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In elementary school, math was just work I was told to do, nothing exciting. By 3rd grade I started to dislike math because there were a lot of timed multiplication quizzes and I never worked fast enough to succeed to my personal standards. 4th grade made things even more challenging because fractions didn't make much sense to me. By 5th grade, I thought I was bad at math and worse than everyone else because I had to get extra help. Middle school continued this trend of extra help and not enjoying math class.

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High school was a bit of a turning point for my Math skills. We were asked to select whether we wanted to do Honors or regular level Algrebra1. Due to my previous experience, I was scared to select Honors, so chose the regular level to set myself up for success. I ended up finding that class very easy and it built my confidence in math by leaps and bounds. From then on, I always chose Honors math classes and enjoyed math related work because I felt more confident in my skills.

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Today, I have much stronger perseverance and willingness to use tools or ask for help. I have also built up my ability to see patterns in related problems and apply math knowledge to real-world problems.

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Teaching 4th and 5th grade has allowed me to create open and honest connections with my students around math struggles because those are the years that started to become difficult for me. Especially around the fractions unit, I always have a class conversation about what my journey was and how I am here to support my students in their learning. I have had several students over the years mention that my experience and comments about not wanting to ask for help changed the way they viewed math class and opened them up to making mistakes and growing. I was nervous to teach math because I had regressed to my old self-conscious views about my own skills and was worried about how I would teach others. Instead, I think my journey has made me a better teacher of those very skills. Many students in the past have commented on how great of a math teacher they think I am because they saw themselves grow so much over the year, and I always remind them that it wasn't me, it was their willingness to learn that accomplished those goals.

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Inside Out(Joy, Curiosity, and Challenge)

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Inside Out(Joy, Curiosity, and Challenge)

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Joy-watching a student's lightbulb pop on when they finally get a concept, their faces light up and it feels like the biggest win.

Curiosity-Our curriculum uses a "Which One Doesn't Belong" routine in math and I love that one because their reasoning always surprises me.

Challenge-Working with students that have a fixed mindset or who still don't understand after several attempts and strategies. Those are the hardest, but often the most rewarding when they finally turn the corner into success.

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A strength I have is real-world application and explaining thinking.

Something I'm working on is using tools(especially digital ones) and understanding multiple strategies for one skill, that's not how I was taught so I feel like I'm learning with the students sometimes.

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I believe I foster the habit of persevering through a challenge. I try to have my students start work without asking questions and I will only answer questions if they have shown me what they already tried and can explain why they did that strategy. I set the same expectations for everyone accomplishing work so the students know that just because it's challenging, doesn't mean they will be allowed to skip it.

I know I foster this because I had a student's last year fill out an end of year assignment with a quote I say all the time. "Let's tackle this problem." I didn't know that I say that a lot, but I've noticed it since and I think it's part of me trying to make all skills seem approachable to students and encourage them to take it on even if it's a challenge. I also see my students become willing to make mistakes and make corrections to work because they understand that it's not supposed to be easy and it will take work and time to do it right.

This particular habit is part of my classroom culture and is usually wrapped into our class contract that we make together. Students know that I am here to help, but that everyone, no matter their skill level, will be putting in their best effort and taking whatever time is needed to face a challenge to its end.

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I have incorporated more small group work time in my class this year. This allows me to target student needs better during their independent practice time. It also encourages students to discuss their work together and ask me questions as needed.

I have seen students really lean into group discussion during this time and outside of their time with me. They are more excited to work together and share ideas because they have seen how it helps them. These groups have encouraged perseverance, explaining thinking, and using multiple strategies to solve problems.

My next steps will be to incorporate more thinking tasks during these group times to continue to encourage these habits.

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I feel that most of the skills come naturally to me, especially planning and self-regulation. I tend to struggle with flexibility because I am such a planner that changing the plan is difficult for me to accept and adapt to.

This has flowed into my teaching and everyday life because I sometimes have a hard time changing a lesson if something interrupts us and am not always able to understand students' way of thinking when they solve something different to me.

I also feel that when students struggle with some executive functioning skills that come naturally to me, it can be difficult to support them because I don't understand their lived experience of struggle, experience has helped me understand what is an age-appropriate struggle, and what is a concern.

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Specifically in math, our lessons are generally the same structure which allows students to feel prepared and organized. I also post detailed instructions for centers on the board so they are able to plan ahead for their next rotations and focus on the task at hand rather than guessing what to do next.

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All students need to ensure their math work is organized and clear. Attention is also very important so that they don't miss a critical part of instruction. I find that many students need support with self-regulation in regards to perseverance because they often don't want to be wrong or correct mistakes.

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After 63 days in 4th grade, I have noticed some students improving their self-regulation to work through challenges. I have also seen an improvement in organization of work and planning of steps to complete work. Students are also remembering more of what we've learned in previous lessons to carry into our next topics which I feel is a reflection of the routine I have of reminding them what we did the previous day before we start the lesson. My next step is to build in more post-lesson reflection with the class to further support their memory.

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I was surprised to learn that a high-level task is not necessarily a higher grade level but rather a deeper level of thinking.

In the past I think I have probably over-scaffolded a task which prevented students from learning how to struggle and develop the solution on their own.

I have become more selective of the tasks I use from our curriculum as I have become more comfortable with the content, but I still find it difficult sometimes because we are limited to what the program provides us.

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I typically notice students who often struggle with basic skills, will shut down quickly when trying something challenging. On the flip side, I also see this behavior with students who grasp skills quickly because they're not used to being challenged. In either case, I encourage any success I can see and support by connecting the task to something they've learned or done before to show the student that they have the knowledge they need to complete the task.

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Understanding task analysis has allowed me to consider the tasks offered by my curriculum and determine their value. I am now able to decide how I want to use a certain task based on what the outcome needs to be and whether the task actually accomplishes what is needed to learn a skill.