This summer, Stanford Professor, Jo Boaler, hosted a free online course, titled “How to Learn Maths”. Close to 20,000 teachers, parents,
administrators from across the country learned about mindsets and how a
perception of one-self impacts learning every day. We watched interviews of college students on
the impact of K-12 teachers and how one statement from one teacher early
on in their education impacted their beliefs on their math ability. Some
teachers from our district participated in the course so I asked one of them to
write a reflection of what she learned.
Thank you, Juli Schexnayder (Maryvale), for sharing your insights and honest reflection.
“… I learned about mindsets and how they impact student’s
ability to succeed. Our students come to
us with one of two mindsets, fixed or growth.
The fixed mindset is typical of the student and/or parent who tell us
they cannot do math because of genetics, gender, race, etc… These individuals have convinced themselves
or been convinced by others that they cannot do math so they don’t. A growth mindset belongs to those individuals
who believe they can do anything and they do!
Mindsets can be changed, and must be changed, especially from fixed to
growth.
Changing a mindset isn’t done with hollow platitudes or
pandering. Giving students genuine
feedback on their work and the opportunity to express their math thinking are
big keys to helping students change their mindset from fixed to growth. To do this, I question student answers both
verbally and written. I ask my classes
if anyone’s reasoning or problem solving method makes sense. I allow my students the opportunity to
explain how their reasoning/problem solving works. I even learn from my students and give credit
to students who demonstrate reasoning I have not considered before to my other
classes as I present the teacher/student’s ideas. Most importantly, some of my struggling students
(based on assessments) have started to express themselves mathematically and
are seeing themselves as capable in a math class, possibly for the first time
ever.
The most exciting development in my classes is the
engagement students have with each other.
I can put a problem on the board and they are processing, generalizing
and then applying what they know and intuit to find solutions. They are becoming curious about math, and I
hope, excited about math, many for the first time in their lives. I know that if I had not taken this course my
students would be sitting in their desks, tolerating my class, bored by the
same old math they have seen year after year.
The idea of mindsets is not new, but does need to become
part of who we are as teachers of mathematics, if we hope to produce students
who are to become the future scientists, doctors, mathematicians, game
designers, and educators.”
