Math Phobia

I am having a great time teaching the Bridge to Algebra curriculum and am absolutely in love with the software. The course that I am teaching is for middle school students who need to transition into the high school due to their age. I have taken my class to the computer lab only 3 times since the semester started. They had a hard time adjusting to the idea of picture algebra at first but now are doing great. My students have started asking one another for help (instead of calling for me!) and are really progressing through the software well. Today I got a new student. As I was getting him setup on the software and was teaching him how to use the tutor he told me "math isn't my thing" and "I've never been good at math". I told him that this class was going to be different and that I was going to show him that he cannot only learn math but that he might actually learn to enjoy it. I hear this comment a lot from students. It seems like I always have to get them past their math phobia and build their confidence to prove to them that they can do math.

Why is it that so many people have a math phobia? Whenever I tell people that I am a teacher the first question they ask is, What do you teach? When I tell them math they wince and say something along the lines of "that was my least favorite subject" or "I don't like math". It's strange to me that people are not embarrased to say that math is not something they are good at. Usually people try to hide their faults but with math it seems to be socially acceptable to admit that it's not your strong suit.

I tell all of my students that I will not allow them to say "I'm not good at math" or "I don't do math". Instead I tell them to say "I don't get it yet, but I will". I truly believe that all of my students can "do math" if only I can help them build confidence and believe in themselves. As for my new student today... by the end of the period he had already finished the first unit and was already telling me "I can do this". I have to thank Carnegie for making confidence building a little easier!