Outtake: “Everyone is a Math Person”: How Findings of Positive Math Identity Derailed My Study but Enhanced My Teaching

I am a math teacher-educator focusing on elementary preservice teachers (PSTs). In my previous life, I provided mathematics professional development to many elementary teachers in my area. I found that most teachers had severe math anxiety, which impacted their confidence in teaching math. As a high school teacher, I knew that my students had often been affected by the math avoidance of their elementary teachers, which was a driving force for me to leave the classroom and pursue my PhD. I wanted to teach elementary education majors before they arrived at the point of interacting with students; I wanted to improve both their content knowledge and their math identities.