Sunday, November 22, 2015

Adding to the Growth Mindset Conversation

There are 2 points in this article sent to me from a colleague that made me reflect. The first is the notion that Growth Mindset is more than praising students for hard work. A Growth Mindset "involves reflecting on and changing our strategies so we become more and more effective learners over time".  The second is the mistake matrix that is presented to help students understand the difference between "sloppy" mistakes and mistakes that "stretch" their learning. Have a look.  
Growth Mindset: Clearing up Some Common Confusions
Carol Dweck's work has made growth mindset a hotly discussed topic in education. It has also spawned misunderstandings about growth mindset and what it means in education.
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Sunday, November 15, 2015

The Impact of Information Access

Our students today have infinite resources at their fingertips with personal devices in their pockets and free wifi growing everywhere. Never before has it been more important for teachers to be able to convey why the content they are teaching is relevant and important because our students have become much better at filtering information. They are bombarded with data and are constantly categorizing incoming information as either relevant/important or irrelevant/unimportant. I believe that their predisposition to filter incoming information is why it's crucial for educators to connect learning to relevant situations. This article in Edutopia offers a great perspective on "Why Math?". Have a look.

http://www.edutopia.org/blog/why-math-karim-ani?utm_content=blog&utm_campaign=why-math&utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=socialflow&utm_term=quote

Sunday, November 8, 2015

Genius Hour...A Systematic Approach to Inquiry

This video below was shared with me by a colleague as a starting point for "Genius Hour" in a classroom. I like the layout that is described and the supporting links that are provided. I especially appreciated that post regarding students who aren't sure about where to begin. "Don't Blame the Student" really made me think about the lack opportunities for students to follow their interests and motivations within school. I like the idea of getting students who are "stuck" to help out with a personal project - I've used helping our local food bank as a topic. Once students realized that there are an infinite number of ways to help others, the ideas became quite diverse.