I liked what was said about the need for greater resilience and persistence. It was important to note that successful entrepreneurs made MORE mistakes than others. We shouldn't be designing work so that students get most things correct-make it more challenging. Unsurprisingly, there are many benefits to problem based learning approach. We need to show students how to use the feedback they are given to get better. Loved the idea of using "yet" in you don't know this yet. There is an over emphasis on speed.
Looking at this from an LS lens I can attest to the stress caused to students when they feel under pressure to quickly produce an answer. The didactic contract also resonated with me as students often try this approach. PBL sounds great in theory but hard to do with younger kids. Good stuff in this session!
Session 4 head some good points as well. It is useful to have our students make sense of maths. In the video we saw many students thought the answer was six but how can the quotient be bigger than the dividend? that didn't make sense so was a clue to students to try something else. There is value in explaining what someone else said-it is a mark of understanding. It is important to select tasks that promote engagement-not just the search for an answer. Formative assessment is much more useful than summative--students need to know where they are when they are able to do something about it! The self-esteem movement was wrong-it has diminished children's growth mindsets. The Growth Mindset Task Framework consists of: openness; different ways of seeing; multiple entry points; multiple paths / strategies; and clear learning goals and opportunities for feedback. Tracking sends a message that damages students (high and low), impacts teacher expectations, defines the type of work students are given and results in teaching to the middle.
The main ideas that will inform what I plan to do in future:
ReplyDeleteThe notion of making sense and being able to reason mathematically. By using student talk/sense making to build on other's reasoning will be more of a focus during maths investigations - even though this is an important part of maths learning in my class, being more intentional about listening to children will further develop this practice. Providing more time to think through a problem and explain to self, others and a sceptic seems a good way of presenting the importance of making sense that leads towards greater understanding.
Thinking about how to transform closed maths questions into open questions and thus provide space for all to learn is something I have been working on for a while now but can further develop. It was interesting to see how a closed question can be made much more powerful through small changes that focus on process and multiple entry points rather than just getting the right answer.
Feedback and growth mindset messages are clearly powerful in providing children with the tools necessary to develop their learning in maths. Listening to the feedback I give as well as analysing the message that sends out will help me to move towards a greater use of growth mindset messages and feedback.