Welcome to Week 2, Chapter 2 of Mathematical Mindsets by Jo Boaler. This week the chapter was on mistakes. Thank you to Kathie from Tried and True Teaching Tools for hosting this book study.
In Chapter 2, The Power of Mistakes and Struggle, Boaler puts the spotlight on the importance of mistakes. For some, this is a whole mind shift on how parents, students, and teachers should perceive mistakes. Mistakes are evidence of learning.
Key Takeaway: According to Carol Dweck, "Every time a student makes a mistake in math, they grow a synapse." Yes, mistakes cause the brain to spark and grow. When the brain is challenged, the brain grows the most (11-12).
Classroom Connections:
- Mistakes happen to the best of us. It is important for students to understand this. Sharing famous people and athletes who have made mistakes/failed and how they overcame those obstacles can be tangible evidence that it takes mistakes/failure to be the best. Two quotes I often share with my students are those associated with Thomas Edison and Michael Jordan.
- Thomas Edison: I've not failed. I have found 10,000 ways that won't work.
- Michael Jordan: I have missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. I've lost almost 300 games. 26 times I've been and trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I've failed over and over and over again in my life, and that is why I succeed. (Here is a YouTube video for this quote: Michael Jordan video.)
- Creating posters of Peter Sims's Habits of Successful People (14) can help to remind students to play with math and approach math differently. It would be important to explicitly talk about each habit so students know what each "looks" like and "sounds" like.
- Feel comfortable being wrong
- Try seemingly wild ideas
- Are open to different experiences
- Play with ideas without judging them
- Are willing to go against traditional ideas
- Keep going through difficulties
- Mistakes happen. Having students analyze their mistakes can be helpful. Was the mistake a silly mistake, a math mistake, or a process mistake? Here is an image of an anchor chart similar to one students keep as a reference: Math Mistakes.
