For Universities
Professional development for university faculty and math instructors. Specialized student workshops designed to alleviate developmental math anxiety, increase STEM engagement, and decrease course attrition.
Give your students the foundational healing they need to pass their classes,
finish their degrees, and succeed in life.
Professional development your teachers will enjoy. Powerful workshops, speaking engagements, and personalized one-on-one consulting.
Helping students overcome math trauma and work through emotional blocks, while supporting teachers to create a positive environment for learning math.
Incorporating socio-emotional learning into math class (without sacrificing rigor!) because learning math is cognitive AND emotional.
Compassionate Math takes an intersectional approach to tackle math trauma.
Hover each component of the geometric figure to know more about how different things can affect math trauma.
Math requirements are among the biggest barriers to student retention and success, Compassionate Math focuses on transforming the mathematics classroom from both the instructor’s and the student’s perspectives so that students can reach their full potential in a rigorous yet welcoming mathematical space.
Human beings are mathematical beings. As we are human, understanding and using math to better are lives is a part of our natural selves. Just as humans have a driving need to create, we also want to understand and control our world. Mathematics helps us do this.
is a mathematics educator and former award winning Assistant Professor who received her PhD in Teaching and Teacher Education and a Master’s in Mathematics from the University of Arizona.
Her research focuses on the emotional side of learning mathematics and includes how computer-centered learning has affected students’ abilities to control their learning environment and how meditation may reduce mathematics anxiety.
Dr. Aly has been teaching at the university level for over ten years and, without sacrificing rigor, brings a personalized math learning experience to the classroom through active learning methods and by centering students’ emotional well-being. She is very familiar with the Common Core Standards and has experience teaching mathematics to Middle and High School students.
Underlying all of Dr. Aly’s teaching and research is a dedication to diversity, equity, inclusion and social justice in mathematics education. She enjoys traveling, seeing live music, and is an avid chef. Geillan is also a wife and mother of a beautiful boy. They live near Hartford, CT.
“When students avoid math, they’re not just avoiding a subject — they’re being locked out of social mobility.”
Your audience has heard that math is important. They haven’t heard why their students are failing to engage with it — and what to actually do about it.
Dr. Geillan Aly brings the research on math trauma to conferences, institutions, and professional development events. She delivers engaging talks that shift how educators understand the problems we have in math class and leaves them with frameworks to foster real change.
Compassionate Math addresses math trauma from every angle. Led by Dr. Geillan Aly (who holds a Ph.D. in Teaching and Teacher Education, a Master’s in Mathematics, and has over a decade of classroom experience), programs combine deep mathematical content knowledge with proven pedagogical strategies to transform how math is taught and learned.
Professional development for university faculty and math instructors. Specialized student workshops designed to alleviate developmental math anxiety, increase STEM engagement, and decrease course attrition.
Job-embedded professional development, instructional coaching, and SEL-integrated math pedagogy for district administrators, teachers, and school communities. Designed to overcome math trauma and raise student achievement without sacrificing rigor in Title I and standards-based environments .
Targeted 1-on-1 coaching to heal personal math trauma, rebuild mathematical confidence, and equip parents to support their children's math learning journey at home.
Good introduction to why creating a compassionate classroom is valuable and effective as a teaching practice.
If I had to [describe] this session to a friend or colleague I would tell them that we are all capable of do good in math and even with all the barriers that we might encounter, we can always become successful.
Inspiring. Realistic. I love that she spoke about how trauma can happen and specifically highlighted that BIOOC and LGBTQI+ persons are affected by it. It's refreshing and helpful to be seen like that at this predominantly white institution.
She showed compassion, empathy and understanding for the profession and truly understands us teachers.
One of the more enjoyable workshops I’ve attended in years.
A mathematical explanation to solving life problems
It was very related to problems I thought happened to just me but I learned how relevant it is to everyone else. It shows the reason behind why math seems scary and helps work through it.
Thank you! I liked that we shared ideas. Plus Geillan gave great specific ideas.
She was engaging, informative, and very understanding of the teaching profession. She made the day fun and enjoyable.
Not only applicable to math but applicable to all fields and harnessing your full ability to achieve anything you want out of life
Applicable to daily teaching and realistic with helping students persevere. Geillan was approachable, easy to talk to, and more than willing to offer suggestions and advice!
I would say that if you are questioning your position in math than this session would benefit you tremendously by taking most of your anxiety away and taking the mental blocks out of your mind so you can confidently do math and achieve the things that you want to achieve.
This session provided candid, helpful realistic ideas and advice that are applicable and ready to use.
Engaging and interactive activities that were insightful and able to be understood by all through explanation and support.
You are my hero.
A funny thing happened on the way to infinity…
I was with my kiddo who was bingeing “ALVINNN!!! and the Chipmunks” on Netflix when my ears perked up. Not because I was excited about another reboot created by AI (as a Gen-Xer I was completely rolling my eyes), but because the episode provides insight into math trauma and a journey to healing. Here I […]
Compassionate Math bloomed out of Dr. Geillan Aly’s own math trauma and her experiences helping students find their inner math person.
Students can tell immediately whether or not your math class is compassionate. Here’s what to say, what to skip, and why the opening words matter most.
Compassionate Math: Book One of the Compassionate Math Series, is half compassion (work through math trauma), and half math (conceptually understand arithmetic).
Written for the adult reader in a friendly, yet rigorous tone.
Compassionate Math is proud to have partnered with the following institutions:
