End of term One Maths planning reflection

I did an end of term reflection for Maths this term to verbalise what I did, why and where I am going next. Some of the things mentioned in this reflection have also been mentioned already in other reflections I have done on Maths.

What happened? Why did I change?

Well inspiration happened and it caused me to step out of my comfort zone and completely change the way I teach maths. I was extremely happy with the programme I developed for my students last year in Maths. I felt great about their progress. I felt great about their level of student agency and I felt great about how personalised it was for each student. All content was covered. So why change? Well I read The Elephant in the Classroom and it inspired me to try to change the way I teach math. I surveyed my students and many of them had negative thoughts, feelings and beliefs about Maths and their ability. What I did before worked and had children meeting standards etc but this didn’t improve how they felt about maths or the ideas they had about themselves related to Maths. Therefore I set out on a mission to help students love maths and believe in themselves and their ability. There is no such thing as a ‘math brain’. Anyone can be good at math!

Mixed Ability Groups

Well the book and many other pieces of research pointed out the benefits of mixed ability groups and the harm of ability groups to students. I didn’t have ability groups before because learning was personalised and students would choose their own groups. In saying that, it was still probably harmful to the lower learners as it held them back from completing maths at a higher level until they had achieved all the lower level stuff first. Therefore they would probably be thinking they aren’t good at maths because they aren’t challenged to the stuff at higher levels which sends them a message that it’s cos they are not capable or good enough to do it even though that isn’t the case. Ability groups make students feel dumb. There are so many advantages to mixed ability groups. All students can achieve no matter what level they are and the stigma of being in the low group is gone. It’s also beneficial to the higher learners as well so I decided to give it a go. I created mixed ability groups and decided to use them for the maths challenges on the Youcubed website. Sometimes students would work in pairs and sometimes on their own but when in a group, they worked in a pre-determined group with ranges of levels and abilities within.

I think that some people have already started to grow in confidence who previously thought they were no good at maths but for some it is etched in their mind and will take more time to undo their negative thought patterns.

My planning

Well basically my plan completely went out the window. I intended to teach Number Strategy- Add/Sub. I even gave them the strategy test to see what strategies they knew. But then I realised after reading the book, that this was going to end up setting my kids up to be assessment driven learners and this could hinder self-esteem. Assessment is important, don’t get me wrong, but that particular strategy assessment was designed to help them work out which strategies they know and which ones they need to learn when in reality, any strategies are good and I shouldn’t be telling them a list of strategies to ‘tick off’. They should be learning different ways to work things out from each other in real problem solving contexts. I scrapped my assessment and decided to not to give it back to them. 

Then I was left with a big question about how to do things differently. I had realised that problem solving was the way to go but where was I going to find these deep and meaningful problems all year to use? I came up with a few and found some on the internet that worked really well. Then I discovered on Jo’s website Youcubed.com that she had 3 weeks of inspirational math to use. They had detailed lesson plans with videos and supporting resources and they were amazing. My goal was to use her exemplars to get myself started and then figure out for myself how I could carry it on. In the end I finished Week One and it took me all term. All term I spent working out 5 days worth of problems. Her problems were so rich and engaging that my kids wanted to do them. I was so stoked with the learning conversations and problem solving strategies and the gap between the ‘top kids’ and ‘bottom kids’ in math was non-existent. This was exactly what I was hoping for so I went with it. Unfortunately it means that my kids didn’t get the ‘coverage’ that I would normally provide, but I felt this learning was still worthwhile even though it technically didn’t fit with the structure of my long term maths plan.

Assessment

I didn’t teach kids to a test. I am still working out how to assess their learning in this new way. Next term I am wanting to teach measurement. I am going to do a pre-test and post-test, just as I always would. Jo Boaler still did her thing with her remedial maths kids and they still sat a standardised test so I am sure it will work. The difference is that instead of students looking for their learning gaps in the test and trying to fill them before the next one, we won’t look at the test for any other reason other than as a marker for progress. I am going to look at the Measurement content from our school curriculum for levels 3 and 4 and I am going to create problems and projects that cover these. Students will work in their mixed ability groups all term on these problems and projects. Hopefully the learning will transfer and be reflected in the post-test without us referring back to it.

Teaching- What and how will I teach?

I am still thinking about this. Students actually do a lot of learning from each other.They also have access to the internet if necessary. Basically last term I went to each group and had had discussions with them all about their next steps each day and did any relevant teaching on the spot. That is option one.

Option two: I arrange conferencing with groups and they come to me for a conference and any learning needed is covered in the conference. I feel this would work best if I had a project to work through that was ongoing over several weeks so I could see where students are up to.

Option three: I run workshops on specific measurement topics or number strategies each day. Groups attend if they need to learn that content in order to proceed.

Maybe I even try them all to see what works best?

Content Coverage

I am going to continue the year breaking it up into topics as I have done in the past. Will follow the same steps mentioned above for measurement. Pre-test→problems or projects with a strand theme with number integrated within →these are completed mostly in mixed ability groups →relevant learning is acquired in order to complete the tasks. →Post test.

Will follow with a statistics unit and geometry unit. Will teach number strategies in these contexts in an integrated way. In the last term, I will do a big number focus on anything missed.

So basically that is my plan. My next step is to look at the measurement content for my next unit and come up with problems or projects that will help the students learn everything required at Levels 3 and 4. Note I currently have no students working at level 5.

The challenge I now have is finding/coming up with problems and projects that are suitable but I am excited to give it a go. Because I have taught the same year group for so long, I have a very good understanding of what curriculum knowledge, skills and strategies will need to be covered. I know what's in those pre and post tests. If I come across some great ideas, it shouldn't be too difficult to organise them to fit with my goals for teaching and learning.

Mathematical Mindsets with Jo Boaler- Reflection One

The structure of the Mathematical Mindsets course with Jo Boaler basically involves watching many videos and answering a reflective question after each one. It also includes peer reflection and feedback too.
I am going to post my progress in separate posts each time I complete some.
Today I started lesson One and I have answered 10 reflection Questions. For someone reading this blog post, you won't see the videos or the research that I was basing my reflection on. You will only see my thinking. I spent a couple of hours on lesson one and I am not even finished yet so this course is going to take me a while but I am really really enjoying it and I am loving the learning and the messages in it!

Lesson 1:3

Well firstly I have to say that I am not surprised that the children perceived to have learning disabilities had more areas of their brain lighting up when they worked on Maths. I have an opinion that these types of students usually are quite extraordinary! I can also understand how that is not a positive thing and could cause a problem when they are trying to learn something new. Learning how to focus the brain functioning could be a great step in the right direction.

It’s very exciting to me that the students ended up with the same achievement and brain functioning at the end of the eight week period. It makes me wonder what they did to accomplish that? How did they change the learning for the students and teach them how to use their brain differently so that they could achieve? It’s great because this achievement was accomplished in such a short time frame of only 8 weeks. Imagine what the children could be capable of over longer periods of time?

I think this study really proves that you can grow your brain and now I’m curious to know how we can achieve these results in schools.

Reflection 1:4

Imagine you do some work and a leader / colleague / manager says to you, “Wow you are so smart”. How does that make you feel?

It implies that I am smarter than others which also implies that some people are smarter than others. This is a limiting statement. Someone who says this most likely has a fixed mindset even if only at a subconscious level.

Reflection 1:5

Why did children told they are smart chose the easy problem next?

Because they are afraid to lose their title. They are worried that if they make a mistake or get something wrong, they will no longer be considered smart. They want to continue to be considered smart so choosing the easy problem gives them a greater chance of being correct and staying smart. They are afraid to fail. Those people will never struggle and will give up. In reality struggling is what grows our brains. We need to struggle and can’t keep choosing the easy problem or we won’t grow. Therefore saying a student is smart is very harmful in the long-run.

The child who is not told they are smart is prepared to challenge themselves as they are not worried about not being considered smart anymore.

Reflection Question 1:6

What does the gifted label do to young children and their teachers?

It’s a very limiting concept. If someone is gifted at something, it implies they are special and unique when compared with other children. That also implies that other children cannot attain the same level of giftedness no matter how hard they try because they don’t have ‘the gift’. I can see some issues with this. The gifted child doesn’t challenge themselves because why? They are already gifted. The child who is not perceived to be gifted in an area thinks why bother trying? There is obviously a capped limit on how high they can achieve in a subject if they aren’t gifted.

From a teaching perspective it produces low expectations on students to achieve. It limits their potential and how much they can achieve. This is very damaging! It’s damaging for all students too though not just the one who is told they are gifted.

It’s particularly worrying that Women and African Americans were most impacted when their professors believed a gift was necessary for success in their field. In NZ there is no doubt that this would transfer to our Maori and Pacifica students.

The statistics outlined in the graph are quite scary. In Graph A the STEM subjects, the more professors that believed in the strength of the gifted idea, the less women there were in the field. That’s terribly concerning. Imagine what messages it sends to our young girls. Another concern is that more math professors believe in the gift than any other students. Therefore the message is still clearly being portrayed that to be good at maths you need to blessed with the gift when we know that this is simply not true.

Reflection Question 1:7

Give an example of when you or someone you know has used the ‘smart’ word. What did they really mean and what could it have been replaced with?

“You’re really smart with computer coding.”

It was great when you were able to think about the coding instructions needed and put them into a logical order.

Reflection Question 1:8

Given the weakness of the impact of genes and the incredible impact of the environment, messages, teaching, and other brain growth opportunities, why are schools keen to label children as “smart” and “gifted” or not?

I don’t know. Now it doesn’t make any sense to use these words. Could it be linked to school performance? If you have a ton of gifted and smart children at your school then it’s a good school? Most of us don’t realise that it has such a detrimental effect. I didn’t until today.

Reflection Question 1:9

What is a belief message you can give to students when you are talking to them about their work?

I believe you can solve this problem. Keep persisting. Don’t give up. Call me back when you’ve made a new discovery.

Reflection Question 1:10

The evidence that those with a “growth” mindset have more brain activity than those with a fixed mindset is pretty amazing – and important. What does it make you think about? Is there something you may do or say differently because of this evidence?

I’ve known this already and read this research and seen these pictures before. I guess it makes me think about how powerful my words are and also my inner thoughts and beliefs. It makes me think of Henry Ford’s Quote, ‘Whether you think you can or think you can’t, either way you are right.’ This man knew this without a brain scan and I refer to this quote a lot in my life and in my class.

I guess it means that I can focus my words on helping my students to believe in themselves because I believe in them. If I can convince them that they have the power to achieve anything if only they believe they can, then they will go on to be very successful in their lives. If I can prove that this is science and not fluffy teacher nonsense, then it might resonate with more of them.

The growth mindset is a huge mission in my class at the moment. I’ve shown the students these brain scans in a video from the Inspirational Week of Math at Youcubed.com.