Mathematical Mindsets

So I finished the book, Mathematical Mindsets by Jo Boaler. I am going to buy my own copy. 
I feel so inspired, and excited about going back to school and trying out the ideas I have read about. I will be making quite a few changes to my numeracy/mathematics planning and teaching. There are just too many notes and reminders and photos of text on my phone (Thank goodness for Google Keep!) that I thought worthwhile remembering, I haven't time to talk about all of them right now, so I'll bullet point with a few notes.

• Assessment ideas - Traffic Lights and Exit Tickets, Two Stars and a Wish (peer) and Reflections for homework. I loved all of these ideas and found the information regarding homework and the negative impact it has on children (and families) very interesting. I don't recall major homework issues when my daughter went to school, or my stepson, but maybe they just didn't do it!
• Assessment for Learning - there's a whole chapter on this, I am quite keen to try out some new methods.
• Maths Basic Facts - mindless practise and speed drills can be damaging, being successful at maths is not about recalling facts at speed, and works against the development of a mathematical mindset
• Gifted - there is no such thing as a "math gift" or "math brain"
• Mistakes - are SO GOOD! If we aren't making mistakes, or struggling, then we aren't learning
• Comments - that we give to the children can be damaging too. Growth mindset comments are specific to the task and not how wonderfully smart the child is. If a child is told that they are smart, and then they face a challenge, they will think they aren't smart after all and give up easily. They need to make mistakes, face challenges and persevere.
• Depth over Speed - being slow to work things out, and using materials, is all good! Yay for me and my own funny methods when I am trying to work out something more complicated than what I usually deal with in the classroom. I must admit, I did try some of the activities in the book to see if I could work them out myself. Some were definitely a struggle. And I had to look up what the "nth" term meant - and then try it out!
• Mixed ability grouping - it was awesome to read and discover evidence of how and why this is a good thing, especially since we have stopped streaming our senior classes.
• Activities - Low floor, High ceiling, and I really am pleased that there were examples in the book, and ideas, apps and internet sites to visit. This is going to be a huge help with planning to cater for everyone, engage and motivate all learners.
• Times have changed - future employers (even now) don't need employees who can recall basic facts and add numbers quickly, computers can do that. They need people who can problem solve, pose questions, work collaboratively, use logic and reasoning...
• Art - oh yeah! That's made me very happy, evidence to prove that art and maths link together beautifully (even though I already knew this, it's nice to have evidence to back my ideas up!) And also drawing problems and doodling.

I did a lot of thinking as I read the book.  And I am still thinking now (pretty reflective eh?!) and what I am thinking is too much to write about. But now I worry that I have made damaging comments in the past, and I worry that I have made assumptions about students because of they way they work, their levels, and what I thought they were capable of. I worry about the way I've set up the groups, and the tasks, and that I've given fixed mindset feedback/feedforward. 
So yes, I will be making changes. I hope it has a very positive impact on my class.

Digital Tech

It is the holidays and I kind of wish I was still at school! The last week at school was exciting for me, I bought the full version of Tellagami, and Sock Puppets. And then I got the Aurasma app, oh my gosh, the best thing ever, too much fun and I have already decided how I will use it effectively with maths... my brain won't let me sleep at night as I keep coming up with ideas. Thank goodness for Google Keep, I can note my ideas quickly. I've even taken photos of text I want to remember (currently reading Jo Boaler's Mathematical Mindsets, absolutely brilliant, will do a separate post about that as soon as I've finished the book!) and my notes on Google Keep are prolific.
Aurasma is amazing, even more so once I figured out how to let others see. After practising with grandson's calendar art and insisting my daughter download the app immediately so she could see my video message, I discovered you have to follow to be able to see it. Good to know. Now I have about 10 messages linked to Logan's 2016 calendar! 
But then I wanted to figure out how the 4D thing works, and wondered if I could create my own. I found an app called Augment. It is super incredible. Truly an amazing thing that I need to play with a bit more so that I can actually use it in the classroom, rather than just going, "wow, that's amazing!" I am not sure how to make my own 3D models to put on it, although there are already educational ones on there. I got another app called Sculpt and had a go at making a 3D model, it's like working with digital clay I guess. Lots of fun to play with but I don't know how to put it on Augment... yet! (I have tried a couple of things, unsuccessfully so far, but mistakes grow my brain so it's all good!)
Speaking of growing brains, I did get Class Dojo as well, and the little videos are really great for promoting growth mindset - thank you Leslee! I'm still hyped up about growth mindsets, and the Jo Boaler book is making me think about it even more.

The video was a rush job, we made it really quickly on the last day of school because I was too excited and wanted to try out Aurasma before the holidays. Sometimes I think I get more excited about these things than the children do! I suppose in this day and age they are exposed to so much more, have so much more and technology is so much more advanced. I zipped down to Auckland at 4am on Tuesday to look after the younger grandson who was too sick to go to daycare, and even he, at the age of 14 months, plays with the ipad and apps on the phone, and is rather fascinated with the xbox controller, when he can get his hands on it. Logan is 3, and he is very clued up with technology. Only geeks went to computer class when I went to school, I preferred to spend my time either in the art room or smoking behind the bike shed, listening to Motorhead or Iron Maiden... on tape! How times have changed. I really love technology. And I still love art, and I still love Motorhead (R.I.P Lemmy) and Iron Maiden, and e cigs are way better than smoking!

Tellagami Hologram

Putting this on so you can see... and thinking of a million ways I could use it! If I buy the full version of the tellagami app, I can type in the text and then it will use a different voice, and that would be nicer than hearing my own! Or I could do a sock puppet one, or animate my own with hyperstudio... too many possibilities!

Inspired by Apps!

I have a whole lot to post, and I need to get into the habit of posting right away, because now I have a whole lot to say and it's not all nice and orderly and I will miss things out!
Perhaps sub-headings will be the way to go...
Maths PLD
was awesome! I came away feeling very excited about the things I learnt, and wanted to share the Mindset reading with the rest of the staff (so I did) and I hope they liked it too. Since then I've found loads online about it, have considered this way of thinking in the classroom, and I have begun to introduce the idea to my class. I love it. Pam has a book by Jo Boaler which she offered to lend to me once she has finished reading it, thanks Pam! I don't yet feel that I know enough about it to fully use it... yet, but I will learn (and grow my brain!). Aside from that, I also found the information about active listening very helpful, and have used this in the classroom already. We created a poster which has been a great reminder for the class on how to listen. 
Digital Tech PD 
I wasn't really focused during our staff meeting, darn tummy bug! But I love google keep, padlets and that we are going to link maths and digital tech, and focus on our appraisal inquiry. Yay. And after all this time, years, of trying to stay anonymous and not have my real name or photo online, I ended up with my name on my class google account. It's ok though, I'm still refusing to have facebook!
The IDEAS session 
was a brilliant, motivating and inspirational afternoon, I enjoyed every second. I really did come straight home and download apps that I couldn't wait to try out. And I used them in class the next day! The Elements 4D app is amazing! I want to know how they made it! Lot's of exclamation marks sorry. But it really is super cool. I posted a video of the class using it on the class blog. 
I also have found an app that allows me to create my own hologram, so I got all carried away and made a video with the tellagami app and turned it into a hologram for the class for Mantle of the Expert - the commission from my fictional charitable organisation. I just know the children will want to make them too!
I put a padlet on the class blog after seeing Yvettes and the brilliant way she used it. 
Other things I love - popplet, reading eggs (for spelling for Will - who incidentally has achieved 8 out of 8 in spelling two weeks in a row - admittedly, the words all rhymed, but it's a start!), and puppet pals. These are all things we can use in our classroom. 
And the Mural
is almost complete! When I'm out there, painting, I feel like I could paint forever! The children involved in the designing and painting were just wonderful. I will complete it during the holidays, I just need to get up the ladder and paint another row of bricks and add detail to the lettering and put the names on.