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What does it look like?

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How will I foster a growth mindset in my classroom? 

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How will I foster a growth mindset in my classroom? 

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🌱 Fostering a Growth Mindset in My Algebra Class

Encouraging “Not Yet” Thinking

In my Algebra class, I will normalize struggle and celebrate persistence by using the phrase "You're not there yet, but you're getting closer." Instead of students labeling themselves as "bad at math," I want them to say, "I haven't mastered this yet, but I will." My mentor teacher has a poster in her room that is all about having a growth mindset, and I want to actively bring that up throughout my semester of teaching.

Making Mistakes is Part of the Process

I will intentionally use incorrect answers as teachable moments. For example, when working with factoring trinomials, if a student distributes incorrectly I’ll ask, "What do you think happened here?" That invites reflection and reinforces that learning is a process. I will also make mistakes, and I want them to see that it's normal but also helpful!

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How will I use the rubric for developing as a concept-based teacher and developing concept-based instruction in my own practice? 

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How will I use the rubric for developing as a concept-based teacher and developing concept-based instruction in my own practice? 

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Reflecting on Lesson Openings

Using the rubric, I’ll begin lessons with questions like: "If I know the solution to an equation, can I create multiple different equations that have that same solution?" This connects back to students’ previous work and helps the students see that there is not one way of doing things. They can find their preferred ways or make their own connections to solving various problems. Problem-based learning with their own connections is key!

Improving Mid-Lesson Targets

During lessons, I'll look back on what worked, what should have more exploration, and how confident I feel in covering the concepts. I’ll also focus on how to transfer skills to new contexts. For example, after teaching students how to solve two-step equations, I’ll give them a real-world problem about budgeting or rates to solve, so they apply that skill conceptually.

Planning for Conceptual Closure

I’ll use the rubric to ask better exit questions. Instead of “Did you get the answer right?” I’ll ask, “How do you know your method will always work?” This supports long-term reasoning and the ability to generalize concepts.

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What does ideal math learning look like in my classroom? 

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What does ideal math learning look like in my classroom? 

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Students Thinking, Talking, and Testing Ideas

In my Algebra class, ideal math learning is meaningful. Students are sketching graphs, challenging each other’s logic, and testing patterns. They ask questions like, “Does this work for every value of x?” or “What if we change the exponent?” I would hope that my students are driven to ask questions that help them dive deeper into what they're learning rather than only being driven by finishing their homework assignments.

Multiple Entry Points and Group Work

Whether we're exploring quadratic patterns or linear functions, I give problems with low floor, high ceiling. For example, a student might find one solution to a system of equations, while another generalizes the conditions when systems have no solution. Differentiation can be extremely helpful for students with a variety of abilities, so utilizing mild, medium, and spicy problems can be helpful!

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What does ideal math teaching look like in my classroom? 

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What does ideal math teaching look like in my classroom? 

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Guiding Thinking, Not Just Giving Answers

My role is not to be the answer-giver, but the thinking coach. I ask purposeful questions, like, “Why did you try that approach?” or, “Can you explain what the graph is telling us about the equation?” From all my internship experience, I've learned how important it is to guide their thinking. As my current professor has said, "When an answer is given, all thinking stops."

Teaching with Purpose

My goal is for students to see the “why,” not just the “how.” I have learned about the great importance that inquiry plays in discovering connections in mathematics. It's something none of my prior teachers spent much time on incorporating, so I plan to teach with manipulatives, inquiry, and guidance to help the students see the connections! I don't want to use direct instruction for everything as I know that can diminish engagement and involvement.

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What is the role of a teacher? Is it to transmit information and knowledge? Or is it to inspire, guide, and facilitate the social process of learning? 

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What is the role of a teacher? Is it to transmit information and knowledge? Or is it to inspire, guide, and facilitate the social process of learning? 

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I Am a Facilitator of Mathematical Curiosity

I believe my job is not just to deliver procedures, but to inspire students to see math as a tool to understand the world! If they only see the procedures, they may struggle to see the potential of what learning math concepts can bring them. It can help them see the world through a new lens of thinking and interest.

I Help Students Find Themselves in the Math

By honoring student voice and encouraging creative reasoning, I aim to make math personal. I want students to feel seen and capable, even in tough topics like rational expressions or polynomial division.

Of course, math requires some level of direct instruction to introduce new/foundational ideas! When it comes down to the true role of a teacher that we should all aspire to reach, it's to inspire, guide, and facilitate their learning in the classroom with collaboration.

More details: https://www.edutopia.org/redefining-role-teacher

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Students aren't consumers of facts. They are active creators of knowledge. Schools aren't just brick-and-mortar structures -- they're centers of lifelong learning. And, most important, teaching is recognized as one of the most challenging and respected career choices, absolutely vital to the social, cultural, and economic health of our nation.

Today, the seeds of such a dramatic transformation in education are being planted. Prompted by massive revolutions in knowledge, information technology, and public demand for better learning, schools nationwide are slowly but surely restructuring themselves.

Leading the way are thousands of teachers who are rethinking every part of their jobs -- their relationship with students, colleagues, and the community; the tools and techniques they employ; their rights and responsibilities; the form and content of curriculum; what standards to set and how to assess whether they are being met; their preparation as teachers and their ongoing professional development; and the very structure of the schools in which they work. In short, teachers are reinventing themselves and their occupation to better serve schools and students.

New Relationships and Practices

Traditionally, teaching was a combination of information-dispensing, custodial child care and sorting out academically inclined students from others. The underlying model for schools was an education factory in which adults, paid hourly or daily wages, kept like-aged youngsters sitting still for standardized lessons and tests.

Teachers were told what, when, and how to teach. They were required to educate every student in exactly the same way and were not held responsible when many failed to learn. They were expected to teach using the same methods as past generations, and any deviation from traditional practices was discouraged by supervisors or prohibited by myriad education laws and regulations. Thus, many teachers simply stood in front of the class and delivered the same lessons year after year, growing gray and weary of not being allowed to change what they were doing.

Many teachers today, however, are encouraged to adapt and adopt new practices that acknowledge both the art and science of learning. They understand that the essence of education is a close relationship between a knowledgeable, caring adult and a secure, motivated child. They grasp that their most important role is to get to know each student as an individual in order to comprehend his or her unique needs, learning style, social and cultural background, interests, and abilities.

This attention to personal qualities is all the more important as America continues to become the most pluralistic nation on Earth. Teachers have to be committed to relating to youngsters of many cultures, including those young people who, with traditional teaching, might have dropped out -- or have been forced out -- of the education system.

Their job is to counsel students as they grow and mature -- helping them integrate their social, emotional, and intellectual growth -- so the union of these sometimes separate dimensions yields the abilities to seek, understand, and use knowledge; to make better decisions in their personal lives; and to value contributing to society.

They must be prepared and permitted to intervene at any time and in any way to make sure learning occurs. Rather than see themselves solely as masters of subject matter such as history, math, or science, teachers increasingly understand that they must also inspire a love of learning.

In practice, this new relationship between teachers and students takes the form of a different concept of instruction. Tuning in to how students really learn prompts many teachers to reject teaching that is primarily lecture based in favor of instruction that challenges students to take an active role in learning.

They no longer see their primary role as being the king or queen of the classroom, a benevolent dictator deciding what's best for the powerless underlings in their care. They've found they accomplish more if they adopt the role of educational guides, facilitators, and co-learners.

The most respected teachers have discovered how to make students passionate participants in the instructional process by providing project-based, participatory, educational adventures. They know that in order to get students to truly take responsibility for their own education, the curriculum must relate to their lives, learning activities must engage their natural curiosity, and assessments must measure real accomplishments and be an integral part of learning.

Students work harder when teachers give them a role in determining the form and content of their schooling -- helping them create their own learning plans and deciding the ways in which they will demonstrate that they have, in fact, learned what they agreed to learn.

The day-to-day job of a teacher, rather than broadcasting content, is becoming one of designing and guiding students through engaging learning opportunities. An educator's most important responsibility is to search out and construct meaningful educational experiences that allow students to solve real-world problems and show they have learned the big ideas, powerful skills, and habits of mind and heart that meet agreed-on educational standards. The result is that the abstract, inert knowledge that students used to memorize from dusty textbooks comes alive as they participate in the creation and extension of new knowledge.

New Tools and Environments

One of the most powerful forces changing teachers' and students' roles in education is new technology. The old model of instruction was predicated on information scarcity. Teachers and their books were information oracles, spreading knowledge to a population with few other ways to get it.

But today's world is awash in information from a multitude of print and electronic sources. The fundamental job of teaching is no longer to distribute facts but to help children learn how to use them by developing their abilities to think critically, solve problems, make informed judgments, and create knowledge that benefits both the students and society. Freed from the responsibility of being primary information providers, teachers have more time to spend working one-on-one or with small groups of students.

Recasting the relationship between students and teachers demands that the structure of school changes as well. Though it is still the norm in many places to isolate teachers in cinderblock rooms with age-graded pupils who rotate through classes every hour throughout a semester -- or every year, in the case of elementary school -- this paradigm is being abandoned in more and more schools that want to give teachers the time, space, and support to do their jobs.

Extended instructional periods and school days, as well as reorganized yearly schedules, are all being tried as ways to avoid chopping learning into often arbitrary chunks based on limited time. Also, rather than inflexibly group students in grades by age, many schools feature mixed-aged classes in which students spend two or more years with the same teachers.

In addition, ability groups, from which those judged less talented can rarely break free, are being challenged by a recognition that current standardized tests do not measure many abilities or take into account the different ways people learn best.

One of the most important innovations in instructional organization is team teaching, in which two or more educators share responsibility for a group of students. This means that an individual teacher no longer has to be all things to all students. This approach allows teachers to apply their strengths, interests, skills, and abilities to the greatest effect, knowing that children won't suffer from their weaknesses, because there's someone with a different set of abilities to back them up.

To truly professionalize teaching, in fact, we need to further differentiate the roles a teacher might fill. Just as a good law firm has a mix of associates, junior partners, and senior partners, schools should have a greater mix of teachers who have appropriate levels of responsibility based on their abilities and experience levels. Also, just as much of a lawyer's work occurs outside the courtroom, so, too, should we recognize that much of a teacher's work is done outside the classroom.

New Professional Responsibilities

Aside from rethinking their primary responsibility as directors of student learning, teachers are also taking on other roles in schools and in their profession. They are working with colleagues, family members, politicians, academics, community members, employers, and others to set clear and obtainable standards for the knowledge, skills, and values we should expect America's children to acquire. They are participating in day-to-day decision making in schools, working side-by-side to set priorities, and dealing with organizational problems that affect their students' learning.

Many teachers also spend time researching various questions of educational effectiveness that expand the understanding of the dynamics of learning. And more teachers are spending time mentoring new members of their profession, making sure that education school graduates are truly ready for the complex challenges of today's classrooms.

Reinventing the role of teachers inside and outside the classroom can result in significantly better schools and better-educated students. But though the roots of such improvement are taking hold in today's schools, they need continued nurturing to grow and truly transform America's learning landscape. The rest of us -- politicians and parents, superintendents and school board members, employers and education school faculty -- must also be willing to rethink our roles in education to give teachers the support, freedom, and trust they need to do the essential job of educating our children.

Judith Taack Lanier is a distinguished professor of education at Michigan State University.

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Redefining the Role of the Teacher: It's a Multifaceted Profession

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A closer look at what being an educator really means.

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How will I lead the transition toward concept-based math curriculum for teaching deeper understanding?

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How will I lead the transition toward concept-based math curriculum for teaching deeper understanding?

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Starting Small

To lead this shift, I’ll use concept-based planning in my future lessons, such as exploring multiple representations of slope (table, graph, context, equation) to build a conceptual understanding of rate of change.

Sharing Student Work to Show Growth

I'll show colleagues how student writing and explanation improve when we emphasize conceptual understanding. For instance, when I asked students to explain why two forms of a quadratic expression were equivalent, their responses can reveal real insight and not just the answers.

Building a Culture of Curiosity

I’ll support teachers in designing lessons that are driven by essential questions, like:

“What does it mean for something to be ‘equivalent’?”

“How do we model relationships between quantities?”