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Lezlie Jones's avatar

YES! YES! YES!

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Chikae's avatar

I completely agree with what you've written! I also think that students feel "dumb" more in math class compared to other subjects, because there is an impression of math as being a more "objective" subject than others... Some students feel that that there is only one correct answer and one correct method for every concept/problem and if you can't solve it (in your head) in the fastest way possible, you are "dumb." To compound this pervasive impression, some *teachers* teach in such a way to reinforce this perception by not celebrating different ways to reach a solution because it's not the conventional method, because it's a more inefficient method, or because the math teacher themselves don't understand why/how it works. When I was teaching 9th grade Algebra 1 students, I always felt that one of my biggest responsibilities was to turn my students' self-doubt into self-confidence, so that they could actually be open to learning in their remaining years in school.

That being said, I do have one worry - when the main conversation in a school becomes primarily about "helping students believe that they can learn" (i.e. when that becomes the focus of school-wide PD), I often find that it starts to skew towards *just* supporting students' social emotional health, and not about examining the structural and long-term changes that may need to happen in the school. For example, changes may be made to include discussions about growth mindset in each class or helping students combat negative self-talk or maybe techniques are taught for time management or creating SMART goals, etc. etc.. But rarely is that conversation expanded to include discussions about the need for a more vertically aligned math curriculum or critical examination of how we support students who don't have the prior knowledge to be successful in the current math classes. (Or other equivalent conversations for other subjects.)

In other words, I think that in order for schools to become spaces where we can help nurture students who believe they are "capable" learners, the time spent on understanding, building, and collaborating on the curriculum (i.e. the background stuff that doesn't seem as "student-facing") needs to be seen as valuable as discussing seemingly more immediate in-class issues. This is probably why more affluent schools where teachers have the time and mind-space to fully engage in these curricular discussions are often in a virtuous cycle of being able to nurture and benefit from inquisitive learners, as opposed to schools where teacher may often have to wear a gazillion other hats *in addition to* being just a teacher. (I say this as somebody who went from teaching in an inner-city public school to a very affluent private school. I think I was already a good teacher, in terms of being able to connect with students and helping them feel seen and valued... but I definitely became a much better *math* teacher and thus able to help students feel explicitly more successful in *math* once I didn't have to be everything for everyone all the time.)

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