Text us about this episode! 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 dismantled her self-confidence and made her feel like she was simply not capable of ... anything. BUT THEN: she and Vanessa met after a yoga class in Bali recently, and after a mere two weeks of math therapy sessions together, Charizma had done ...
Jun 26, 2025•57 min
Text us about this episode! 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 starting September. For now, we are back this month with 2 special interviews we recorded earlier in the year with some friends we made in Bali, Indonesia. (Next week's episode will legit blow your mind!!) Today, Vanessa explores the pow...
Jun 19, 2025•37 min
Text us about this episode! 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 drops some hints about what to expect from this podcast in the coming months! Show notes: Math Therapy the book - buy from Corwin Press or Amazon S5 outtakes: The Awkward Goodbye Connect with Vanessa: @themathguru ( Insta , Twitter , Tik...
Jun 05, 2025•10 min
Text us about this episode! 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 intervi...
Nov 14, 2024•35 min
Text us about this episode! 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 t...
Sep 12, 2024•44 min
Text us about this episode! 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...
Sep 05, 2024•37 min
Text us about this episode! 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 teaching kids about math can be so much more fun than we think; it can mean playing board games, counting on their fingers, anything that helps them develop an intuitive sense that there are patterns and structures in the world for them ...
May 30, 2024•43 min•Season 6Ep. 10
Text us about this episode! 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 Vanessa today for wide-ranging and inspiring conversation. They discuss her journey from a homeless shelter to a college dorm, how equity is about so much more than just race, and the power of lifting each other up as an antidote to fear. ...
May 23, 2024•41 min•Season 6Ep. 9
Text us about this episode! 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 teaching debate in math class?! Find out today as Vanessa chats with math educator/coach Chris Luzniak, host of The DebateMath Podcast! About Chris ( Website , Twitter , Instagram ) Chris Luzniak is an international math consultant and ins...
May 16, 2024•39 min•Season 6Ep. 8
Text us about this episode! 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 believes that the power of our students' stories is the most valuable tool we can harness in our math classrooms, and he illustrates this by sharing his own journey of growing up in an abusive environment, learning to understand and embr...
May 09, 2024•39 min•Season 6Ep. 7
Text us about this episode! Today’s another one for the teachers, featuring Jon Orr & Kyle Pearce of the Make Math Moments empire - they have a podcast, a framework, workshops & courses & virtual summits galore, and who knows probably even a cooking show at this point?! They join Vanessa today to discuss the SHOCKING realization early in their career that not all students would be as excited about math as they were … which propelled them to adapt their teaching methods to fuel curios...
May 02, 2024•41 min•Season 6Ep. 6
Text us about this episode! We’re often talking about trauma from the student perspective: how it happens in the classroom, and how it follows them into adulthood. But one group is often overlooked in this discussion - teachers! Today Vanessa chats with educator Brittany Hege about the challenges teachers often face in keeping up with changing pedagogies, while already being strapped for time and often struggling with math traumas of their own! This is an honest and heartfelt discussion about ho...
Apr 25, 2024•37 min•Season 6Ep. 5
Text us about this episode! Of the truly infinite things Vanessa likes to rant about, few top the list like math’s marketing problem - which is why she was elated to chat with social media mathstar Howie Hua! Today Howie shares how his own experiences with math anxiety sucked the joy out of math when he was a student, and how he started to bring it back for both himself and his students when he became a teacher. He’s built a massive following on TikTok and beyond by sharing quick and fun explain...
Apr 18, 2024•27 min•Season 6Ep. 4
Text us about this episode! When you picture a mathematician, what comes to mind? Now … what about a “mathematical explorer”? Well, that’s what Francis Su calls himself, and when Vanessa picked up his book Mathematics for Human Flourishing , she couldn’t put it down. On today's episode they explore how mathematical discovery can unleash the wonder and curiosity innate within us all. They also discuss some deep questions, like why do people have different emotional reactions to math compared to o...
Apr 11, 2024•38 min•Season 6Ep. 3
Text us about this episode! Longtime listeners (like today’s guest, as you’ll discover…) will recall one name popping up in almost every interview last season, so Vanessa needed to find out for herself: who is Zak Champagne & why do people like him so much?! Through today’s rollercoaster episode she discovered a teacher with boundless enthusiasm for the joys of teaching, grounded in a deep respect for his students. They unpack what we really mean by terms like “student voice” and “building t...
Apr 04, 2024•42 min•Season 6Ep. 2
Text us about this episode! On the Season 6 premiere of Math Therapy, Vanessa chats with Dr. Pamela Seda, an expert in all things education and inspiration! They dive deep into hot topics like how teachers can build trust in the classroom by modelling vulnerability, the benefits of cultivating community over competition, and a fascinating metaphor that illustrates what equity and accommodations truly mean in our schools. About Pam ( Website , Insta , Twitter , Facebook , LinkedIn ) Dr. Pamela Se...
Mar 28, 2024•43 min•Season 6Ep. 1
Text us about this episode! Season 6 drops March 28th - here’s a sample of who and what you’ll hear!
Mar 21, 2024•4 min
Text us about this episode! It's March 14th, aka 3.14 ... so Happy Pi Day! To help you get in the zone, we're re-airing an episode from last year recounting the Math Therapy team's Pi Day 2023 trip to Bellamy Creek Correctional Facility in Michigan. This stemmed from Vanessa's Season 3, Episode 10 interview with Christopher Havens, an inmate serving a 25-year sentence for murder who has rehabilitated himself with math and founded the Prison Mathematics Project. Find out more about PMP at prisonm...
Mar 14, 2024•49 min
Text us about this episode! The rumours are true! (The rumours that Vanessa has been spreading herself.) Season 6 of Math Therapy launches March 28th! To get you hyped while we get this batch of episodes ready for you, here are some brief thoughts she recorded immediately after we finished a marathon 10 interviews over 4 days. What themes did she cover? Will she or her guests get cancelled this season? How much did she annoy her producer David? You be the judge ... Make sure you're subscribed to...
Mar 07, 2024•3 min
Text us about this episode! Don't worry, Math Therapy isn't going anywhere ... but here's a fun bonus episode as we look back on an incredible 5th season! It was a total success in every possible way, except one: for whatever reason, Vanessa lost the ability to simply say "goodbye" at the end of the interviews. This hadn't been an issue in previous seasons but she somehow got very in her head about it, and when her producer David recently listened back to them he thought they were hilarious and ...
Oct 19, 2023•10 min
Text us about this episode! In Vanessa's masters thesis titled "Imagining a World Where Paris Hilton Loves Math", there was nobody quoted more frequently than today's guest, Stanford professor Dr. Jo Boaler. On the season 5 finale of Math Therapy, Vanessa sits down with her math ed hero to discuss how limiting beliefs vs a growth mindset impact the brain, how struggle and mistake-making benefit learning, and the extremely personal resistance she's faced in a career dedicated to making math more ...
Jul 20, 2023•42 min•Season 5Ep. 10
Text us about this episode! Peter Liljedahl is literally changing the math classroom. His book " Building Thinking Classrooms " has taken the educational world by storm with a simple message: instead of teaching students to memorize, we have to teach them to think. Sounds trite, but if you ... think about it, traditional classrooms are not designed that way! Today, Peter explains to Vanessa how a "thinking classroom" swaps out tables for vertical whiteboards to reduce barriers for student intera...
Jul 13, 2023•44 min•Season 5Ep. 9
Text us about this episode! Should mistake-making be encouraged in math class? Or should mistakes be shamed because “in the real world” you can get fired from your job from making a mistake? You can probably guess how Vanessa feels, but a fellow educator recently disagreed … so of course she took to Twitter and a spirited convo ensued! On today’s episode she further outer-processes her thoughts on this topic, and shares two classroom exercises that encourage constructive mistake-making and help ...
Jul 06, 2023•33 min•Season 5Ep. 8
Text us about this episode! Today's guest literally entered the chat wearing a t-shirt that read "TRUTH MATTERS”, and that sure set the tone for this wide-ranging episode! Crystal M. Watson is an educator who firmly believes in centering student voices in the classroom, and she also advocates for empowering students by making math practical and meaningful to their life experience. Throw in some discussion on defining success, different approaches to grading, and a simple but thorough explanation...
Jun 29, 2023•44 min•Season 5Ep. 7
Text us about this episode! In today's episode, Vanessa explores the dangers of narrowly defining success and argues that contrary to popular belief, failure and success are actually BFF, not opposites (looking at you, Merriam-Webster!). She also shares a practical classroom tool for teachers and students to collaborate on shared definitions of success to support everyone's learning. Connect with us: Vanessa Vakharia: @themathguru ( Insta , Twitter , TikTok ) Math Therapy: @maththerapy ( Twitter...
Jun 22, 2023•28 min•Season 5Ep. 6
Text us about this episode! In honour of Pride Month, we're taking a mid-season 5 break to re-air one of our all-time fave episodes featuring mathematician / drag queen Kyne Santos. Drag has been in the news lately for all the wrong reasons, so we wanted to share Kyne's inspiring story of breaking stereotypes and defying the haters. If you're new to the podcast we also highly recommend going back and listening to the season 4 finale with Dr. Anthony Bonato which dove further into the fraught rel...
Jun 15, 2023•33 min
Text us about this episode! Think of this week's episode as a kind of reverse palate cleanser ... Vanessa and today's guest Robert Kaplinsky more than make up for the lack of swearing last week! What got them fired up? Oh, just the systemic barriers to educational reform and the lack of support for both teachers and students when it comes to working through math anxiety ... But don't worry, it's not all doom and gloom; Robert is certain that if we make math more practical to daily life and more ...
Jun 08, 2023•38 min•Season 5Ep. 5
Text us about this episode! Last week's episode featured a deep dive with Vanessa into math trauma: what it is and how to avoid it. Today, brain expert Liesl McConchie joins her to explain the neurological science of trauma, debunk the myth of the "math gene", and discuss the hopeful promise of neuroplasticity. And not to be all clickbaity, but Vanessa ends up sharing some pretty intense math trauma of her own... About Liesl: ( Twitter , Website ) Liesl McConchie is an international expert on ho...
Jun 01, 2023•45 min•Season 5Ep. 4
Text us about this episode! Each episode, Vanessa discusses the impacts that math trauma can have on our collective relationship with math. But she realized she's never explained what it is! In this episode she defines what math trauma actually is, unpacks why traumatic educational experiences happen more often in math than in other subjects, and lists 8 common causes of math trauma for educators to be aware of. The tweet that started it all Free webinar by Dr. Kasi Allen: Math Trauma: Healing O...
May 25, 2023•23 min•Season 5Ep. 3
Text us about this episode! You know how readers read and writers write? Well one day Deborah Peart decided that math should also be a verb, so she created the Mather movement. She and Vanessa discuss the difference between a "mather" and a "mathematician", how numeracy and literacy are basically the same thing, and how bringing a mindfulness approach to her classrooms led to her being known by her students simply as "Peace Lady". Shake up your glitter jar (yep, that's a thing) and settle in for...
May 18, 2023•47 min•Season 5Ep. 2
