S3E04: Mathfluencers, Mean Girls & more w/ Esther Brunat

Explicit content warning

04/29/21 • 37 min

Yep, you read that right: mathfluencers are the future of education and today’s guest is leading the way! Esther Brunat and The Squadratics (think Mean Girls but like, if Mean Girls somehow had even MORE math) are on a mission to market math to Gen Z, and they’re gaining mad momentum. Today Vanessa talks to Esther about how teachers can embrace new technology, genuinely connect with their students, and even learn valuable marketing lessons from hideous footwear trends. See you on the 'gram!
About Esther

Esther Brunat is a high school math teacher in sunny South Florida. She prides herself on building relationships with her students through laughter and "staying hip." Her resources offer a fresh take on presentation and engaging visuals in the math classroom.

You can find teaching resources on her Teachers Pay Teachers account: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Esther-Brunat

Show notes:

26:50 - kentai.haven, the kid on TikTok who hilariously and brilliantly guesses people's height with something in their hand using math
32:40 - The article that Vanessa and Season 2 guest Michole Washington (who studies the common Black experience in math class) wrote about how math class mimics police brutality for Black kids

Connect with us:

Esther Brunat: @estherbrunat (Instagram, YouTube, TikTok)
Vanessa Vakharia: @themathguru (Insta, Twitter, TikTok)
Math Therapy: @maththerapy (Twitter)

Transcript for today’s episode: www.maththerapypodcast.com

You can find teaching resources on her Teachers Pay Teachers account: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Esther-Brunat

Show notes:

26:50 - kentai.haven, the kid on TikTok who hilariously and brilliantly guesses people's height with something in their hand using math
32:40 - The article that Vanessa and Season 2 guest Michole Washington (who studies the common Black experience in math class) wrote about how math class mimics police brutality for Black kids

Connect with us:

Esther Brunat: @estherbrunat (Instagram, YouTube, TikTok)
Vanessa Vakharia: @themathguru (Insta, Twitter, TikTok)
Math Therapy: @maththerapy (Twitter)

Transcript for today’s episode: www.maththerapypodcast.com

Previous Episode

Extra Credit: Spirituality & Science

This season's interviews were all done remotely over Zoom with our producer Sabina Wex and technical producer David Kochberg listening in, and the conversations were so much fun that we often kept chatting after the actual interviews were over! Vanessa's convo last week with astrologer Anthony Perrotta got us all especially fired up, and since she and Sabina are super into astrology and tarot, and David is super NOT, we wanted to share a little bonus episode diving further into the overlap of science and spirituality.
Have you had any spicy discussions like this? Tweet us @maththerapy about them! And we'll be back on Thursday with our next full episode featuring a real life mathfluencer - yes seriously a MATH INFLUENCER!!!

Next Episode

S3E05: How brands can use their power for good w/ Candace Borland

Late last year AT&T ran a full-page ad in the New York Times depicting a mother and daughter in despair over math homework, and Vanessa was NOT impressed. Whether we realize it or not (and we usually don’t), the media plays a massive role in shaping everything from our collective social values to our individual self-worth. So what if brands acknowledged that responsibility and used marketing not just to sell products but to also promote positive change in the world? Today Vanessa speaks with Candace Borland about how she is doing exactly that as president of Anomaly Canada, one of North America’s leading creative agencies. Together they explore the power of marketing to dismantle stereotypes instead of perpetuating them, and they discuss how consumers can constructively hold brands accountable.
About Candace

Candace Borland is the President and a Partner at Anomaly Toronto. At Anomaly, she has worked across pillar clients such as AB InBev, MINI, Nike, BRP, Hershey, CTC & Diageo. You can follow Candace and Anomaly’s work at Anomaly.com.

Show notes:

1:45 - AT&T ad depicting women in STEM
5:52 - “Underplayed” documentary about female DJs sponsored by Bud Light
12:58 - Gillette ad about sensitive men
13:07 - Barbie ad about girls being intelligent
15:02 - Nike ad about Colin Kaepernick
15:18 - Hijabi Ballers campaign with Nike that Candace and Anomaly worked on

Connect with us:

Anomaly: @anomaly (Instagram, Twitter)
Vanessa Vakharia: @themathguru (Insta, Twitter, TikTok)
Math Therapy: @maththerapy (Twitter)

Transcript for today’s episode: www.maththerapypodcast.com

Math Therapy - S3E04: Mathfluencers, Mean Girls & more w/ Esther Brunat

Transcript

Esther Brunat 0:01 (intro quote)
I'm not afraid to fail. I can try something and I can mess it up, and I will tell my students that too - I'll be like guys, hey, I messed up - we should be modeling that! A lot of adults take that fear of failure into their adulthood with them.
Esther Brunat 0:17 (intro quote)
I just had a kid, he's like, "Hey Ms. Brunat" - he just took a quiz - he's like, "I did better than I thought I would - I still don't completely get it, but I feel like with a te