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How you can be good at math, and other surprising facts about learning

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How you can be good at math, and other surprising facts about learning

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How you can be good at math, and other surprising facts about learning | Jo Boaler | TEDxStanford

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Me and Jo Boaler must share some part of our brain because I always tell my students that the ones who didn't get it right the first time learned more than the students that got it right away.  We all learn better from mistakes and one thing I love about teaching with IB is that mistakes are okay and even encouraged. In discussions I even learn things from my students or they think of questions I haven't even thought about. It's a fun way to teach.

I also agree that the growth mindset is very important.  A few years ago I was a STEM specialist (enrichment) and the students that had the hardest time with the challenges were the "high achieving" students who had the hardest time overcoming challenges and "failure" when working on an open-ended activity.  We worked on some growth mindset activities to remind them that mistakes are the best way to learn.

Also, visual and manipulatives are important to the learning process. My math curriculum has many manipulatives and we regularly use them in our math lessons. I decided that this year I am going to devote some time at the beginning of the year to let the students "play" with the manipulatives similar to what I did when I taught Kindergarten. This is important so they are ready to use the tools when they are introduced in lessons. They will be familiar and hopefully students will be better able to incorporate them in a way which helps them learn.

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I loved seeing that the students were so happy, engaged and excited to learn. They showed enthusiasm for math! They were collaborating with one another and demonstrating their learning. Sharing their learning is an important component. I saw a great connection to the learner profile. Students were thinkers, communicators, risk takers, open-minded, and knowledgeable.
- use of manipulatives
- representing their learning in different ways
- concrete modelling to build understanding
- Variety of strategies
- represent numbers in different ways
- Students investigate, question, discuss, justify, journal
- Students and teachers are engaged
- Making thinking visable
- Justify their OWN ideas
- Challenging
- challenge other's ideas
-NOT worksheets
- Apply skills and understanding
- Role play
- Use of discussion prompts was great! "I disagree because.. I think... "
- Creative representations in math
- Meaningful learning

Structure of the Lessons:
- Mini lesson
- learning intention
- opportunities to share (Turn and talk)
- Active engagement
- Use of anchor charts
-Opportunities to discuss and share thinking/ learning
- deepens understanding
- Use of charts/ white boards
- open-ended problems
- Use of journals
- Role play/ discourse
- Working around the room
- Hands on learning
- Gallery walk / Sharing
- Self- Assessment / Reflection

Ted Talk-

" The textbook is helping in all the wrong ways"

- Want to encourage math reasoning
- want students to take initiative for their learning
- want them to be eager to learn
- let students build the problems

Interesting Article on Finger Counting

- Let students use their fingers it is "essential for math achievement"
- helpful in later grades
- leads to higher achievement in later grades
- should not discourage finger counting
-should celebrate and encourage finger use among young learners.

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Using Fingers to Count in Math Class Is Not ‘Babyish’

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Evidence from brain science suggests that using the stigmatized technique is essential for developing mathematical thinking.

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Somatosensory finger area--the part of the brain dedicated to perceptions and representation of the fingers.

"...if students aren’t learning about numbers through thinking about their fingers, numbers “will never have a normal representation in the brain.”

I love encouraging this practice, but I have admired Jo Boaler for years! I will be sharing this article with my colleagues. I see students whose parents use Kumon, and I wonder how they feel about being called out by this article.

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I love the space in this classroom!  I love all the different learning areas in this classroom that are so engaging.  The students all are on task and they really know the expectations.  I have been struggling with this over the past couple years as I have a small portable and lots of students, so space is very hard to come by.
I also love the idea of journaling and we use this a lot in Grade 1 to show our thinking. I often have the students explain their thinking to each other so they can learn from one another. It also helps them to see that there are many ways to solve the same problem.

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Today’s math curriculum is teaching students to expect -- and excel at -- paint-by-numbers classwork, robbing kids of a skill more important than solving problems: formulating them. Dan Meyer shows classroom-tested math exercises that prompt students to stop and think.

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We want to create patient problem solvers who have grit. This results in math reasoning.

1. Use multimedia

2. Encourage student intuition

3. Ask the shortest questions you can

4. Let students build the problem

5. Be less helpful

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Western Academy of Beijing Elementary School Mathematics Philosophy Statement_0