Back to School: Making Character and Positive Mathematical Mindsets Visible in our Daily Efforts

These points are copied exactly from Jo Boaler's book, Mathematical Mindsets, page 172-173

It's been a wonderful vacation week of mostly doing what I want to do, and now it's time to ready for the return to school.

I outlined the plans a week ago Friday at the start of vacation, and now I want to focus on some of the specific lessons and routines I'll employ to develop craft and better teaching/learning.

With regard to my work to embed Boaler's research outlined in her book, Mathematical Mindsets, I'll start each math class tomorrow with the following information:

• First, I want to thank all of you (students) for your kindness and support, I've written a thank you note to you that includes a personal note. Please bring home these notes and share them with your family members.
• Next, I read a lot about math over vacation, and I want you to help me include the following focus areas that I read about in Jo Boaler's book, Mathematical Mindsets*, (hold up the book) in each math lesson. New learning takes time and I need your help.
• Everyone can learn math to the highest levels.
• Mistakes are Valuable.
• Questions are Really Important
• Math is about Creativity and Making Sense
• Math is about Connections and Communicating
• Depth is Much More Important than Speed
• Math Class is about Learning, Not Performing 
• Today we're going to look at, color code, and talk about a number of measurement models as one way to prepare for tomorrow's systemwide test. As we noticed in Mr. Rockwell's wonderful model, a good picture or model helps people to make sense of and remember big ideas. So take out your colored pencils, and let's get ready to study these models together.

In the weeks ahead, I'll turn Boaler's big ideas and practice suggestions into real time lessons, posters, and projects to both embed her wonderful work into my practice and also use her powerful research to develop students' math interest, skill, and application.

I also want to start the day tomorrow by making a bridge to the learning we did before we left for vacation. As students trickle in, they will clean their desks and ready for the week. Then I'll welcome them back with a meeting on the rug. I'll congratulate them on their Character Day efforts, and tell them that we're going to extend that learning and effort in the days ahead. I'll mention that it's a small effort to talk about big ideas like character, but it's a much greater effort to actually make those ideas visible in your day-to-day talking, studying, and playing. 

I'll then say, I want you to think about how we can make the attributes of character visible in our classroom and school as you watch this J.K. Rowling speech. Remember that to make something visible means that you can see the actions and hear the words that demonstrate those specific big ideas. 

We'll then watch J.K. Rowling's speech, and after that we'll begin working on the following chart in small groups:

On Friday, partner groups will each focus on one aspect of character and make a poster about that attribute. Student groups will cut up their original worksheets and give the line that relates to each poster to the partner group in charge of that attribute. Each partner groups will consolidate all the information into one great line about how we can make that element of character visible in our school and classroom. 

So on day one after the vacation, the focus will include positive mathematical mindsets, measurement models, and character attributes. That will set the stage well for the study to come until our next break in April.

*The attributes listed above come directly from the book Mathematical Mindsets by Jo Boaler

Join us for a Conversation about Mathematical Mindsets by Jo Boaler

At dinner the other night a teacher friend of mine said that reading Boaler's book, Mathematical Mindsets, was like having someone tell you that everything you thought and knew to be true about teaching is actually true and also researched based. Many of the ideas that we've intuitively understood to be true as educators are yes, indeed correct, and the multiple ways we've often been told to do our jobs, in fact, are often not brain-friendly or conducive to positive and successful learning experiences.

That being said, Boaler also takes our gut instincts about what's right and good for students and learning, and pushes us to deepen our understanding and eliminate the many myths that permeate our ideas and practice about what it means to learn and teach math well. She challenges us to remake the math classroom for our students, which in turn, will deliver to us more engaged, active, and successful math students. Who can argue with that?

At my school on March 14th, I'm inviting colleagues to join me to discuss the book. Then again, on March 22nd, +Rik Rowe and +David Hochheiser have kindly agreed to focus #edchatma (an edchat for Massachusetts educators and others) on a discussion about the points made in Boaler's book. +Jo Boaler has agreed to join us for the chat from 8pm to 9pm EST. If you're interested in discussing the book and/or developing your math teaching and learning, please join us for the discussion.

I must say it was difficult coming up with a list of ten questions for the discussion after reading the book since the book is filled with great ideas, research, and challenge. In fact, the book is so good, that I've been carrying it around with me and sharing it with almost every educator I meet. At the Elevating and Celebrating Effective Teachers and Teaching Conference (ECET2) in San Diego recently, I pulled out the book again and again as educators discussed multiple points related to teaching well. Rather than share the book with a colleague who keeps asking to share, I'm simply going to buy her a copy since I know I'll be using the book daily as I craft posters, lead student discussions, and create and present multiple open tasks in the days to come during math class. 

That being said, I've come up with ten questions that will lead our discussion in real time on 3/14 with school colleagues and again online on March 22 from 8pm-9pm EST via #edchatma on Twitter. If you've never participated in an #edchat conversation before, this link by +Cybrary Man provides a good introduction. 

Questions for the Conversation about Mathematical Mindsets by Jo Boaler

1. 8:00: Welcome to #edchatma. Please introduce yourself and tell us where you are from and why you've decided to join the chat tonight.
2. 8:05: In what ways do you or will you encourage students' growth mindset with regard to math learning and teaching? How will your classroom, language, activities, and professional learning reflect this?
3. 8:10: How will you bring Boaler's research to life in your math class to promote a more positive, brain-friendly, successful math learning/teaching environment?
4. 8:15 In what ways will you create math teaching and learning opportunities that are more equitable and successful for all students?
5. 8:20: How will you foster and encourage positive, successful student collaboration in the math classroom?
6. 8:25: Will Boaler's research change the way you view and assign homework? If so, how?
7. 8:30: How do you support, embed, and make visible a multidimensional approach to math teaching, learning, assessment, and success?
8. 8:35: Has reading this book changed or affirmed your thoughts about tracking? Will the research and ideas presented in the book promote change in your teaching/learning environment?
9. 8:40: Do you employ open-ended, inquiry based projects in the math classroom? If so, what are some of the specific strengths or examples of this approach? If not, what questions do you have about this approach?
10. 8:45: How might you update or change the math learning/teaching physical environment to better support open-ended, inquiry based learning and teaching?
11. 8:50: What questions do you have with regard to the book? Where will you take tonight's conversation with respect to your work with the learning community including students, families, colleagues, leaders, and community members?

Overall what makes me most excited about Boaler's book and the upcoming conversations is that this is evidence of a much more promising and positive path with regard to math learning and teaching for all students and teachers. As Boaler states, "Viva la Revolution!"

Related Book Notes
Dispelling Math Myths
What is a Mathematician?
Making Positive Mathematical Mindsets Visible

Steps for Deepening and Developing Craft

How do we deepen and develop our craft in ways that matter? Godin's post today led me to an analysis which led me to this post.

As I think about my practice analysis, I am led to the following conclusions about deepening and developing craft.

Learning Design Review and Revision
We have a number of terrific units in place at our grade level, and now is the time to carefully revisit those units looking for ways to develop the teaching and learning. There are many ways in which we can do this.

For STEAM units, we can look at the overall pattern of delivery and participation. As we look at the pattern, we can determine what steps are working and where we need to make change. We can discuss the ways we assess these units as well, and decide if the data provides us with adequate information with which to evaluate the unit delivery. Further, we can watch the videos we've taken of students engaged in these units, and discuss what we notice including factors that should stay the same and factors that might change for the better. We can also attend this summer's STEAM workshop to learn about about this work. There's a lot of work we can do to develop this work.

With regard to math, I want to make the time to think about how I am going to apply the research from Boaler's book to develop each math unit and the overall program. This will take some deep thinking and work in the months to come.

Collaboration and Learning/Teaching Teams
I want to continue to develop the ability and potential of terrific teamwork. Together we can do such great work. There are many team members in our overall teaching/learning team. How we work together and maximize our time and energy to teach children well matters. Beginning with our PLCs and extending to our weekly team meetings, curriculum meetings, outside-of-school-professional-development, and faculty meetings, there's lots that we can do to develop our work in this area.

Presentation and Share
To put together presentations and lead workshops prompts us to organize our efforts well so that others can share in our experiences as we share in their experiences, needs, and questions. To present well develops the work we can do with and for colleagues and students.

These are three areas that will help me to deepen and develop my craft at this time. Thanks to Godin for prompting this path.

Godin Provides a Framework

Now and then Seth Godin offers us a framework for our work. Today his project questions make a good outline for any educator's work. I used his questions in the bold to look into my practice below. How would you answer the same questions?

"What is it for? When someone hires your product or service, what are they hiring it to do?"
When someone hires me, they are hiring me to help students and educators gain the skills, concept, knowledge, learning-to-learn attitudes/skills, and positivity to learn and teach children well.

"Who are you trying to change by doing this work? From what to what?
Rather than "change," my goal is to develop students and teachers by providing them with avenues for deep learning and teaching.

"How will you know if it is working?"
There are multiple ways to know if it's working. Student/educator project work, test scores, reflective feedback, attitude, and observation will allow me to know if my efforts are working.

"What does it remind me of? Are there parallels, similar projects, things like this that have come before?"
I've taught for many years. I build one year's work on the past year's successes. I continually try new avenues and keep the good while weeding out the old. I look for examples of good work as well in the work of others and embed their strengths into my work.

"What's the difficult part?"
The difficult part is that close attention to the individuals you work with. Making sure that you are providing the best possible individual response, support, and learning opportunities.

"How much of your time and focus are you spending on the difficult part?"
I spend a fair amount of time on personalizing the curriculum. As I write this, I realize though that I'd like to spend a bit more time on rubrics and other strategies to review and support individual's learning and teaching.

"What part that isn't under your control has to happen for this work?"
The part that's mainly out of my control is the time to meet and positively coordinate my work with the work of others who support the same teachers and students. We already have a fair amount of time for this collaboration, but we could continue to work towards even better process and time for this kind of work. Also, sometimes I don't have all the information about the efforts and philosophies that affect y work--greater communication would help the work I do.

"How much (time and money) is it going to take to find out if you've got a shot at this working out?
A daily commitment of three-four hours is a good amount of time for this.

"What assets do you already own that you'll be able to leverage?"
I could leverage more money with regard to training, and I already leverage lots of time.

"What assets do you need to acquire."
Greater detail and more specific targets would support these efforts.

"Project launches, new assets"
There are many new projects and learning events planned. The key is to leverage the time, study, and specificity to make these launches successful.

"From which people will you need help? Do they have a track record of helping people like you?
This is one of the most important questions with regard to the potential success of my efforts. Many help me to attain the resources I need to forward the good work that helps me reach my professional goals with and for educators and teachers. The close team of educators are all similarly invested and willingly share their time, ideas, and efforts, and this is a big plus. Deeper and more consistent process in other areas would support the work more, and I have to think about how I can access that support from the many I connect with online and offline.

"Is it worth it?"
Definitely, I continue to believe that teaching is valuable work that makes a positive difference in the lives of others when done well."

"Successful project organizers are delighted to engage in a conversation about all of these questions. If you're hiding from them, it's time to find out why."

I'm currently involved with one consultant group who is lending me great support in this regard. I need to continually reach out and in for that kind of support to continue to develop my practice both specifically and overall.

Godin always asks great questions and offers good insight as to how to develop and grow our work. I want to think more on the question he posed today as I move forward.

The Opportunity to Discuss What Matters

Are there silent issues in your organization, issues that you're reluctant to bring up due to the harsh consequences of questioning, discussing, or sharing such points?

At times, some have brought up challenging issues to me. When done with respect, it has always been a catalyst for growth and development. Even when done with disrespect, I've paid attention and tried to make change if needed. I am open to growth--I know that I can't be all things or know it all. The older I get, the more I value the potential and promise that good teams hold for education, families, and any other groups.

For example, the fact that I'm constantly questioning in my blog is frustrating to some. "Why do you blog?" they ask. I started blogging a long time ago when I had no one to discuss specific issues with. The blog gave me a platform for questioning, analysis, and share. The act of blogging helped me to find experts and colleagues who, in turn, responded to my questions and led me in the direction of answering the questions and developing my practice. My practice improved significantly which has been wonderful, and I continue to blog as one way to positively effect the work I can do, and hopefully, the work that others do too.

As I continue to blog, I'm cognizant of the need to be respectful. Typically the issues I write about are issues that are evidenced by a large number of examples, and not connected to one instance or individual. I write, in general, seeking the truth and rationale of good practice, process, and effort--I want to know what it takes to teach well, and how we can make that happen as teams of educators and family members in and outside of schools.

Delicate issues, the kind of issues that often stay silent, are important to discuss in any organization. Typically these issues are deeply sensitive, complex, and difficult to understand. Most often these issues are rooted in early life, an organization's history, old think, and perhaps unconscious (or conscious) prejudice and bias. Yet, the more we stay silent about these issues, the more complex and worrisome they become. That's why it's important to discuss issues like these up front when they occur.

Personally I try to keep abreast of changing mores, expectations, knowledge, and ideals so that I can reroute my practice and efforts in ways that make a difference. Yet I yearn for greater opportunity to do this in ways that matter. I reach out often with questions to coaches, leaders, and colleagues to better understand what we are doing and where we are going. When those questions are answered I'm able to develop better in line with the team, yet when questions are unanswered, I travel the path with greater unknowing and uncertainty about how my work matches the work of others, thus the potential for greater missteps or less potency along the way.

In most cases, it's best to hit the issues and questions with respect head on. It's okay to say, "You bring up a good point, one that's sensitive for me, but one that I want to look into with greater depth. I'll get back to you." or "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to come across that way. Your response touched a nerve since I had invested so much time and energy into that effort, and when you questioned my work, I felt devalued, unheard, disrespected. Rather than feeling dismissed, I should have questioned more to better understand your perspective." Or, "Didn't we talk about that idea in your office? I'm surprised you moved it ahead without including me. Can you help me to understand that?"

The more we learn how to talk about the sensitive issues, and how to work together around delicate points, the better our collaborative efforts will be. This requires a learning curve for many of us who are not used to this kind of dialogue or conversation. Who are those amongst us that find this kind of deep, significant work natural? Those are the best people to begin this kind of work in an effort to uplift, deepen, and develop our collective efforts in any organization. I've noticed that those who had the opportunity to play on sports teams, often have a head start in this regard.

Fortunately at my organization we've instituted Professional Learning Communities (PLCs) which often give us the opportunity to discuss important, sensitive issues. At times we do the same at our faculty meetings, however numbers are large and time is short which is not ideal for that kind of discussion.

Growing teams means making time for depth, honesty, and sensitive conversation. Good teams embrace transparency, shared growth, honest exchange, regular communication, cheering each other on, and collective mission. Good teams also allow one another autonomy too--a chance to be who you are, share your talents and strengths, and champion each other in ways that matter.

It's important that we make the time to discuss what matters with respect and care for one another. Every time we shut the door to sensitive conversation or a colleague's voice, we diminish what's possible. When we listen, we open the door to new ideas, participation, and team, and that's when what's possible is amazing.

This is not an easy call for many of us, but it's an important call--one we need to heed. If you and your team has experience with this in ways that matter, I'd love to read about it. How do you deal with the sensitive, sometimes gnawing, and delicate issues in your work environment? Who leads the conversation? What process do you use? How does transparency empower this work? I'm curious. Thanks in advance for your thoughts.