By the time your students get to you, their math mindset may have already been formed. It’s not too late, though! Our mindset can change. We know that having a growth mindset in math is so important for students to be successful. You can create a math community where all students see themselves as mathematicians.
Set Expectations that Promote a Growth Mindset in Math
Just like setting expectations for how you and your students want your classroom to run, you need to do the same with math. A math community has its own way of learning and thinking that may be unfamiliar to some of your students.
In order to build a math community you will need to decide on expectations that will promote a growth mindset in math. The following expectations form the basis of my lessons for the first weeks of school:
Disclaimer: At the time of writing this post, we were in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic. Our school board was having students return to class full-time for face-to-face learning. Masks were mandatory for all students in Grades 4-8 and students were encouraged to remain 1 metre apart.
Check out this other post about how to build your math community in 8 days.
Although students weren’t able to actively engage with each other like we were used to, I knew that these expectations were still necessary for a great year. That’s why I developed this Math Mindset Journal.
You can use this Math Mindset Journal as a place for students to reflect on their learning throughout the next few weeks. The journal provides you with prompts to get your students reflecting on their mindset and will motivate them to see themselves as learners who are capable of doing math.
The journal is open-ended (I don’t include the activities) which means that you have the freedom to use tasks and activities that you and your students love. In saying that, here are some activities that worked for my class and may work for yours.
Day 1: Growth Mindset in Math
First, give your students a picture of a brain. On the left side of the brain have them write words and add images to show how they feel about math RIGHT NOW. They will come back to this at the end of the unit.
Then, watch this video that opens the door to having honest conversations about how kids feel about math.
Discuss the importance of having a growth mindset in math. Come up with some statements about math that represent having a fixed mindset and have students change them to represent a growth mindset.
Day 2: We Believe Math is Beautiful
Start off with a discussion about where we see math in the real world. Then watch this video that gives examples of the beauty of math in nature.
Find some math art activities for your students to complete. Infinity tiles and Pi art are two of our faves.
Math Mindset Journal: Students reflect on their experience making math art
Day 3: We Can All Make Sense of Math
Start this lesson with a Four Corners activity that get them taking a position on whether or not people are born with “math brains.”Get a FREE copy of the lesson sent right to your inbox by clicking here.
Jo Boaler is a genius when it comes to growth mindset in math. Be sure to explore the YouCubed website. I will link to some of the activities and videos that I use from that site.
Mindset Video: Brains Grow and Change
Math Activity: Fewest Squares – Draw an 11×13 rectangle. What is the fewest number of squares you can draw that will fill this rectangle? For online learning, you can even have students create their own 11×13 grid in Google Slides (or create it ahead of time for them).
Repeat the Four Corners activity to see if students’ reactions and thoughts about having a math brain have changed
Math Mindset Journal: I used to think…but now I think…
Day 4: We Work Together
Mindset Video: Speed is not Important You can connect this video to the idea of working together by discussing how we all see math differently and process information at different speeds. This can make group work challenging but also very rewarding.
Good Group Work Activity – Split students into groups of 4. Give each group a piece of chart paper. If you need to be physically distanced, assign one group member to record the ideas. Set up placemats on chart paper (What should people say/not say/do/not do while working Math Groups). Share ideas with the whole group.
100 Numbers Task – We’re going to try this physically distanced by enlarging the paper and giving students their own copy. They will need to figure out how to communicate with each other even if they are far apart. One student will highlight the numbers but I will still give them 4 different coloured highlighters to represent each group member. Sara VanDerWerf, the creator of this task, also has an option for how to do this during distance learning.
Mindset Journal: 3-2-1 Reflection
Day 5: We Make Mistakes
Mindset Video: Mistakes are Powerful
Scale a Comic – This activity was chosen because students can work on it independently. Encourage students to find their own comic strip (maybe from their fave graphic novel) and bring it to school for this activity.
After students have had some time to work on it, have a class discussion. Did anyone make mistakes when they were doing this activity? Did you notice what your inner voice was telling you when you made a mistake? How were you feeling? Did you shift your mindset at all after watching the video from earlier?
Math Mindset Journal: What did you learn about your brain and making mistakes? How will this help you when solving problems in Math this year?
Day 6: We Can Do Hard Things
Mindset Video: Believe in Yourself
Painted Cubes – Students will explore the patterns in a cube and visualize what the inside of a cube will look like if the outside was dipped in paint. For this activity, I will provide each student with their own set of sugar cubes or snap cubes. Even in Covid times I just can’t stop using manipulatives.
Math Mindset Journal: Summarize today’s lesson in a Tweet
Day 7: We Share Ideas and Ask Questions
Mindset Video: Strategies for Learning Mathematics Connect this video to sharing ideas and asking questions by talking about how people are afraid to ask questions in class. By asking questions, answering questions and sharing ideas we can learn so much from one another.
Share the website 101questions with your students. Display one of the images and have them come up with questions in their groups.
Four 4s – Give students time to work on this task individually. Then have them share their ideas with their group members. Each group will present their findings to the class and you can add their work to a class version of Four 4s.
Oftentimes, students don’t actually know how to ask questions. That’s why I use Math Talk Cards to scaffold their learning. I will give selected students a Math Talk card (click here for more info about how I’ve used these in the past). The cards will be laminated so I can disinfect them later. Students will ask different groups the question on the card with the end goal being that they will learn to ask questions and know what types of questions to ask.
Math Mindset Journal: What’s in the bag? (students choose three objects that represent their learning from today to put in an imaginary bag.)
Day 8: What is Math?
Have students return to their Math Mindset Journals and review all their thinking and learning. Then, revisit the brain activity from Day 1 and have students add new words and images to the right side of their brains.
Watch the Math is…video and complete the written reflection found in the Math Mindset Journal.
Celebrate the learning by creating a display of what “math is” on your bulletin board because the whole school needs to see the learning your students have been doing!
P.S. If you were looking to get your hands on that Math Mindset Journal you can find it HERE.
