Making mistakes and lessons learned

May29

I’ve taken a break from blogging for a bit as I’ve had more to do than I’ve had to say lately. I have been watching, learning and doing a lot of reflecting this year. However, I’ve recently read a book that has inspired me to write again. “Mathematical Mindsets” by Jo Boaler.

Relax, this isn’t a blog about math…although that is right up my alley and you should be prepared for one soon.

This book is one of the best professional books I’ve read in a long time – and I read a lot of books about teaching and learning. It is an excellent piece of work discussing our misfortune for having learned math the way we did (yes, all of us) and the urgent need for us to rethink how we are currently teaching math.

This is not about “new math” vs. the rigors of time table memorization. It’s about how we see ourselves as learners of math and as mathematical thinkers based on our experiences in school. I’d better leave it at that for now or this will be a rant and not a blog.

As terrific as this book is at shedding light on why and how we should be teaching math better, it is also a book about mindsets. You’ve all heard me recommend the book “Mindsets” by Carol Dweck. If you haven’t then you need to come borrow a copy from me. I have several in my office.

Here’s the thing…

Our mindset is everything. How we see ourselves in a growth or fixed mindset really determines how we live our lives and how rewarding or miserable our circumstances feel.

Someone with a fixed mindset believes in things like luck or talent to explain success. They see others as “having a math mind” for example or see themselves as “not a reader”. Fixed mindset students struggle terribly in school. They feel that if they don’t get it right away they must be stupid. They feel if others do get it’s because they must be smart. Neither of these beliefs are true by the way.

It was not surprising to read Jo Boaler’s research on children with negative fixed mindsets and how damaging that is in school. (Also not surprising to learn how often we reinforce that mindset with closed, one answer questions in math. Again, that’s another blog.)

The more interesting finding was that high achievers can and do often also have fixed mindsets. In particular kids who excel at computational math (mad minutes and worksheets for example). These kids have never experienced “not getting it”. They believe they are smart because they never get answers incorrect. That is as damaging a mindset as those who believe they are stupid. Seriously.

Learning means you have to “not get” something in order to learn something new. If your child didn’t get a single question wrong at school then we are doing them a disservice. That means they learned nothing new. We need to be presenting your kids with more open ended questions rather than ones requiring memorized answers. One needs to struggle to learn. One needs to have the mindset to persevere through the struggle in order to grow neurons and connect synapses. I equate it with watching work out videos. If I only watch I will never put in the work – which is uncomfortable- that will help grow muscles. Learning is uncomfortable. Most good things require a little discomfort.

In her research Professor Boaler learned that the brain actually learns more from getting answers wrong then from getting them right and, after making a mistake, brain activity is greater for individuals with a growth mindset then for individuals with a fixed mindset.

We should value mistakes more than we value correct answers. Talk about a mindset shift! All of us need to encourage our kids to make mistakes and to learn from those mistakes, talk about their strategy to try again, and encourage them to build perseverance and grit as learners. How we think of ourselves as learners really does affect how we approach our whole lives – what job we go for, what partner we choose, how we value ourselves and others.

Valuing mistakes would certainly be a good start in helping all of us to see our potential as learners in every aspect of life.

Talk again soon.

Stacy

 

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