Dear Math - by Sarah Strong & Gigi Butterfield (Paperback)

About the Book

"Dear Math is a book co-authored by a 15 year veteran math teacher and one of her current high school student. The two come together to dig into the words of hundreds of middle and high school students as they reflect on their experiences with math both in and out of school. Dread, unnecessary, oppression, intimidation, and feelings of being not good enough emerge and the authors explore antidotes to these negative feelings. Then the authors explore the positive words that emerge from student writing, things like beauty, powerful, important, fun, and useful and listen to ways that students have come to experience these in math class and how we might pursue this more wholly as teachers"--

Book Synopsis

Do your kids hate math?

Many students fail to understand the value of math, and some grow to hate it. Want proof? Read genuine letters students wrote to math, compiled by the authors in this Dear Math book.

Discover the root of this problem.

15-year veteran math teacher, Sarah Strong, and her high school student, Gigi Butterfield, address concerns about negativity around teaching and learning math and why kids hate math (at least some of them).

Digging into the feelings math evoked in hundreds of middle and high school students-that math is unnecessary, oppressive, and intimidating-the authors explore ways to spin student expressions of problem-solving unworthiness into an antidote for their disdain for math.

Using "Dear Math" letters, as well as other teaching math tools in this book, you can help students build a healthy and whole relationship with their inner mathematician.

Learn how to use the most important skill of all-listening-to help students and teachers discover:

• The empowerment of math
• The importance and usefulness of math
• How to help kids love math
• The beauty of mathematics in practice
• The journey from hatred of math, to appreciation of math and, in some cases, a lifelong relationship with math

What do letters to Math look like?

Read Dear Math today and uncover the feelings students are typically unwilling to share with teachers. And how to turn the negative into a positive.