What is your math identity?

Last Tuesday's methods class touched on the concept of math identities: what is your relationship to math?  How do you see yourself - good at math or not? Does the idea of solving math problems bring you peace or anxiety?  The article we read really got me thinking about our Study Tech kids, students who struggle at math and have been labeled as "not meeting standard."  Every day, I aim to make math relevant for these students because they clearly believe that math is not important to their future. If we can show them how math is relevant, then I think they may be more self-motivated about their learning.  In particular, there is one student who I'm tutoring who is bored or sleepy during every class. He can do the work, but has trouble getting started.  We gave students a sudoku puzzle to do after finishing a quiz because they needed to stay quiet as the other students worked on their quiz.  I was surprised and delighted when I handed my tutored student a sudoku, and he said "Oh, I love these. I have a book of them at home."  Now I have a hook to work with! I want to give these students a chance to see themselves at mathematicians, so they will have more self-confidence to tackle math problems.