Exhausted and hungry, I walk to the restaurant a hundred feet from the hotel’s lobby. The hostess greets me and asks how my day has been. I tell her it’s been a long one, that I just came in from LA on a five-hour-plus flight. She asks what brings me to Philadelphia. I tell her I’m here for a math conference, and she offers, “Oh… I’m not a big math person.”
I follow her to my table and want to say:
What the fuck does that even mean that you're not a big math person??? Are you a small or minuscule math person then?!? I don't care if you say you're not big on eating raw octopus or fried worms, but math??!!
Her nonchalant proclamation is the last thing I want to hear tonight. She doesn’t know her words are the final straw — the one that snaps my already tired, worn-down patience.
She doesn’t know I hear this same line every time someone finds out I’m a math teacher.
I think about my keynote tomorrow at 8 AM.
So many people don’t like math — they’re just “not big math people.”
My annoyance quickly turns into sadness. And guilt.
I know I’ve had students who may have left my classroom feeling the same way. And while I believe I’ve made real strides in improving math learning and math teaching in my classroom, I haven’t done enough. There’s still more to do.
I can do better.
And I will.
I get another round of teaching mathematics starting on August 22.
Have a restful summer, everyone.