I would like to start this Blog by saying my research paper is not close to being completed but I am busy gathering and pondering. I can give some feedback on my results thus far and how these results seem to be evolving. To start I have full classes this year we actually had to open 3 Math 1 classes this year due to the need of student. At the end of the trimester I gave all my students a survey asking them questions about their mindsets when they started and where they are now. My results from this survey were very positive 90% of my students had some growth in their math mindsets. Then we had a new group of students start, as we do at Valley Oak every 6 weeks, and I had new students who needed mindset growth. My observations were that my old students took a few steps backwards as they were influenced a bit by the fixed mindsets of the new students joining our class. Instead of stepping up and helping to change the new students mindsets my students easily feel back into the I can’t do this, I am not a math person, this is too hard, I will never need this type of math in my life, etc. I was very disappointed to say the least but what I realized is that these types of changes are hard and they take time and practice. I also realized as we began doing the coding while doing math students felt it was challenging and instead of trying harder a large group started their fixed mindset behaviors again. These are very telling observations and I guess I shouldn’t be surprised since it took years for them to develop fixed mindsets it will take time to develop growth mindsets. The challenges of new students every 6 weeks has always created challenges for building school culture and classroom learning environments, now I see the challenges in mindset growth. I am hoping as elementary teachers are teaching the new math program and working to incorporate Jo Boaler’s growth mindset that this will start to become the new norm.
As I was gathering my data I also made another discovery, it is impossible to create positive math mindsets if students are not present. Attendance has a huge affect on most data, we can’t teach them if they are not present nor can we impact their mindsets. With this said I added a new side note to my data, I am only collecting data on students who have 70% or better attendance. That is the minimum attendance percent that I will be using to evaluate my students positive math mindsets. I am hoping that as they begin to feel better about math that the attendance of poor attending students will improve. I am enjoying this project and I believe the work I am doing is important. I see this a just the beginning I have so many questions about math learning. I want to continue to understand how we best learn math and work to create change, a math revolution !
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Julie LovieJulie Lovie Is a Math and Science teacher at Valley Oak High School with 25 years experience in teaching at a continuation high school. Julie Also teaches at Napa valley Adult School in the High School Diploma Program. She is passionate about the environment, loves gardening, and learning. Archives
June 2019
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