Blog Post #1

This week was the first week back to school after summer and the first class of my final year of teachers college is math. Last year walking into Patricia's class for the first time I was definitely a bit intimidated by the thought of having to go through math again. However, this time around I was way more calm and ready for the experience. Last year was great for me in terms of my learning of math and creating a growth mindset in my own learning journey. I feel like a created a great base last year to which I will be adding this year, strengthening my understanding of math and how to be an effective mathematics teacher.

This week we started class with Pat having us play a game on our computers where you had to move squares into a designated area with ascending levels of difficulty. As always, Pat does a great job of using activities like this as minds on activities which lead into a lesson. The point of this game, in my opinion, was to show the importance of teamwork and patience. Patience is incredibly important to have as a teacher as you have to be able to be patient with your students while they are learning and mastering new concepts and techniques. Another very important aspect of this game was the fact that it allowed you to go back and redo a level or undo a single move. In terms of mathematics and learning in general it is so important to make mistakes as this actually helps you learn better. Jo Boaler actually spoke about this in one of the videos that we were responsible for watching as homework this week. She explains that as we make mistakes our brain is firing off synapses and creating new pathways and connections within itself which helps us learn and strengthen our mind and understanding of an issue/math problem etc. Encouraging students to make mistake and remaining patient with them as they are working through their mistakes and the learning process is part of developing a growth mindset in the students; by supporting them patiently you are helping them to understand that they are capable of completing any task, even if they struggle with it at the beginning. There is a reason why erasers are on the back of pencils, we should be encouraging our students to make mistakes!

Pencil, Sept 11 2016 [online image] http://bit.ly/2c3DjKb

Another great takeaway from our first math class of the year was in a video that we watched called 'Ever wonder what they would notice?' I enjoyed this video because it presents a great idea about how to lead discussions and lessons in the class. Right now most classrooms and lessons are based on finding out what kids don't understand and then teaching them. Instead, this video was explaining that we should be asking kids what they wonder about, not what they don't understand. By asking the students what they are wondering about a certain topic you are more likely to actually spark genuine interest in the students which will lead to a better learning experience for them. The video said to use a Wondering Vs Noticing handout about topics in the classroom in which the students write what they notice about a  topic/idea/concept on one side, and what they are wondering about that same issue/topic/concept on the other. This allows us, as educators, to really understand what our students want to learn, as well as how much our students already understand about a topic, sometimes intuitively. This also supports the importance of creating a growth mindset in our students. By having them wonder about what they want to know they are motivating themselves internally to learn about a topic. Lastly, the other videos that we had to watch during the online module were great in terms of getting my mind back into the groove of thinking about growth mindset not only in math but throughout all of my courses. I really enjoyed watching the Math Myths and Stereotype videos as I thought it was interesting to hear the stereotypes and myths and compare them to my own personal experiences and thoughts about math.