Learning to Love Math: Teaching Strategies That Change Student Attitudes and Get Results

I was looking for explanations and techniques to help my students overcome math anxiety and low retention of concepts. I found this book very well-written, clearly supporting why teachers need to understand how the brain works in order to reach all of our students. One of the biggest ideas I took away from this book is that information is filtered through emotional centers of the brain before it can be processed in the prefrontal cortex where the higher order thinking occurs. If a student feels anxious or stressed when encountering a math problem, the information literally cannot pass through the emotional centers of the brain (the amygdala) in order to have the student use the information in a meaningful way. Once the amygala gets overstimulated, the only responses are fight, flight, or freeze. It reminded me that students who seem to "give up" in math may have little control of that response because their brain is trying to protect them from a perceived threat. Students also need to be engaged (have their attention grabbed) and be given opportunities to make connections and explore the ideas. In order to make significant progress, a teacher needs to first understand what is happening in the brain, and then know techniques to help the student achieve success.Dr. Willis provides excellent information for teachers to help them understand how the brain works, including how dopamine and the reticuar activating system (RAS) operate. Once teachers and students appreciate how their gray matter operates, they can take advantage of the fact that the brain can be trained to adapt to new situations with proper motivation and appropriate techniques. Dr. Willis provides many recommendations, so this book is not just about the information; Dr. Willis provides suggestions on how to USE it. She also goes into how enjoyment of video games can be applied to a classroom in terms of the idea of achievable challenge. I will mention that many of her practical classroom suggestions involve students in elementary and middle school, so teachers that teach higher grade levels may need to reflect on the suggested activities to see how the ideas can be applied to high school/college students. But there is plenty of suggestions and lots of excellent information, so even teachers for higher grade levels should add this book to their collection.

Every elementary and math teacher should read this. A game changer with practical solutions you can implement immediately like let them use a calculator! Move on and let them gain confidence.

It's definitely valuable learning from a math teacher who also happens to have a doctorate in neuroscience. I read the book cover to cover and filled it with highlighted sections that I found particularly valuable, interesting, or that sparked an idea I can use in my classroom.When I purchased the book, the description and reviews I saw did not indicate that it was directed at any particular age demographic. However, upon reading it, it became very clear very quickly that many of the strategies and all of the examples of how to enact the strategies are geared towards elementary and lower middle school students.I was still able to learn valuable information, but I got frustrated that it still wasn't completely helpful to me.

I was very impressed with this book. I will definitely read the book again because the content is so important and it's hard to absorb all of it the first time through. I love the combination of neuroscience and teaching. I think the strategies in this book are great and should be considered by anyone teaching math. The subject of math can cause so much anxiety for many students and this book gives some wonderful insight into ways to help students overcome their anxiety and move forward with a positive attitude towards learning math. I also appreciated the specific strategies for differentiating lesson plans so that each student has an opportunity to work at their appropriate challenge level. I would highly recommend this book to all math teachers!

Useful knowledge for teaching

Love this book! I was searching for a boom that would help me become a better educator of math and this really sparked my creativity, and gave me a new way to teach it effectively!

It wasn't what I was expecting it's not a math teaching book.

It's just hard to love Math. In her book, Learning to Love Math, Judy Willis shows that, with the right mindset and teaching strategies, it's not hard to love this subject.Needless to say, the brain is the organ that we use in learning. Understanding how it works helps students open their eyes to their learning needs, strengths and weaknesses, and their ability to improve their performances. In addition to the "Gray Matter" sections that talk about brain functions, Willis also offered the Brain Owner's Manual that teachers and parents can use as a reference in discussing the three main components of the brain responsible for absorbing and processing information.To support students through the learning process, Willis shared loads of strategies to help students change their attitudes towards Math, accomplish challenges, reduce mistake anxiety, increase motivation, and apply Math in real-world situations. It must be noted, though, that the strategies are garnered from Judy Willis' experience as an elementary and middle school teacher. Nevertheless, both elementary and high school students can still find the information in this book helpful.Our brain has the ability to change, adapt, and modify. It takes time, though, but with motivation and practice, we can develop positive attitudes towards things that we find difficult such as Math. I recommend Learning to Love Math to teachers and parents who want to help their kids love Math.