Adventures in Math: How to Level Up Your Math Game

Adventures in Math: How to Level Up Your Math Game — page 9
part-time JOHN MIGHTON Born October 2 1957 Canada The myths surrounding the subject encourage children to give up the moment they encounter any difficulty When he was young John Mighton read a book about mathematicians with superior minds born geniuses Since math didn't come as easily to him as it seemed to for those geniuses John figured he wasn't born with a math brain John worked hard to become a writer and eventually became a playwright When his first major production was performed onstage local reviewers slammed it One critic called it a muddled mess Still John kept writing He knew that with practice and effort he'd get better And he did His plays have won major awards and been performed in countries around the world John knew that writing well was something that could be learned But for a long time he didn't feel the same way about math He believed like many people that you needed to be born with a math brain Then he took a part-time job tutoring students in math He needed the extra cash and the pay was steady and he felt he could teach the basics well enough Some of the students had been diagnosed with learning disabilities John broke each math skill into small steps and the children began to excel He became interested in how we learn John also began to understand math more deeply through teaching others He saw student after student grow from a math-hating kid into one who enjoyed it He began to wonder Could excel in math John decided to put the same effort and persistence he had put into writing toward learning math He went back to school to earn a math degree He kept going until he earned his PhD the highest level in school in mathematics