Math Therapy
Math Therapy explores the root causes of math trauma, and the empowering ways we can heal from it. Each week host Vanessa Vakharia, aka The Math Guru, dives into what we get right and wrong about math education, and chats with some of today’s most inspiring and visionary minds working to make math more accessible, diverse, and fun for students of all ages. Whether you think you’re a "math person" or not, you’re about to find out that math people don’t actually exist – but the scars that math class left on many of us, definitely do. And don’t worry, no calculators or actual math were involved in the making of this podcast ;)
Episodes
101 episodes
How to make "show your thinking" less anxiety-inducing
Getting students to think is a hot topic - but what does it actually mean? When kids are asked to "show their thinking", can we really blame them for being like "WTF?!?!"Today on Math Therapy, Vanessa explores the surprisi...
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33:15
Math Therapy's 100th (& most manic) episode!
Since our humble (and as you'll find out, quite disorganized) start in 2019, Math Therapy has come a long way ... and today we celebrate our 100th episode!Join host Vanessa Vakharia and producer David Kochberg (with a cameo from OG MT pr...
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48:40
How to believe in yourself when nobody else will w/ Taylor Telfer-Thompson
Today we follow-up last week's episode with unfiltered celeb moms Cat and Nat (listen here) by interviewing ...
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35:08
Hard truths teachers need to hear from parents w/ Cat and Nat
From the moment Vanessa met bestselling authors/podcasters Cat and Nat on Breakfast Television, where the 2 moms proudly professed to hate math ... she knew she had to have them on Math Therapy to dig deeper and find out why.&...
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42:44
Why we can’t binge-learn math like Netflix w/ Rob Baier
*call-out before we get into today's ep* - If you or a colleague/parent/student has a story about incorporating the absurd 6-7 phenomenon into actual learning, we need you! Seriously,
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48:53
What the Blue Jays taught us about math education
This past weekend, hearts across North America shattered as the plucky underdog Toronto Blue Jays lost to the LA Dodgers in extra innings of the deciding Game 7 of the Major League Baseball World Series. And if none of those words matter ...
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1:09:19
How to turn anxiety into empowerment
Most episodes, Vanessa is chatting with colleagues about the root causes of math anxiety/trauma and exploring how math education can change to avoid causing them.But as long as math remains a 4-letter word for some, we need some practica...
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27:25
An unfiltered debate about "natural ability"
Sometimes an interview fires us up so much here at Math Therapy HQ, that we end up debriefing and debating it long after the guest has signed off - at which point producer David says to host Vanessa "we should have recorded THAT too!"So ...
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19:33
Why math sucks and how to fix it w/ Raj Shah
What is memory? Are different brains good at memorizing different things (like math vs music)? Is memorization even a good way to learn? Why don’t we teach math like we teach reading? Why do we love puzzles and escape rooms but hate math class?...
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53:58
Math ed needs more conversations like this w/ Pam Harris
Today's ep ended up in a different place than Vanessa expected when she first sat down to chat with Pam Harris, founder of Math Is Figureoutable. Their first real interaction was on the DebateMath Podcast; Pam insisted that learning algorithms/...
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46:23
The Comment Section w/ Mike Flynn
We're trying something new this week! Last week's ep with Mike Flynn dove into some very murky debate waters: do students need to know the "why" of what their learning in order to truly understand material, or is it fine for them to just ...
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37:13
How to find the "why" in math class w/ Mike Flynn
When Mike Flynn started teaching, math was just one of many subjects he had to guide his students through. The problem was, the way he was taught math made him hate it! But when a new career opportunity gave...
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49:04
Exclusive: Math Therapy audiobook sample for our listeners!
If you follow Vanessa on Instagram, you know the rollercoaster she went on to record the audiobook version of Math Therapy ... well, the hard work / literal sweat & tears paid off because it is now out! You can find it on
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30:19
Why 1 + 1 isn't always 2 w/ Eugenia Cheng
Have you ever felt like it's impossible to win an argument with someone, or even simply see eye to eye on anything? On today's episode, mathematician Eugenia Cheng joins Vanessa to challenge the black-and-white thinking that often defines...
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50:14
5 simple Math Therapy strategies for your classroom (weekly podcast launch!)
Today we celebrate back to school week with ... the official launch of Math Therapy as a weekly podcast! On today's episode, Vanessa catches you up on everything going on in Math Therapy-land, and shares 5 very simple and quick str...
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28:55
How Math Therapy changed my entire life w/ Charizma Laughton
As long as Charizma Laughton can remember, her entire life was defined by a singular identity: she's bad at math, because she's not smart. This self-image was rooted in deeply traumatic math class experiences that completely...
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57:20
How to trust your intuition w/ Rebecca MacLeod
First of all, big news: as of this fall, Math Therapy will be a weekly podcast! This has long been a goal, so after 6 glorious 10-episode seasons and a bunch of bonus eps along the way, we'll be hitting your feed every single Thursday sta...
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37:26
Bonus: What's your sign? (Vanessa has no clue)
Given how much Vanessa talks about astrology on the podcast, what do you think her success rate was for guessing the star signs of all the guests last season? Today's episode (guest "hosted" by producer David) reveals all ... and also dro...
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10:01
Get the politicians out of the classroom w/ David Kochberg
If you're a fan of the podcast, you've often heard Vanessa mention our producer "David" in reference to him getting mad at her for yelling into the mic or hitting the mic or generally doing things that impact the quality of this AUDIO medium.&n...
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Season 6
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35:07
We're not teaching content, we're teaching students w/ Kevin Dykema
Having attended and presented at the annual NCTM (National Council of Teachers of Mathematics) conference, Vanessa reached out to "famously nice guy" Kevin Dykema, the organization's President, to learn more about his journey to the top. ...
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43:55
Math Therapy is now a book! Vanessa tells all ...
HUGE news - Math Therapy is now a book! Vanessa has taken everything she's learned in her career helping students overcome math trauma, and all the insights from the 6 seasons of this podcast, and formulated a 5-step process to bring math...
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36:36
We are born to love math w/ Dan Finkel
Dan Finkel is an author/educator who believes that humans are wired to be curious from birth, and that play is the secret to maintaining that joy of learning throughout childhood. On today’s season 6 finale, he and Vanessa discuss how tea...
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Season 6
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Episode 10
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42:44
Grit is your superpower w/ Dr. India White
Dr. India White learned grit and resilience the hard way: facing down obstacles throughout her life and deciding she wouldn’t back down. Now she coaches teachers and students on developing their own gritty superpowers, and she joins Vanes...
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Season 6
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Episode 9
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41:05
How to change someone's mind w/ Chris Luzniak
What if the secret to winning a debate was actually listening to your opponent? What if you could build confidence and overcome anxiety through the practice of public speaking? And HOW does someone go from dreams of Broadway fame to teach...
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Season 6
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Episode 8
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38:48
Math doesn't cause trauma, people do w/ Sean Nank
When Vanessa saw today’s guest deliver a deeply personal talk at a recent math conference, she was left with more questions than answers; all she knew for certain was she had to get him on the podcast. Sean Nank is a math educator who bel...
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Season 6
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Episode 7
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39:04