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. And if it isn't apparent, this is actually David typing, because I also handle publishing the episodes, so I'll stop referring to myself in the 3rd person because it's weird!

In September we released an episode in which I interviewed Vanessa about her career and about her new book Math Therapy, a resource for teachers to bring strategies in the classroom to help students build a better relationship with math. (After a little digitial mix-up, it is now shipping on Amazon/Kindle so go grab it!)

Afterwards, she decided to interview me about my own math journey, what I enjoy about working on the pod, and what I really think as an outsider about how intense the "math wars" debate has gotten.

About David:
In addition to producing/editing this podcast, I work as a mechanical engineer (3D CAD modelling and drafting) and play guitar & sing in the band Vanessa and I started in 2011, Goodnight Sunrise. I don't have any personal social media links but I'm usually the snarky one behind our Twitter, so connect with Vanessa at the usual places below!

• Vanessa Vakharia: @themathguru (Insta, Twitter, TikTok)
• Math Therapy: @maththerapy (Twitter)
• Math Therapy the book is out now - buy from Corwin Press or Amazon
• David interviews Vanessa (from September 2024)

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. Along the way she was surprised to learn that even he battles imposter syndrome, and the way he's learned to deal with it is by "learning what he doesn't know" and not being afraid to reach out for help.

Today's conversation covered the pros and cons of professional development, advice on how teachers can adapt to changing education systems, and how perspectives on math anxiety have shifted in recent years. Kevin has an incredibly inspiring and optimistic outlook on education and you're going to love this convo!

About Kevin: (Twitter)
Kevin Dykema is President of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM), an international mathematics education organization with more than 30,000 members. He has taught 8th grade mathematics for over 25 years and is currently at Mattawan Middle School in southwest Michigan. Kevin is a frequent speaker before mathematics education audiences and has co-authored Productive Math Struggle.

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 therapy into classrooms and help all students develop a better relationship with math.

To celebrate, Math Therapy producer David Kochberg turned the mic around and interviewed Vanessa about how Math Therapy started in the first place, what gives her hope about the future of math education, and how she really feels about the provocative term "edu celeb"...

Show notes:

• Math Therapy the book is out now - buy from Corwin Press or Amazon
• S3E09: I’m not a math person, don’t @ me w/ Bex
• Vanessa's master's thesis "Imagining a World Where Paris Hilton Loves Math"

Connect with us:

• Vanessa Vakharia: @themathguru (Insta, Twitter, TikTok)
• Math Therapy: @maththerapy (Twitter)