical ventures.

PS

For the benefit of those who read to the bottom:

Here are a couple few tidbits. 2015 was exciting for me in other ways.
I tried out SA- very interesting and met maybe 2 quality people out of 50.
I have used my age to my benefit on omeg.
I have made about 30 new skype friends all around the world.

If you need me to uncover the obfuscation, just contact me.