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This past weekend, hearts across North America shattered as the plucky underdog Toronto Blue Jays lost to the LA Dodgers in extra innings of the deciding Game 7 of the Major League Baseball World Series.  And if none of those words matter to you at all - then you and Vanessa have much in common!

However, as a self-admitted bandwagon jumper, even though she was down in the US on a math ed conference tour, she was all in on this series and sucked a bunch of colleagues into her orbit along the way.  While this is obviously not a sports podcast, she and her teacher friends couldn't help observe parallels between what they saw on the field & went through together as new fans, compared with what they see day to day in their students' journeys through the education system.

So Vanessa and David jumped on to discuss some of these parallels, share some voice memos from her teachers-turned-superfans group chat, and even call in a pinch hitter (a term she learned last week) to share the inside scoop on what might actually be going through these pro athletes' minds in the most high pressure situations imaginable and how a student can approach a math test the same way.

The dream team: (aka teachers Vanessa literally forced to watch the games)

• Jenna Laib (Website, Bluesky)
• Alison Mello (Website, Instagram)
• Kim Montague (Instagram, Bluesky)
• Shelby Strong (Website, Bluesky)

Guest "analyst": (aka ex-Olympic athlete / current math ed rock star)

• Peter Liljedahl (Website, Instagram)
• Past ep: Teaching students to ... think?! w/ Peter Liljedahl

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• Vanessa Vakharia: Instagram, TikTok, Email
• Math Therapy: Text the Podcast

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