Let's get to the nitty gritty...
1. Words are powerful and can have a long-lasting effect on students. Various stereotypes and myths surrounding maths influence how students see themselves, either positively or negatively. As an educator, I need to be mindful of the messages I share with my students. Additionally, I need to give qualitative, feedback and meaningful praise to ensure that students feel confident in their math abilities, as it is this kind of encouragement that will help to establish a positive attitude towards maths.
2. The way in which math is being taught in some schools needs to change! Math needs to be viewed as an open, creative subject, and students need to be provided time to create their own understanding of the concepts being taught. Memorization of math facts and times tables is where you often loose student engagement- keep them interested by providing real life problems to be solved and maintaining a playful, amusing, flexible, and creative learning environment.
In the second session, we were asked the following question:
If your school took on the mindset evidence seriously, what would need to be changed?
My response to this question was positive... and simple. Although I am relatively new to ISZL and the framework of the PYP, I feel as though the language used in the Learner Profiles and Attitudes already supports the development of a growth mindset. Teachers and students across the grades are regularly referring to the positive character traits and descriptors, such as risk taker, committed, confident, perseverance, independence, respect, etc. This language is visible in every classroom and as a result, teachers are more conscientious of the language being used to describe learning behaviours... and students become more familiar with the use of positive language to describe their own learning behaviours and experiences. With that being said.... more professional development and training is always beneficial.... so bring on the growth mindset training.
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