I’m Just Not a Math Person

I hear from my students’ parents every year, and it’s often one of the very first things they tell me. “I’m just not a math person”. Usually they’re letting me know that their child is struggling in math or it was their least favorite subject when they were in school. Sometimes they even go so far as to say that their son or daughter is just not a math person. I take a deep breath and once again consider the power of our language as adults to shape the identities our children build for themselves. 

When did we decide that some people are math people? Why don’t we say this about reading? It’s always assumed and expected that every student will learn to read to a certain level of proficiency and I’ve never heard a parent share that they are just not a “reading person”. It’s as if reading is a tool but math is an identity or that reading requires practice and becomes an enjoyable pastime and a lifelong habit. But some people are just lucky and talented in math? Are those the “math people?” 

For me, math was my least favorite subject through elementary school. My grades were good and I understood the content well enough but I was not fast to calculate, especially with those multiplication fact drills. You know the ones…when the teacher passed out a worksheet filled with mixed multiplication facts to the whole class, set a timer, and we answered as many facts as we could in something like 2 minutes. I vividly remember having this experience as a routine part of math from 3rd through 5th grade, so the nervous tension and sweaty palms were burned into my brain as what math feels like. 

Does being a math person mean that you calculate quickly? Many mathematicians at high levels would disagree. Laurent Schwartz, who won the Fields Medal in mathematics, tells about how he was one of the slowest math thinkers in his early math classes and says that he felt “stupid” because his school valued fast thinking when he thought slowly and deeply. 

Deep thinking…isn’t that what we actually want from our students? After all, aren’t we teaching them to reason critically and to become lifelong learners? There is absolutely value in computational fluency, but let’s keep some perspective because we’re talking about brains that are growing and changing in response to their environment. Our words are shaping the identities that our students construct for themselves. 

So whether or not parents feel confident when they work with mathematical ideas, they need to be careful to classify themselves as if math ability is an innate talent and some people are just born lucky. Is that true of reading? Writing? How can we bring a growth mindset into the math classroom? How can we make our classrooms a space where all students identify as a math person, capable of thinking deeply about numbers, shapes, and patterns? 

It starts with our words. I immerse my students in mathematical language and I refer to them daily as mathematicians and data scientists. It’s also our intentional actions. I teach about basic brain anatomy like how neurons build connections and more efficient pathways between other neurons. I always get a, “Whoa!” when I project an image of the billions of connected dendrites in our amazing human brain. But mostly I communicate how brains grow and change in response to challenges, so learning equals hard work. And the kids rise to those expectations, crafting their own identities as mathematicians who expect challenges and feel proud of hard work. They are math people, not because they’re lucky or quick to calculate, but because they know that effort leads to ability in math as in other subjects. 

So I explain to my students’ parents the importance of framing math abilities as areas of strength and growth, and they sometimes hear me. What they ALWAYS hear is when their own child comes home and talks about the math problem they solved in class today that was “a fabulous struggle.” When students describe how they took their time, used a variety of strategies, checked for accuracy, and accomplished a task that was challenging for them. Through many of these learning experiences, my students live a growth mindset. 

That’s what a math person should REALLY be.