Tammy Morris, Independent Consultant providing professional development for educators. I LOVE teaching math, although I've only taught it at elementary school level 😃
A #GrowthMindset in my own words is the characteristic of keeping an open mind - being willing to change your mind via decision or learning. Along with that goes the willingness to listen to others' viewpoints as well as learn new information. #akedchat
A1: Accepting failures as an inevitable part of the learning process, & using them as such while firmly believing that successes are also achievable. #akedchat
A2: Model having conversations with students. Never answer a question a student can answer. The one doing the talking is the one doing the thinking! #AKEdChat
#AKEdchat Intro: Homestead Elem Spec Ed K-6 teach students w high needs with far below grade level abilities in Math. Now that I Teach math I love it 🥰 when I was learning I hated it! Could never do it “the Teachers way” and it was Rq’d or he’d fail me. I Had All male Math T’s
Q2: I am becoming a big fan of the peer review process as a way for students to learn how to improve their work by evaluating each other. It is so cool to see how they think through this process #GrowthMindset? #AKEdChat
#akedchat Fostering collaboration as a teacher of elementary level math can be achieved by providing continual opportunities to collaborate and encouraging students to do so. Also, as a teacher, I model what it looks and sounds like to collaborate.
Glad to have you joining us again @lisajojo71 ! Interesting that all of your math teachers were male. I believe mine were, too! How about the rest of you? #akedchat
#akedchat If I went back into the elementary classroom now, I would do it much differently than I did then! However, my FAVORITE way to assess student understanding in math was through math journals. The students' pics and words gave me an open window to their thinking!
A3: I'll preface this by saying I don't teach math as a class. When I teach math as part of science, I look to see if students can explain the process to another student, and if they can do the work independently on a new problem. #akedchat
As a secondary teacher, I used to envy how much English teachers knew about students by reading their journals. Why can’t we do the same in math?! #AKEdChat
#akedchat A4: Manipulatives! Manipulatives! Manipulatives! Encouragement of drawing pictures! I also used to have students act out some word problems to help them visualize the problem.
A3: My students have to apply math in my class and that's a great assessment. This week it's simple division D=m/v but we also play with the variables and how changing the ratio changes physical properties. #AKedchat
Question 5 #AkEdChat What math concepts do students struggle with most (include grade level)? How to your support a #GrowthMindset during this struggle?
A2 #AKEdchat Foster collab In math: peer partners, rotating small groups, providing lead-in Q’s, peer modeling & explaining the solving of equations for their group, showing “their way to do it”, increasing self-confidence & speaking skills-ability to share thinking 🤔💭, games
A5: I think it’s important to model making mistakes and dealing with them. It’s something I have to intentionally do - because I very much dislike making mistakes ... especially in front of a class full of students! #AKEdChat
#akedchat A5: Students of all ages struggle most with any concepts that are not effectively taught. Teaching algorithms without conceptual understanding is a surefire way to ensure confusion.
A6: Calculators are a lot more appropriate for students now than when I was in school! Teaching students to perform calculations is less relevant when the calculator can do it faster. Emphasize conceptual understanding too! #AKEdChat
#akedchat Used to do something like this when I was in classroom -would get excited when someone made a mistake & tried to turn it into something encouraging. Always mentioned how I'd seen others make the mistake but they weren't brave enough to share :) https://t.co/Ie4GuaKsDc
A6: I think calculators are fine for checking math or doing what would otherwise be onerous calculations (or graphs). I only object to them for basic math (10x5, etc). I have kids w/no ability to do ANY calculations w/out a calculator. #akedchat
A7, I reteach math concepts as needed in Science. We talk about sheltered instruction for language, the same principles hold for math. I hate Physics teachers that assume you should remember from math... #akedchat
I agree! There is great benefit to known facts. And I differentiate between known facts and memorized facts. Some people are great with memorization, but if they don't know what the facts represent, they'll struggle. #akedchat
A3 #AKEdchat Assess Math Understanding: 1:1 discussions w my kiddos, math journal drawings to see what they know & what steps are missing, finally observing their ability to do the next steps of the lesson or problem.
A8: Math journals are great for this. Convince yourself/friend/skeptic too. Anything that keeps the conversation going! Harold Asturias has a strategy called stronger and clearer that is awesome! #AkEdChat
A8: #AKEdChat I am using the Argument Driven Inquiry (@argumentdriven) method of implementing Peer Feedback and it has a lot of tools and support. They are working on Argument Driven Math now.
Good night #AKEdChat Thank you for spending your evening growing with us! High five! If you were not able to join, please feel free to partipate throughout the week!
