It’s probably not a surprise that I talk about a growth mindset with my classes. I also talk about neurons, and how to study, and test taking and anxiety, and metacognition and finding your best way to learn.
I make it part of math lesson: there’s a giant decimal number line on the floor and we position ourselves along it to start the discussion (and get familiar with decimals)
Last year, I made a note
“I’m always surprised at how growth-y my students are.”
But really, it makes sense that the people who decide to show up after working and taking care of the family and everything else to learn algebra would identify with grit (the most emphatic answers are always about the value of effort)
This year, I updated the questions on my assessment, and made some of them math specific. And I had my entire class piled on top of each other to declare that there are math people in the world and there are non-math people and that was that, end of discussion, do not pass go, do not collect $200.
And it broke my heart.
And made me mad.
Because I didn’t have to ask whether they thought they were math people or not. They might believe that effort matters, but they are also certain they are not math people.
I told them there’s no math brain that scientists can find. And I showed them Sal Kahn talking about neurons, and Jo Boaler. Before that I told them all about my belief in them, and that I hadn’t liked math in high school either, and that we all learn in our own ways.
But mostly, I mentally glared at all the people, and messages, and experiences that told them they couldn’t do this.
And remembered that convincing them otherwise is the most important part of my job.
My growth mindset number line questions (plus variations) are available on TeachersPayTeachers
