Math anxiety is an emotional response to math based on negative or
unpleasant past experiences. It can also come from not understanding one
basic concept like fractions. When I began using manipulatives with 7th
graders, the importance of "why" became obvious to me. The same "why" is
just as important to adults, both teachers and students. Also, most adult
students are visual and hands on learners, especially in mathematics. Math
was difficult for them in school because it was taught in an abstract manner
- usually the way the teacher learned. As you know more of the same doesn't
work. 

My suggestion: You know what concept(s) is a stumbling block for you. Take a
friend and go to the math section of a school supply store. You should see
Cuisinare Rods (fractions), color cubes (blocks for teaching/learning
multiplication, area, perimeter, etc), base ten blocks (place value,
decimals, percents), Alge Blocks (solving equations) just to name a few. Ask
for a book that will go with the manipulative of your choice, go home to
your kitchen table, work with it and learn. It's better to work with a small
group but if that isn't an option work alone. 

I have used all the manipulatives listed with both adults and children. They
work! I can't tell you how many tears of joy have been shed during one of my
workshops because an adult educator (ABE/GED/ESOL/Literacy/Workplace)
understood and could "see" the why for the first time. When you feel
confident take the manipulative to your students. Let them "see" the why. 

Comments?

Judy

 

-----Original Message-----
From: womenliteracy-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:womenliteracy-bounces at nifl.gov]
On Behalf Of Daphne Greenberg
Sent: Thursday, June 22, 2006 10:13 AM
To: womenliteracy at nifl.gov
Subject: [WomenLiteracy 351] Re: math anxiety

Thank you Judy for sharing your anxiety about writing. I think that this is
a great ice breaker for a lot of us who have anxiety doing math, thinking
about explaining something in math, or even writing on this listserv about
math. I have two wonders:
1. Do others on this listserv share my anxiety about anything related to
math?
2. Judy, or others, what do you recommend for teachers who have math anxiety
who are teaching students who have math anxiety?
Thanks,
Daphne


>>> j.e.ward at cox.net 6/21/2006 12:27 PM >>>

Greetings to everyone,

Since this is a women and literacy list serve I assume that all have a deep
concern and interest in advancing women through a literacy perspective.
Also, I assume that you all love reading and writing and would like to help
others feel the same way. 

To get the numeracy and math anxiety discussion going I would like to begin
from a different direction. I would like to tell you a little about my
"anxiety" with English class during my k-12 years. Although I never made bad
grades, English class was a challenge for me. Remembering all the sentence
structure rules was overwhelming and didn't make sense. Diagramming a
sentence, as well as the other 10 or so that were assigned, was a painful
task. The process didn't make sense to me and I wasn't able to carry the
exercise over to writing.

Writing was and still is another challenge and most of the time almost a
painful experience for me. You could say that my anxiety about putting words
on paper is a stumbling block and I have to work extremely hard just to get
started. There are times when I must write something important, like now,
that my stomach gets knots in it, my mind goes blank and I have to write and
rewrite over and over. Just before I send this email my anxiety level will
increase drastically because someone will read this and find mistakes or
think the writing is terrible. Where does this anxiety come from? Probably
past experiences with teachers that loved and knew their subject but didn't
teach the way I learn. We know a lot more now about how learning takes place
than in my k-12 years. 

Now, for today's discussion question: Is there a relationship between
literacy and the content in a typical English class in the US? 

I look forward to the discussion. 

Judy Ward
 


Judy Ward, Ed.D.
6886 Young Farm Avenue
Springdale, AR 72762
Phone: 479.361.2223
Fax: 479.361.2223
Email: j.e.ward at cox.net 

Arkansas Adult Numeracy Campaign
Teaching Mathematics Effectively to Adult Learners
 



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Women and Literacy mailing list
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To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
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