Becoming a student and allowing myself to make mistakes, reflect on them, and grow in my teaching has been very valuable experience. The work around student math achievement is serious and needs to continue. We can all learn math. I am very interested in how people learn, what are the best ways for people to learn math especially. My driving question "What effect does mindset have on math achievement?" is my overall focus for my research due to the improvement I saw in my students achievement during my first round of studies. It did become clear to me that many factors influence student mindset and achievement which does add some layers to this research. The mindset of the teacher is very important; being willing to try new things and make mistakes isn't just for our students. The relationship that is developed between the teacher and students plays an important role in the development of mindset and student achievement. The curriculum is very important especially for students who have repeated Math 1 more than once. They need something different pushing them to higher level thinking. Finally they need knowledge about mindset growth and how the brain makes connections and grow.
There are changes I want to make to my classroom to increase engagement and reinforces positive behavior, choices, and learning. I am going to introduce "Class Craft" as a way to update my teaching practices starting 3rd trimester in a few weeks ( I have some serious learning to do). I also want to be more intentional about mindset growth lessons by calling Mondays Mindset Mondays. Currently at Valley Oak Mondays are our intervention day students check Echo, improve assignments, make up missed work, and work on extra credit. This is the perfect place to include a 5 - 10 minute mindset lesson and discussion. Finally I am using the C-Stem curriculum 85% of the time as my main math curriculum. I am seeing such interested results using the C-Stem curriculum; my most distracted unfocused students are experiencing really success . I am struggling with how is my research innovative and scale-able ? As I looked at other students capstones with the discovery of the innovative learning lab I now understand what I need to create . I now need to fine tune my practice and research to create something that other teachers can use to experience increased math achievement with their students, a learning environment promoting mindset growth.
4 Comments
Rafael Garcia Avila
2/3/2019 07:43:02 pm
Julie,
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2/3/2019 11:06:00 pm
Hi Julie
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Catalina Goldstein
2/5/2019 07:23:11 am
Hey Julie, I think what you're doing is so exciting. I was just reading Jennifer's blog. I think if we can make a shift in mindset earlier then we can make a bigger impact on thinking at a younger age. It's so great that your students are becoming engaged in what you're doing!
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Monica Knecht
2/5/2019 12:40:10 pm
Julie, I love your idea of ongoing reflection as teachers. It is so true. We do it regularly, but I often do it without focused attention in a desired area. It is so crucial to do to get the desired outcome we are looking for. I find myself always looking for the what went wrong perspective instead of the why and what went so right. It is our own teacher's growth mindset in which we are our own worst critics.
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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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