Final Action Plan Post

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The End of the Beginning….

The Cohort 21 programme has been a very positive, inspirational and attitude-changing experience for me. I have felt very lucky to have been a part of a community of learners that are so driven and motivated. It really was contagious!

At the beginning, I thought it would be difficult to change the attitudes of my students about Mathematics. I thought that it would take a lot of convincing to change some of their beliefs. I was wrong. As always, my students amazed me. They took to the ideas (that I shared and discussed with them) like a house on fire. In fact, they wanted to continue to expand their knowledge of the brain and how it works.

Last week I shared my action plan with the staff at the Junior School. I am a hesitant public speaker; however, I found that my passion for this project allowed me to share my ideas and action plan in a compelling manner.

After the presentation, one staff member wrote:

“Your presentation at yesterday’s faculty meeting was exceptional. I was super impressed by your quiet candour about changing attitudes about our Mathematical capabilities, not to mention your passion for trying to do so. I learned so much from you, your work and your journey with Cohort 21; and, I can’t remember the last time I was so inspired by the work of a colleague. I really think your presentation is of great value to our school community.”
Please find a link to my staff presentation below:
What impressed me the most about this process was the way in which my students embraced a positive math mindset. After about a month of discussing growth mindset and the power of mistakes, these ideas naturally fused themselves into the classroom. At first, it was in a bit of a “jokey” way but then they began to see that having a positive mindset is really important. It HAS changed our math environment.
Where to next? Funnily enough, one of the next steps actually comes from my class. They want to put on an assembly to the junior school to discuss some of the things that they have learnt about a positive math mindset. They want to do some little skits (like the videos in youcubed) to share their knowledge with others. I hope to help them facilitate this over the next few months.
On my front, I would like to ask all math teachers to join a PLN next year in which we discuss the ideas in Jo Boaler’s book. I think that all stakeholders at TYS would benefit from reading this book and I can’t wait to share ideas with the staff.
Advice to new Cohortians? Hmm…I think the best advice I can give is to pick an area that you are passionate about, pick something small and then watch it grow. It is a wonderful experience and you get out of it, what you put in!
Thanks to Justin, Garth and all of the facilitators and mentors for a fabulous learning opportunity. I am forever changed.

Please find the link to my Action Plan Story Presentation below:

5 Replies to “Final Action Plan Post”

  2. @snewell thank you so much for this post, your insight on growth mindset in math and your wealth of knowledge and resources. To be honest, I didn’t expect to see so many similarities between the lower and upper grade about mindset in math but it is really exciting to see that collaboration in math can and should happen across all grades. You’ve inspired me to try having our whole school fill in the growth mindset questionnaire next year. We should try to connect next year and compare results.

    I love your notion of the power of the YETI. What a great way to convey the message of growth mindset! I’m so glad I happened to be at your table today during our final F2F!

  3. @snewell I have wanted to reply to your blog since you posted it. I have actually read and re-read it several times now (even though it’s a recent post)! I am so impressed by your journey this year, and excited to see how your action plan evolves during the upcoming 2017-18 year! I will be checking out Jo Boaler’s book for sure, and I’m hoping I can chat with you down the road and/or put you in touch with a math teacher from my school? Let me know if you are interested in that! Even though I’m primarily in the upper school, I think we can make some neat connections from Junior to Senior math classes and this positive mindset business!!!!

  4. Fantastic reflection of learning, risk-taking and growth, Suzanne! I too hope that your passion will catch on and that a group of teachers will take a close look at Boaler’s work and be inspired to implement it in their classrooms as the effects on you and your students are evident when one walks into your classroom. Let me know what I can do to support you.
    P.S. Your presentation manner is humble – which makes you very approachable.

  5. Congratulations, Suzanne. Your journey this year has been incredible. I look forward to continuing work with us to develop mathematical mindsets of all our students.