{"id":125,"date":"2018-04-14T17:13:17","date_gmt":"2018-04-14T17:13:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cohort21.com\/lisamitchell\/?p=125"},"modified":"2018-04-14T17:13:17","modified_gmt":"2018-04-14T17:13:17","slug":"believe-it-or-not-im-a-math-person-and-a-reading-person-too","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cohort21.com\/lisamitchell\/2018\/04\/14\/believe-it-or-not-im-a-math-person-and-a-reading-person-too\/","title":{"rendered":"Believe it or not….I’m a math person (and a reading person too)"},"content":{"rendered":"

It is socially acceptable for people to refer to themselves as not being good at math. \u00a0You may have heard someone say \u201cI don\u2019t have a math brain\u201d or “I’m not a math person”, but how many times have you heard the same about language? \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Typically people do not openly admit to not being able to read or write well. After reading an article<\/a> by Jo Boaler about memorizers being the lowest achievers in mathematics, I got to thinking about this notion further. \u00a0If we consider mathematics to simply be computing, memorizing and calculation as opposed to being a set of connected big ideas, then it would make sense that people would openly admit to not being good at math, particularly those that find memorization or speed a challenge. \u00a0According to Jo Boaler, \u201c<\/span>Mathematics is a broad and multidimensional subject. Real mathematics is about inquiry, communication, connections, and visual ideas. We need students who can ask good questions, map out pathways, reason about complex solutions, set up models and communicate in different forms.\u201d \u00a0If we think about mathematics in these terms, I\u2019m sure people wouldn\u2019t be as quick to identify with not being a \u2018math brain\u2019, or even openly admit that they are not good at it.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Stuff like this is all over the internet.<\/span><\/p>\n

I personally never identified as a mathie, it was hard for me, I was slow and to this day do not have my multiplication facts memorized. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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But what I could do was logic through a problem slowly, come up with strategies to be able to solve problems differently, and I could question processes in order to truly understand them. I couldn\u2019t do the math fast, but I could eventually do it well. \u00a0Conrad Wolfram, one of the leaders of one of the world\u2019s most important mathematics companies, <\/span>Wolfram-Alpha<\/span>, believes that schools should \u201cstop emphasizing calculating and focus instead on problem solving, modeling, thinking, and reasoning, as these are the mathematical abilities that students need in the workplace and <\/span>their <\/span>high<\/span> tech lives.<\/span> This broad, multidimensional mathematics is the math that engages many more learners and puts them on a pathway to life long success.\u201d \u00a0Yet memorization, speed and fact recall are still considered traits of \u2018good\u2019 math students.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

My action plan this year was to help teachers and students develop grit and perseverance when working through math challenges.\u00a0 One way to work on this was to introduce Number Talks to our students and teachers.\u00a0 We started using Sherry Parrish\u2019s Number Talk resource this year.\u00a0 Teachers had expressed concerns with mental math and fluency, so this is what we came up with. I organized PD with our teachers and we worked through the book together.\u00a0 I modelled lessons in classrooms, created math videos and started using number talks everyday with my students.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

This week my students were working through a fairly simple math problem during our Number Talk. \u00a0This number talk was the springboard for a more complex problem. I wish I would have recorded their thinking earlier in the year, but you will have to take my word for it that they have made significant progress. I am so impressed with the number of strategies they are using and the increased flexibility in their thinking about numbers. \u00a0Here is a glimpse at the number of strategies they are demonstrating. Two of the strategies displayed are from students with significant learning challenges. I must say I was a proud teacher today. <\/span>\u00a0\"\"<\/a>\"\"<\/a>\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

My students know that math is not a race; however, we do spend time talking about which strategies are the most efficient, and that we need to be efficient problem solvers.\u00a0 The reality is, the strategy which is most efficient for each individual student is an indication of where they are on their learning pathway. \u00a0They might be choosing the slowest, longest route to arrive at their answer, but at least they are making it there, and that is progress. AND more importantly is each and everyone of the learners in my classroom really enjoys math! \u00a0That too is a big change from my earlier years teaching. I always dreaded reading the report card reflections where students indicated their biggest challenge for the term. Hands down it was usually math, particularly during the double digit addition and subtraction unit. \u00a0I am looking forward to the reflections this term, I\u2019m fairly confident math will be falling in the \u2018what I am most proud of\u2019 reflection area.<\/span><\/p>\n

I know the Number Talk resource has been instrumental in this change, but so too has my mindset and attitude towards math. \u00a0I never shied away from sharing my struggles in math with my students, but I also wasn\u2019t sharing my passion.\u00a0 I do now; math is fun for me. One of my colleagues referred to me as our ‘math person’ in the junior school this week, I can’t really put words to how that felt after so many challenges with math, but amazing is a start!\u00a0 \u00a0 I still don\u2019t have my multiplication facts memorized; but according to Jo, that made me \u2018better\u2019 at math. Furthermore, I love teaching and supporting my colleagues in their math development. \u00a0This shift in thinking and talking about math will help all learners, particularly those that have learning exceptionalities, which I’m sure I did.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>I hope that my students never say, \u201cI don\u2019t have a math brain\u201d or “I’m not a math person”.\u00a0 The fact is no one is born with a math gift or a math brain and all students\u00a0 even teachers and adults) can achieve in math with the right perseverance, teaching and messages.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It is socially acceptable for people to refer to themselves as not being good at math. \u00a0You may have heard someone say \u201cI don\u2019t have a math brain\u201d or “I’m not a math person”, but how many times have you heard the same about language? \u00a0 Typically people do not openly admit to not being … Continue reading “Believe it or not….I’m a math person (and a reading person too)”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":216,"featured_media":136,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wds_primary_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,5],"tags":[17,16,7,20,13,14,18,15,19],"class_list":["post-125","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-action-plan","category-classroom-reflections","tag-curriculum","tag-grade-2","tag-grit","tag-hillfield-strathallan-college","tag-math","tag-mindset","tag-number-talks","tag-perseverance","tag-spotlight"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cohort21.com\/lisamitchell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/125","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cohort21.com\/lisamitchell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cohort21.com\/lisamitchell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cohort21.com\/lisamitchell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/216"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cohort21.com\/lisamitchell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=125"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cohort21.com\/lisamitchell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/125\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":137,"href":"https:\/\/cohort21.com\/lisamitchell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/125\/revisions\/137"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cohort21.com\/lisamitchell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/136"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cohort21.com\/lisamitchell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=125"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cohort21.com\/lisamitchell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=125"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cohort21.com\/lisamitchell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=125"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}