Here is a lovely story about how persistence, practice, and patience can overcome a severe math anxiety.
From nytimes.com, a 6th grade math teacher, Marilyn DePietto, speaks about how through learning and memorizing the basics and through daily practice in tutoring, a struggling student who hated math learned to like it and feel confident. Math success is not just for those with natural ability!
I learned later that Frankie had had anxiety about math since second grade. He had not mastered some basic skills, which became a compounded problem year after year.
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So began the months-long struggle to catch Frankie up on content, help him improve his work habits and most importantly, persuade him that it was possible for him to understand math.
Once-a-week tutoring during lunch is optional for my students. For Frankie, it was compulsory. I requested that Frankie be added into my extended day class, even though he technically wasn’t entitled to math remediation.
He started by practicing simple computation facts that he had never committed to memory with flashcards. On his own, he found a Web site that quizzed on addition, subtraction, multiplication and division.
After two weeks, and before I had administered a classroom exam, I gave Frankie a test on simple computations. He got 78 percent of them correct. The test didn’t count toward his average, but the small success was enough to convince Frankie to give math another try.
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During the next few months, with as much school-based guidance as I could muster, Frankie’s work habits improved. He learned that practice helps, and that when a teacher says, “Are there any questions?” she really means it.
He learned that studying does not mean staring at an open textbook, and that fractions actually do make sense. His peer tutors modeled good note-taking and organization, and filled gaps in his knowledge during independent and group work.
Once in a while I had to tattle to his mother that he hadn’t done his homework. A few times I had to go down to the cafeteria to retrieve him for tutoring when he “forgot.” But mostly, he seemed grateful for the extra help.
He did fail a test or two, but a failing grade was no longer a signal for him to throw in the towel.
This story doesn’t end with Frankie having the highest grades in the class, or graduating with honors in math. Though his math skills did improve steadily, I’m quite sure he has no interest in being a mathematician when he grows up.
On the last day of school, he thanked me for my help, but said, “I still don’t think math is my favorite subject.”
Favorite subject? I was amazed that it was even in contention.
This teacher also used peers to encourage, help, and model for him as well. Click here to read the full article.