Sunday, August 20, 2017

Math Makeover

This summer I read Mathematical Mindsets by Jo Boaler, a great read for inspiring quality math instruction in our classrooms.  As school started this past week, I implemented my new mindset about teaching math right away.  The kids have been having mathematical discussions and debates.  They have been more than willing to share answers that they know might not be right, and I have been amazed to watch their faces light up with discoveries as they share different strategies for solving problems.  My favorite moment of the week was listening to my fourth graders work in groups to solve The Four 4s. They solved 8, 12, 16, and 20 pretty quickly, but then the room got very quiet as the obvious answers were gone.  Over the next 15-20 minutes the noise level steadily increased in proportion to their excitement as they made one discovery after another.  They used creativity, noticed patterns, used one solution to help them solve for three more, and they surprised themselves with their ability to keep going when the math seemed hard and finally come out with solutions for all 20 numbers!  They are also enjoying learning a new math game every day as playing with math is an expectation in our room.  If you are implementing mathematical mindsets in your room, check out the cute posters below:

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