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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.