Math Therapy

Send us a text! (US messaging rates apply) For years, Vanessa has been telling producer David about the insanity of NCSM & NCTM - the back-to-back math education conference week that attracts educators from around the world.  But to really understand it, one must experience it - so this year she brought him along! With great haste (because they were both running on fumes and still behind on wo...

Send us a text! (US messaging rates apply) We're coming to you from DENVER this week for NCTM 2026, bringing Math Therapy LIVE to the conference for the very first time! If you're attending, come join Vanessa and producer David on Thursday, October 29th at 11 AM in Bluebird Ballroom 2A for a candid conversation with math education disruptor Dr. Kristopher Childs! Full session details her...

Send us a text! (US messaging rates apply) What if telling someone they're a math person is actually making things ... worse?! We say it to encourage people, but what if we're unintentionally dismissing what they've actually experienced in math class? Math educator, curriculum specialist, and competitive powerlifter Teresa Brown joins Vanessa to challenge the way we talk about math...

Send us a text! (US messaging rates apply) What happens when you give a bunch of 6-year-olds a challenging math problem and they CAN’T figure it out? Well, in Tammy McMorrow’s grade one classroom, they might just celebrate with a confetti cannon. Seriously. Tammy’s been teaching for 32 years, but she still loves learning new tricks. She believes every student has a “math identity bank account,” an...

Send us a text! (US messaging rates apply) What happens in the brain when we're learning math?  What makes some students struggle more than others with it?  Can someone study brain science if they're scared of math?!  These are some of the questions that took today's guest Hillary Mastarciyan from severe math anxiety in high school (she was a former student at Vanessa's tutorin...

Send us a text! (US messaging rates apply) We talk about math trauma all the time on this podcast, but sometimes the feelings around it can be hard to articulate.  There's one confidence-crusher we can all easily picture from school though - the feeling of being picked last for the team in gym class.  So today we're going to explore something a little different: what math class would be...

Send us a text! (US messaging rates apply) Ever drive down a familiar road, hit the same old pothole, and think "Didn't they patch that up last summer? And it's already back?!"  Well buckle your seatbelt, because today's guest is going to show you how the same is true in math education, and why we need to FIX THE DAMN ROAD! Courtney Flessner has 30 years of experience behi...

Send us a text! (US messaging rates apply) Over the summer, Vanessa recorded our first interview with an actual real life audience when she sat down at a conference with Chase Orton for an unfiltered and tense conversation.   Among many hot topics debated, they discussed the challenges teachers face in wanting to make changes in their students' lives while having to closely follow curricula a...

Send us a text! (US messaging rates apply) Last week we shared a full Math Therapy session with lifelong "not-a-math-person" Lauren Keeling, which was recorded as part of Imagine Learning's "Heart Work" podcast series on math anxiety.   And as promised, today Vanessa follows up with Lauren 4 months later to learn the domino effect that session had on her whole life!  They...

Send us a text! (US messaging rates apply) Today we bring you part 1 of 2 of our first ever Math Therapy Makeover "Before & After"! When Vanessa first met Lauren Keeling earlier this year, being "not a math person" defined her entire life.  Visiting Vanessa's tutoring centre in Toronto with her team from Imagine Learning's Heart Work podcast , Lauren was dreading...

Send us a text! (US messaging rates apply) Have you ever felt like math education needs to take a good long look at itself in the mirror and make some major changes before everything goes off the rails?  Like one of those Hollywood interventions - but for math class? Well today's guest, Juliana Tapper, is a math interventionist!  She steps in to help students before they slip through the crac...

Send us a text! (US messaging rates apply) Some of you have already started school, while the rest are just counting down the days ... so Vanessa is back this week with 3 easy & actionable strategies you can bring to your math class RIGHT now, to set the tone that each of your students belongs in your classroom this year and has the ability to build a better relationship with math. Collect: fi...

Send us a text! (US messaging rates apply) Things have been a little crazy over here so Math Therapy is going to take a couple weeks off to catch our breath, but we will be back later this month to get you fired up for back to school! In the meantime, here are a few ways you can get your Math Therapy fix: Vanessa was recently featured in episode 2 of the 3-part series on math anxiety called Heart...

Send us a text! (US messaging rates apply) One of the most misunderstood words in math ed right now is "fluency", so Vanessa invited an expert on the podcast to demystify it: educator Christina Tondevold.  Christina calls herself a "recovering traditionalist" - she committed to stop teaching students in the same ineffective ways she was taught as a student. They discuss a ton o...

Send us a text! (US messaging rates apply) Today we bring you part 2 in Vanessa's two part Math Therapy Masterclass on how to start the coming school year with renewed confidence - for yourself and for your students! In part 1 she shared 4 exercises/experiences you can try this summer ( check it out here ICYMI ), and she's back with 4 more: 5) practice being bad at something 6) find a mi...

Send us a text! (US messaging rates apply) Summer is a great time for some much needed rest after the school year, but it also provides some rare quiet time for reflection and personal projects.  For many of us, that includes preparing for an even better year ahead - and that often starts with feeling more confident about math. So Vanessa assembled this 2-part mini-masterclass to walk you through...

Send us a text! (US messaging rates apply) Prior to spontaneously recording this convo between sessions at CAMT in Fort Worth, TX recently, Vanessa and today's guest Cathy Marks Krpan had only really spent time together while frantically travelling through airports trying to make their connections.   And in between panicked pleas to airport golf carts and documenting every detail on Instagram...

Send us a text! (US messaging rates apply) As her Screen Time app will confirm, Vanessa spends way too much time online - so when trends involving math pop up, you can be sure she has commented, shared, ranted, and made her own version. Sadly, most of these “trends” involve negative stereotypes around math ability.  These cliches are also extremely gendered, specifically directed at women and girl...

Send us a text! (US messaging rates apply) Summer is officially ON, so it's a great time to hear from YOU in another mailbag episode where Vanessa reads the texts you've sent us!  This batch pulls together a few threads from episodes we've released over the last few months - some will make you laugh, and some might make you tear up just as Vanessa did when reading them out. And if y...

Send us a text! (US messaging rates apply) Today's episode truly puts the "therapy" in Math Therapy!  Vanessa chats with her friend Amy Johnston, a psychotherapist and empathic deep thinker, to discuss how trauma takes root in us, how it transfers through generations, and how being vulnerable about our own experiences can help us inspire students to rewrite their own narratives. Thi...

Send us a text! (US messaging rates apply) Vanessa recently took one step closer to her dream of hosting a Netflix show, recording the first ever live Math Therapy interview!   For her session last week at Leander ISD's annual Math Joy Conference in Texas, she interviewed self-proclaimed "chaos-driven non-compliant educator" Chase Orton - and you can now hear their extremely unfilte...

Send us a text! (US messaging rates apply) Exam season is upon us, but NOBODY PANIC!  Today's guest, learning strategist Dr. Deena Kara Shaffer, joined Vanessa to share some simple but game-changing study tips to help you get through exams without breaking a sweat. They discuss: what actually is learning, and what does and does not count as studying why we get trapped trying to perfect to-do...

Send us a text! (US messaging rates apply) Last week Vanessa ended her episode saying the podcast would be taking this week off while she was on vacation, but it might not surprise you that she is not exactly "good" at vacation .. so while she's definitely taking some much needed time off, she also could not resist recording this short episode after receiving a very unexpected and b...

Send us a text! (US messaging rates apply) Vanessa reflects on her recent self-described " meltdown episode " in which she talked herself down from a panic spiral.  She was nervous to share something so messy & vulnerable, but the response was incredible - so many of you identified completely with her feelings. (Turns out tax season is a real trigger for us all!) Today, she shares so...

Send us a text! (US messaging rates apply) Everyone's finally talking about math anxiety - in students, parents, and anyone that goes into a panic at the mere mention of the word "math".  But one group is often overlooked: math teachers! Many teachers find themselves having to teach math whether they planned to or not, and often without even being trained on the material themselves....