Michelle Fenn – Page 4

March 24, 2019 Michelle Fenn Advocacy for public education, Challenging Topics, Mental Health, Mindfulness, Professional Judgement, self reflection, Teacher Wellness, wellness, Wellness, Why unions matter

Teaching in Uncertain Times

When I graduated teacher’s college it was the beginning of the “Harris years”. Teachers were being declared redundant all over Ontario. I spent three years teaching outside of the province. Since then I have been through many rounds of collective bargaining-both as a teacher and a local ETFO leader. I have seen how Ontario’s Provincial governments have continually eroded our collective bargaining rights, stripped our benefits and made working and learning conditions steadily worse for teachers and students. As you well know, they’re at it again. I’ve been asked, what can new teachers do to make a stand for education while still keeping a focus on our classroom in these uncertain times?

1. Take care of yourself Anxiety abounds in times of uncertainty and scarcity. Focus on the present moment as much as possible. Make sure you have the facts you need but try to stay out of the swirling vortex of unproductive conversation and speculation. Take time when you need time, do something for yourself that isn’t school related, eat healthy, exercise, if it is something you do-meditate, and get some sleep. Take one day at a time.

2. Don’t believe everything you hear in the staff room Well meaning and passionate teachers will discuss the political situation. Some of the things that you hear will be true and some will not. The correct information will come from ETFO Provincial office, local ETFO leadership and your school Steward.

3. Social Media Social media is a great a source of information but also one of anxiety. Remember to follow reputable sources such as ETFO and other Ontario Education Unions and get the information you need from reliable sources. As always, be cognizant of who could be reading your social media posts and pass on correct information.

4. Attend Union meetings and ask questions Collective bargaining and political legislation can be daunting. Sometimes it is assumed that everyone in the room knows exactly what is being discussed. Ask questions when you need clarification. You might find there are others in need of such clarification too.

5. Follow the advice of your Union Your Provincial ETFO has a plan of action that is communicated to all local ETFO leadership and ETFO members. As a new teacher you may feel powerless, but there is strength in members taking action together. Read your emails from your stewards and participate in political actions when asked.

6. Support one another These are uncertain times for all teachers and education workers. It is important to be aware of your own mental health and that of your colleagues. Check in with your mentor and friends on staff when possible. A note or a treat in a mailbox, an email or a visit at recess might make the difference in someone’s day. Remember, other education workers in your school, whether they belong to a union or not, feel the same pressures.

7. Your students When the learning begins, your students will always need your full attention. They will sense the anxiety that you are feeling. Try to leave the uncertainty and politics at your classroom door as much as possible. Concentrate on the students that you have in front of you for the next three months. The students are at the heart of what we do as educators and we will get through this together.

March 13, 2019 Michelle Fenn Combined Grade Classes, Curriculum Planning, Differentiated Instruction, Diverse Learning Needs, General, Inspiring Students, Language Learning, Planning, Start of the year, The Daily 5

Chime and Chant Language Learning

When I was in the Faculty of Education one of my Associate Professors was Jean Malloch, author of “Chime In” and other professional teaching resources. I learned from her the importance of rhythm and rhyme in the early acquisition of language. I also love to read and write poetry. While growing up my sisters shared their own love of the poetry of Ogden Nash and Dennis Lee. These poets formed the beginning repertoire of poetry that I have shared with my students over the years with the addition of poets Shel Silverstein, Ken Nesbitt and Loris Lesyinski to name a few.

At the beginning of the school year when teaching in the primary grades, I would create a ‘Chime and Chant’ duo tang for students with two or three poems about September, fall, school and character. Each week during the school year we would add a new poem. Sometimes it was just because they were fun to read and perform. Other times they were connected to our topics of study. We worked together reading these poems chorally in different ways: call and answer, parts attributed to groups of students, leaving out the last word of the line and having the students chime in as well as reading with actions, different types of voices and dramatic effects. These short poems also provided opportunities for me to teach beginning reading strategies such as word prediction, reading word families and segmenting words. We would practice our poetry daily and often the students would have the majority of the poetry memorized by the end of the week. Sometimes while standing and waiting during a transition time we would chant a familiar poem together without even using our duo tangs. We would take poems apart, mix them up, change the words and use the poems to identify word families, commonly used words and word endings. Students would increase their fluency in reading and add to their vocabulary. We stored our poetry books in the student’s book bags and which ensured that when students went to their independent reading time they always had something that they could read independently. When students partner read they would often choose to read poems chorally. When students read to their grade four buddies they would proudly show off their reading skills with their Chime and Chant books. As some students soared in their reading, they would choose some of the poems that they wanted added to their Chime and Chant books independently or I would provide some new more challenging poems during their guided reading time. As the year progressed, the Chime and Chant books became more personalized. We would still chant some of our favourite poems together and I would still share a poem a week but students but less emphasis was placed on the whole class process as they gained their own reading strategies.

Beginning writing in the primary grades can be daunting for some students. I used poetry writing to provide structures that were easily accessible for beginning writers. Diamanté, list, free form and fill in the blank poetry structures were among some of the formats that we used. When I taught students to write poetry we would create shared poems with the structure for a number of days and generate word charts to provide students with familiar vocabulary to reference in order to scaffold the learning and when they were ready, the students would put their own poems together. After writing the poetry students would then practice reading their poetry, add actions and dramatic effects and then present their poems chorally in front of the class or create a video of their reading. Some went further and created green screen effects to add to their poetry presentations. Poetry generated student evidence of learning for reading, writing and oral communication. It provided a routine and structure to a part of our day that was comfortable for the students and fostered their learning. Poetry provides shared reading and writing opportunities in a format that is comfortable for children and doesn’t overwhelm them.

February 10, 2019February 17, 2019 Michelle Fenn Challenging Topics, Constant Learning, Inspiring Teachers, Mental Health, Mindfulness, Professional Learning and Growth, Resilience, self reflection, Teacher Appreciation, Teacher Wellness, Teaching as a public profession, Wellness, wellness

Let’s Talk About Shame

Author Brené Brown from her book “The Gifts of Imperfection” writes that there are three things that people need to understand about shame:

1. We all have it. Shame is universal and one of the most primitive human emotions that we experience. The only people who don’t experience shame lack the capacity for empathy and human connection.

2. We’re all afraid to talk about shame.

3. The less we talk about shame, the more control it has over our lives.

While reading this it resonated with me as a teacher. How many have you experienced Professional Learning Shame? I’m a professional learning hoarder. I consume professional learning whenever possible and yet, often I feel shame while experiencing professional learning. I listen to another teacher who is courageous in sharing strategies and ideas that are meant to help me in my job and ultimately I end up thinking that I must be a poor teacher because I don’t do those things in my classroom. Often I come away feeling worse about myself. I’ll think, “Well great, obviously everything that I’ve been doing has been ineffective and I need to add THIS onto everything else.” or “I haven’t been doing THAT in my classroom. Clearly I’m not working hard enough. What must my colleagues think of me?”

Shame makes us think that we are somehow not worthy. I know that I’ve convinced myself of not feeling worthy when I compare my work to other teachers in my school, on Twitter or (cringe)…Pinterest. I find it difficult to look at myself professionally through an asset lens. The best way to stop feeling that shame is to talk about it. Once shame is talked about it tends to lose power and it is easier to let it go. So, I’m talking about it in a public forum so I can work on building up that resiliency.

I’ve felt shame as a teacher in social situations with people who aren’t educators. I’ve felt judged, compared and found unworthy. More than once I’ve heard, “Teachers are paid too much and have far too many holidays and benefits and they’re really just babysitters.” Whenever a Provincial Government talks about making cuts to education, it sends a message that teachers aren’t worthy of maintaining the current working conditions and fuels the public perception held by some that teachers are unworthy of what we earn.

In our school, whenever EQAO results are returned and we have our fall meeting to talk about the school improvement plan for the year, we celebrate for a nano second the areas in which the student have succeeded and focus intently on the shortcomings. As a school we know that we all share in the responsibility for the cumulative education of students and feel shame when we look at where we didn’t succeed, but some of my grade 3 and 6 colleagues have told me about how they feel solely responsible for EQAO scores and consequently, feel shame.

Well, this is a downer of a subject, get over it Fenn. What can we do? It’s the nature of our job right? Nope. There are some great pointers that Brené Brown shares about becoming shame resilient:

1. Understand when you are feeling shame and recognize what messages and experiences trigger shame for you.

2. Remember not to equate being imperfect with being inadequate.

3. Share your stories with people you trust and own your stories.

4. If you feel shame, name it. Talk about how your feeling and ask for what you need.

Teachers are constantly in receipt of feedback about their job; from parents, students, administrators, colleagues, the public and themselves. Staying open to criticism and feedback is what helps us improve education for our students. We need to take risks to remain open so that we can experience improvement. However, what we should also try to remember is that everyone is flawed and imperfect but that doesn’t mean that we are lacking.

February 3, 2019 Michelle Fenn 21st Century Learning, Classroom Management, Combined Grade Classes, Curriculum Planning, Inquiry, Inspiring Students, Integration, Learning in a Real Life Context, Literacy

Non Fiction vs. Fiction?

The majority of what I read and write daily is non fiction. If I were to attach a statistic to it, I would hazard to say that 95% of what I read and write on a daily basis is non fiction. I like to write poetry and narratives too but I seldom have the time to do that and it is only for pleasure. I read fiction daily too. I read about 2 to 10 pages each night before falling asleep with my kindle on my chest. Many years ago I was introduced to the work of Tony Stead at a Reading for the Love of It conference. It changed my practice as a teacher forever. Tony made me realize that almost all of my classroom library was filled with fiction, all of my class read alouds were fiction and the majority of the writing that my students were doing was fiction in some form or another. I was not exposing them to enough non-fiction text and I was not preparing them for adult literacy. Using “Is that a Fact?” by Tony Stead and “Reading with Meaning” by Debbie Miller I began to create a literacy program for my primary classroom that had a much stronger focus on non fiction. I also began using my Scholastic book order money to augment my classroom library with nonfiction texts whenever possible.

I began explicitly teaching how to not only use, but to create non fiction text. This focus engaged those readers who had struggled most. There is far more information that can be read and synthesized through pictures in non fiction texts which enables all students, including the struggling readers, to contribute to discussions and make sense of text. Curiosity drove students to have a purpose for reading and authentic purpose is everything. We created “Wonderboxes”, an idea from Debbie Miller of small recipe boxes filled with index cards where students wrote down their questions and wonders. It wasn’t labeled inquiry teaching at that point, but in retrospect it is what we were doing. The students also created “Non Fiction Text Feature Notebooks” in which they designed illustrations that demonstrated the function of the various non fiction text features. More recently my grade 4 and 5 students used a screen casting app called Explain Everything in order to create short videos explaining non fiction text features. After learning what these text features were used for, students were able to interact with non fiction texts more efficiently to find what they needed. In addition, they began using these text features in their own writing, especially when uploading to blogs and creating Google Slide presentations.

I still value the world of fiction-especially for read alouds. I know the magic of getting lost in a book or a better yet a book series and I want my students to have that experience too. Being able to connect with another person over the topic of a book that has been thoroughly enjoyed is why book clubs and literature circles exist. However, I am also aware that it isn’t for everyone. A few years ago a colleague admitted to me that she had never enjoyed novel read alouds as a student because she just couldn’t visualize what was happening in the story in her own head. For whatever reason she was unable to provide the running movie that went along with the narration from the teacher. My first reaction was, “How sad!” but then I began to wonder just how many students I have taught over the years that felt exactly the same. My literacy program became a more balanced diet of fiction and non fiction. I encourage you to look through your own classroom library and review the read alouds that you have planned for the school year and take stock of how much of it is non fiction. You just may want to augment your classroom literary diet with something that includes diagrams, labels and a glossary.

January 2, 2019 Michelle Fenn 21st Century Learning, Coding, Constant Learning, Inquiry, Inspiring Students, Inspiring Teachers, Integration, Learning in a Real Life Context, Modern Learning, Resilience, Robotics, Technology, Technology in school, The Global Competencies, Use of Technology, Using technology well

Coding with Microbits

Twice I have attended the Ontario Teachers’ Federation “Pedagogy before Technology” conference in the summer. This year I attended a design workshop that the InkSmith company provided and would never have been able to predict the chain of events that would follow. In the workshop we were grouped with people at our table to come up with a design concept and present it in the manner of a “Dragon’s Den” pitch. As we discussed the concept and made diagrams on chart paper, I put the visuals together in a small Google Slide presentation and added an entertaining video. I have my drama specialist and I’m not afraid to ham it up in front of a crowd. When it came time for the presentation we wowed the InkSmith team and ended up presenting to the entire group. We then went to lunch and I didn’t really think too much more about it. However, because I had so loudly and visibly put myself out there in an entertaining way, I was contacted by the team at InkSmith and then connected with kidscodejeunesse team. Kids Code is a federally funded program that helps students learn to code. They provide free workshops to classrooms across the country using handheld, programmable micro-computers called micro:bits. The coding program is web based and is in the blockly format but can also be switched to html for more advanced coders. When a workshop is provided to a classroom, the teacher is provided with ten microbits for the class to use and keep. You can visit the website kidscodejeunesse to sign up for a workshop for your classroom.

This is the microbit connected to a battery pack.

Kids Code Jeunesse provided me with training and as part of my job as an innovations consultant, I now go into classrooms within my school board to deliver workshops to students. The only coding that I had done up to this point was with Spheros and Ozobots which was quite rudimentary. I am now immersed into the coding culture. Which means that sometimes my kitchen counter looks like this:

It was a little out of my comfort zone to be sure. As I have gone into classrooms I have admitted to students that I’m not an expert on microbit technology and I have learned from some of the students that have been engaged in complex coding on their own time. With a quick conversation with the classroom teacher I can usually make some decisions around differentiating the program to keep students engaged.

You might be wondering what it is these little computers can do. The LED lights on the front can be programmed to light up in patterns which create animations. Students can create dice or rock, paper, scissors games and with a few alligator clips and a small speaker or headphones, microbits can be programmed to create music. With a little innovation and some adaptation it can be programmed to water plants automatically or become a pedometer. It can also be paired with a robot called K8 which can be purchased from Inksmith and assembled. The microbit website itself is where the coding takes place and it has easy to follow tutorials and ideas for projects to code.

The initial workshop is only the beginning. The only limit to these little computers is the limits of your student’s imagination. Microbits would be incredibly useful in a maker space or genius hour environment. The students develop design and critical thinking skills and problem solving techniques as they create and de-bug programs. It is an amazing way to introduce coding to students-especially if you are a teacher who is brand new to coding. Be warned: coding is extremely engaging and you and your students may have an inordinate amount of fun while learning.

December 29, 2018 Michelle Fenn Combined Grade Classes, Constant Learning, Differentiated Instruction, Inspiring Students, Integration, Learning in a Real Life Context, Literacy, Modern Learning, Use of Technology

The Almighty Meme

My teenage son is obsessed with memes. I remember my friends and I at his age, randomly quoting lines from John Hughes or Monty Python movies which confounded the adults around us but my friends and I would collapse into hysterics. I am now the confounded adult but instead of movies, the quotes are from internet memes and vines.

As a teacher I always seek to leverage whatever is important to my students in order to make language engaging and authentic. Last year I used their interest in Snapchat and connected it to “book snaps” in order to synthesize information about what they were reading. Over the holidays I played a game called, “What do you Meme?” which is an adult version of “Apples to Apples” but with pictures. Although the content was rather explicit (obviously not to be used in a classroom) and more than a little embarrassing to play with my 86 year old mother, I got to thinking afterwards about the language processing that it took in order to play this game and how could I turn it into an engaging teaching opportunity. The idea around the game itself is rather simple, choose what you consider to be the best “caption” for the meme (photo) and then another person chooses their favourite of those put forth by the players. The idea is to make it “relateable”.

I realized that there was a great deal of inferring going on while we were matching the statements to the pictures. We had to read the facial cues, look for other clues in the picture and then also relate what was happening in the picture to some kind of an emotion or shared human experience. I’ll give you an example.

“When you have beaten your big brother to the last piece of chocolate cake.”

In order to come up with that statement, I had to make some decisions. I really had to think about the photo and determine what was happening. For me, it looked as though the cat was laughing and feeling rather satisfied with himself. Then I had to think of something that would cause that reaction in someone to which other people might relate. It is rather complex thinking.

In the classroom before any writing would take place I would provide many examples of popular (and appropriate) meme photos that are being used in different ways and discuss these with my students over a period of time. What makes it funny or something with which people can relate? What about the human experience is being shared in this meme?

Then I would provide a photo something like the one above on the Smartboard for students at the beginning of the language period. Just one at a time at the beginning so that we can take the opportunity to break down the thinking. Students could then invent their own statement for the photo and justify their idea when they share it with others. In order to scaffold for some students, I might provide a variety of statements like the game itself and have them choose and justify their choice. Students could also take or choose their own photo and create their own memes using apps such as Canva or Pic Collage. This could also lead to an authentic digital citizenship opportunity with how to search and use photos that are public domain. In addition, these memes could then be shared on a class blog or social media to receive comments from others which provides feedback to students on their creations.

To take the idea of the memes further, the students could then use them as story prompts and create a narrative around the meme. I might also ask the students to create some memes like book snaps which relate to the books that they are reading. See the example below:

“When Fudge ate Dribble.”

Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing-Judy Blume

A meme that needs an explanation isn’t a good meme, just like you shouldn’t need to explain a good joke. There is a kind of sophistication in the thinking process involved in the creation of memes and they connect us as human beings. Memes are this generation’s political cartoon, headline in the newspaper or funny birthday card from “The Far Side” creators; a visual paired with words that connects a shared human experience. Know what I Meme?

November 28, 2018November 28, 2018 Michelle Fenn Behaviour Management, Building Inclusion, Classroom Management, Diverse Learning Needs, Equity, Mental Health, Mindfulness, wellness, Wellness

December…in the Classroom

December is an exciting and often hectic month in classrooms. Holiday celebrations, snow days and events leading up to the break will provide some added complications to teaching. Although these are things to consider every day, this time of year can be highly emotional and stressful for students and teachers. Here are some things to consider at this time of year:

1. Be Flexible There will be many interruptions in the upcoming weeks and some of those events you might find out about over the announcements along with your students. Go with the flow. Whatever you had planned will keep until the next day.

2. Be Culturally Aware and Respectful There are many celebrations that go on in the month of December and they do not all occur during the two week break. Be aware and respectful of the cultural diversity in your classroom around this time.

3. Be Aware and Sensitive to the Needs of your Students For many students breaks away from the routine and safety of school bring anxiety. There will be homes in which the holidays provide unrest and economic stress.

4. Prepare your Students When possible, remember to prepare those students who have difficulty with change in routine for upcoming events (that you know about). Prepare them well in advance, keep using the visual schedules and calendars right up until the last day before the break.

5. Keep them Working As much as possible, maintain daily routine and working on deep learning right up until the break. Some students will sense the loss of routine and take that as a sign that the regular rules only loosely apply.

6. Avoid Busy Work If you continue to plan deep learning and rich activities, students will stay focused and on task. If you “write-off” December as a month that nothing meaningful gets done then that will be exactly what happens. Report cards come quickly after the break so you will want to make sure that what you are working on in the classroom comes from curriculum expectations.

7. Movie Time It is tempting to try to keep students calm by watching movies in the upcoming weeks. Remember that whatever the students watch needs to be appropriately approved and should tie to the curriculum in a meaningful way.

8. Breathe December always seems as though it is rushing by at high speed. Take time to connect with your colleagues in the staff room at break time, go for a walk or just have a quiet moment to sit in your classroom. It will rejuvenate you for the rest of the day.

9. Extras It is easy to get caught up in the events in December. You may want to try to avoid taking on extra responsibilities as a new teacher. It is o.k. just to focus on your classroom.

Above all…

10. Take Care of Yourself Sleep, exercise and nutritional balance are the ingredients for staying healthy through the winter months that are filled with colds and flu. When you are sick, take the time to recover and be kind and forgiving to yourself. You aren’t doing yourself, your colleagues or your students any favours by dragging yourself into work when you are ill.

You are almost at the first major milestone in the year. The mid-point in the year comes during the first two weeks of February. You can do this!

November 16, 2018 Michelle Fenn General

Intentionally Planning with Colleagues

Most educators are routine oriented which in the classroom is a necessity. Routines bring us predictability and comfort. My classroom planning was also routine. I remember spending the majority of my Sundays planning for the week and getting annoyed and almost panicky when I had a social event interfere with my Sunday planning. Once I had a child, I had to adapt and as I gained experience I realized that I was planning way more than was needed and had no flexibility in my program for arising student needs or interest. I became involved in Instructional Rounds for Assessment for Learning with my school board and began to intentionally plan with the support of colleagues. It gave me the opportunity to reflect on my practice and to have feedback with educators that shared the same growth mindset. It shook my teaching world at the foundation and rejuvenated me as an educator.

It is easy to operate in a silo in education. You can close your door, stay in your classroom and go directly to your car after school. I don’t recommend teaching that way. Not only will you burn out quickly, but your teaching practice will stagnate and you won’t have much work-life balance. Plan with a colleague. Make the time.

Yesterday I was able to plan with an NTIP teacher as her mentor. She teaches Kindergarten. I haven’t taught Kindergarten in almost 20 years so it was professional learning for both of us. There is a perception that Kindergarten is incredibly different from the other elementary grades but when you plan intentionally for inquiry, you are thinking like a Kindergarten teacher. Within a few hours we had planned overall expectations and specific learning activities for guiding the students through inquiry connecting literacy to coding and robotics. We started with clustering Kindergarten Curriculum expectations from all four areas, decided specifically what to look for in the learning, what to do in order to help those students that might struggle and what evidence would be collected to document student learning. This isn’t rigid planning. There will be off shoots as students become engaged in different design experiences and take it into their own direction, but the plan will intentionally guide students to a specific areas of learning. By the time we were finished the teacher had an overall idea of what would be happening in her classroom for about six weeks. She still has work to do in terms of collecting resources and setting up learning experiences but the direction for the learning is clear.

Almost every educator speaks to not having enough time and especially don’t have time to meet with colleagues. I have said it myself! However, if teachers make the time at the outset and plan together, there will be more time in the long run. Time for ourselves as people. We need to shift the balance of work and life so that we are our best selves in the classroom for students. That’s just good for everyone.

November 2, 2018 Michelle Fenn Combined Grade Classes, Constant Learning, Genius Hour, Learning About Your Students, Learning in a Real Life Context, Math, Modern Learning, Professional Learning and Growth, Technology in school, The Global Competencies, Use of Technology

Introducing Coding without Robots

A few years ago when I started hearing about teachers doing coding and robotics in the classroom I dismissed it as a fad. I didn’t understand the value of coding nor could I see how it tied to the curriculum. However, I recognize as a professional learner my initial reaction to something radically new can sometimes be resistance. I think that this is because I can’t see myself fitting “one more thing” into my classroom practice. I always have to give myself time to process, research, find the value and then finally accept it. After I have tried a new practice with students and see the beneficial outcomes, I endorse it and then begin to share it widely with colleagues.

When I began the journey with coding and looked at code.org I tried it on my own and admittedly, understood very little. I went to more workshops and conferences but avoided the coding and robotics thinking that it just wasn’t my bag. Then I had a colleague that dragged me in to the world of coding and robotics. We worked together. I’ve since become convinced that we need to teach all students how to code. I have also figured out that you don’t need any robots to do it. In fact, when you start-you don’t even need a computer.

The above picture is a coding game that I used recently with a grade one and two class. Students placed their obstacles (rocks) on a grid. They placed their “gemstone” or finish on a spot on the board and their “robot” (animal) on another spot. They wrote their code on a sticky note using arrows and then had their partner take their robot through the code to test it for “bugs”. A big part of coding is knowing your left from your right and being able to write instructions that someone else can follow. We started out the day coding one another to walk in a square using only: “forward” “turn left” and “turn right”. It was amazing to see how much problem solving took place. They were using positional language, procedural writing, clear communication, visualization and proportional reasoning. Their thinking was exploding! The students were engaged in the learning and well on their way to being able to code something online. From there we explored the Scratch Jr. app. After a short look together at what the different “buttons/blocks” meant they were able to code independently. As teachers we sometimes get bogged down in the fact that we don’t have the money to purchase the technology and shy away from trying things based on the fact that we don’t have “the stuff”. However, laying the groundwork before introducing the technology piece to students is key. We need to always consider the pedagogy before the technology.

September 30, 2018 Michelle Fenn Combined Grade Classes, Constant Learning, Curriculum Planning, General, Inspiring Students, Math, Resources

Tools and Resources for Math Talks

One of the reasons that I spent so many years teaching the primary grades is that teaching math to older students terrified me. Growing up I struggled with math. I changed schools in the middle of my grade three year and missed a great deal of multiplication and division instruction which haunted me for the rest of my math learning. I remember crying at the kitchen table over my homework and my father being distraught over not being able to help me. I totally understand how a student feels when they shutdown and “can’t” get it. That understanding along with having excellent tools and resources helped me immensely when I taught grade 4 and 5 mathematics.

Math Growth Mindset

Jo Boaler is a professor of mathematics education at Stanford University and the co-founder and faculty director of youcubed. This fabulous website provides unique, research based instructional approaches to teaching math. There are videos for students of different age ranges and the “Week of Inspirational Math” was what helped me to create a positive math learning environment with a growth mindset in my Junior grade classroom. It doesn’t have to be the first week either-you can do it at any point. Jo Boaler has also co-written a series of mathematics instructional resources called “Mindset Mathematics” for each of the junior grades.

Math Talks

Number Talks: Whole Number Computation, Gr K-5: A Multimedia Professional Learning Resource became my go-to resource when I began daily number talks with primary students and it made the transition to teaching math in the junior grades much easier. The format of math discussion remains essentially the same no matter what grade level. It is an expensive resource but well worth it. If you want to give math talks a try there are some more affordable online resources that you can use as well.

Math for Love is a website that provides a number of online math talks for K-5. EduGains gives a brief synopsis of how to develop your math learning community in your classroom. Another great online resource for daily math talks is Which One Doesn’t Belong? This website provides all sorts of pictures for math discussion. Eventually my students began creating pictures for other classes to use for their math talks after using the examples on the website. Math Talk Resources is a comprehensive spot for math talk information and connects you to many different math talk resource websites.

When students have the opportunity to discuss math and hear fellow student’s different perspectives, they begin to see their own entry point into every math problem. They also begin to see the value of challenging each other’s ideas respectfully and adding to one another’s ideas. “What do you see and what do you wonder?” is a much friendlier way to open up math discussion than, “Who can give me the answer?” I am convinced that because my students engaged in respectful math talks they were able to transfer these skills into other discussion topics in our classroom. For me, the anxious math teacher, math talks became the highlight of our daily math lessons and sometimes, the highlight of my day.