Action Plan

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I can still remember the day when my eighth grade teacher grouped us for math. It was something that he had done before; however, this time was different. I was not in the top group. Of course, he didn’t call it the “top” group, but we all knew what it was. I was in one of the middle groups and I was distraught. I believe it was that day that I switched off from math. If I was not in the top group, it must mean that I am not a math person.

Everyone can do really well at math. Wouldn’t this be amazing if all of our mathematics students had this mindset? This was the principle behind my guiding question for my action plan: How can we change attitudes about Mathematics?

A few years ago I had taken a MOOC (massive, online, open, course) through Stanford University. It was created by Jo Boaler, who is a mathematics education professor there. In a nutshell, the course presented new research that explained about how the brain works within the specific context of mathematics. The myth of some people are just “math people” was dispelled.

I wanted to further my understanding by reading Jo Boaler’s book called, Mathematical Mindsets. This book continues to explain the research, but it also gives practical advice for teachers of mathematics. In addition, she has a website (https://www.youcubed.org/) that gives more in-depth information about how to foster a mathematical mindset.

This leads me to my action plan. If we open students up to the way the brain works and let them know that there is no such thing as a “math person” – would this change their mindset?

Steps:
Create attitude survey to assess attitudes before.
Plan a week of inspirational math. (If you sign up for youcubed, there are some plans already there that will help to guide me through this process.
Check with my headteacher to have such a week approved.
Assess attitudes afterwards.

This is the immediate action plan. I believe that one week of information about having a healthy mindset is a great start, but this positivity must also be maintained. I would also like to present my findings to the other junior school teachers at The York School to see if it would be possible to plan a whole-school initiative for the “Week of Inspirational Math.”

I believe that there might be some teachers out there who have tried the “Week of Inspirational Math” and I would very much like to hear from you to pick your brain.

8 Replies to “Action Plan”

  1. @snewell I loved action plans that are focused around shifting student mindsets because they usually involve the creation of some really creating learning experiences. On Friday mine the cohort for what should go into your week of “inspirational math” I am sure you will come away with tons of ideas.

  2. As your colleague I am probably biased… but I love this! Can I help plan your fun and inspirational activities? My grade 12 Math HL class is like a Year of Inspirational Math and it’s so unfortunate that 1) they have to wait so long for that experience, and 2) that it’s only accessible to a small group of students.

    You could have such fun with infinity and shapes and games and … keep me posted!

    PS. Everyone can learn math. It should be intuitive and it should make sense. Not sure where those things get lost in our system, but they do.

    • Hi Ruth!
      Thanks for your positive feedback. I would LOVE to plan with you. I think it would also be cool (if they have time) to have your grade 12 students come and help. I wonder if they would be into that?
      I am asking the children to fill in a questionnaire tomorrow that will give me some baseline of information regarding what their current mindset is towards mathematics. Once we have discussed mindset and had our week of inspirational math, I am hoping that these attitudes will have changed.
      It would be interesting to give your students the same questionnaire. It is short and there is a guide that tells you (based on attaching a number to each response) whether the participants have a growth mindset, have somewhat of a growth mindset, etc.
      Here’s the link: https://docs.google.com/document/d/19j_HVYiHChMakk_EJ3VEj87XbTDHloDq_4e3uHekWRs/edit
      Hope to talk soon,
      Suzanne

  3. I can’t wait to hear what you plan for your Week of Inspirational Math. I have a feeling those students who are most like you (and I) were in the 8th grade may be most challenging… I expect that they will likely enjoy the challenge of learning new mathematical concepts but I wonder what they think has contributed to their success in the past or what they think they can learn from others who “are not good at math”. Will your WIM tasks somehow address this? I’m looking forward to seeing how you approach changing their mindsets!

    • Hi Lara,
      One of the really cool things that Boaler has done is to create this little videos that talk about how the brain works. She goes into detail (in kid’s words) about recent reseach into the brain’s plasticity. This will hopefully address some of those ideas about how some people can view themselves as having an innate math propensity. In addition, she talks about the societal norms that allow the idea of negative growth mindsets in this particular strand to flourish. I think this would be a great diving board to start the discusssion to see what sort of things have happened to them (in their short lives) that may have contributed to a growth or a fixed mindset. I am excited to see what happens.

  4. A year of inspirational math would be the ideal, would it not? I think starting small is very tangible so your week looks good and should yield you some positive results. That said, I have been in your math class and think it is inspirational as is. A question then… Perhaps then the idea is that students engage in mathematics – and for those who find it daunting – not even realize that they are doing math because they have such preconceived notions of what mathematics is (back to mindset and shifts here).

    Let me know how I can support and if Ruth and her students are available to come by, that would be a great leadership opportunity for them and yet another way to connect both campuses and divisions.

    • Thanks, Jenn. I do try to make my math lessons as inspirational and as hands-on as possible. I can remember some REALLY boring lessons when I was a math student! And, in this way, I actually decided not to do the week on inspirational math with my class. Instead, I focussed on making my current lessons as problem-solving based and real-life oriented as possible. I then infused some kid-friendly research about the brain and how it can grow. The youcubed site provides so many very kid-friendly video snippits to help educate students about the plasticity of our brains, especially within the realm of mathematics.
      The “Week of Inspirational Math” is an initiative that Jo Boaler started. It is a specific week (usually at the beginning of the school year) in which she has planned activites that allow students to see the beauty and “coolness” of math. The activities are also infused with her own videos about brain research. I was actually inspired by Michelle (a fellow Cohortian!) who said that the Mabin school had tried it and it was super successful.
      I would love to talk to you about possibly considering this as a whole-school initiative for September. Each year Boaler comes out with a new set of learning engagements, educational videos and discussion points. I think it would be super inspirational to try it as a whole school.