Be Messy

Reflection 3

Top 5 Things to Look for in a Summer Camp. The Huffington Post. (2015). Retrieved online from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tara-chklovski/top-5-things-to-look-for-_b_7429818.html 

Highlights

The highlight of this week’s class for me was the open ended questions. There was an activity in class where in groups we had to take closed ended questions and turn them into open-ended questions. I realized that open-ended questions give students a lot of room for thinking. Many students will have a variety of solutions for one question. This encourages thinking and creativity. This can also empower students to come up with their own strategies for a certain problem. When students become thinkers they would want to explore around. Exploring gives students room to make mistakes. Mistakes can take them to the correct solutions. Therefore, I think that mistakes shouldn’t be looked down upon, because it can grow brains.

Make a Mistake

Math is a world of mistakes. You are encouraged to try different ways, explore, experiment around, and have fun with the challenges that math can provide. Students should never be discouraged if they make a mistake, but they should be encouraged to try their ways differently. Jo Boaler says, the more mistakes you make, the more your brain grows. Students should be encouraged toward a growth mindset. All students should have a positive attitude and say, “yes I can do this!” for any challenge that is presented in front of them. So how can you allow your students to make mistakes?

·      Make a safe learning environment

·      Encourage students when they make mistakes

·      Have less competition in the classroom

·      Make your classroom a learning environment

·      Let students learn from each other

·      Create a respectful environment in the classroom

·      Come up with strategies that tell students making mistakes is okay

·      Encourage growth mindset

·      Show your students real life examples of people who became successful by making mistakes over and over again

Above is a list of ways that a teacher can use to let students feel comfortable making mistakes. Students should feel that if they make mistakes, they can learn from it. The journey does not end only when you make a mistake, but you continue experimenting until you get your “ah-ha” moment.

Not About Speed

Math is about quality rather than quantity. Some of the videos that I saw in the math mindset module reminded me of multiplication drills that I used to do as a student. Speed never taught me multiplication tables. I might have ended up just memorizing numbers, but never understood those numbers. At least I did not understand until I started to take my time and learn by myself. I have taught myself math throughout elementary school, because I never really understood anything from my classes.

I think that speed can intimidate students, and when you are intimidated you can get stressed. It is hard to think under stress. If you are fast are you really learning? Understanding math deeply is more important than how fast you can solve a problem.

I want to encourage students to think deeply about a problem so that they understand the core concept. If they understand the core concept they can then solve any problem at hand. In my future classes, as a future teacher, I want to make a difference in how math is taught to students. I want students to have fun and to like math as much as they would like any other subject.

References

Boaler, Jo. Mistakes Grow Your Brain. (2016). Retrieved online from https://www.youcubed.org/think-it-up/mistakes-grow-brain/