Ameliorating Math Anxiety

"One way to keep tension is to be aware of it. I told the math class that to let something go by in class without knowing what it means, and without saying anything, is like leaving something in Howard Johnson's on a long car trip. You are going to have to go back eventually, so the sooner the better. The foolish metaphor has helped the kids, or so they say. They have learned to recognize, if only a little, the feeling of panicky confusion that slowly gets hold of them. To be able to say, 'I'm getting left at Howard Johnson's' how them to control this feeling, and if it gets too much for them they can always tell me they have been left behind; then I can do something about picking them up."

--Holt, John, How Children Fail, p 42