From our Math Coach, Ben Geiger
As the math coach, I get the benefit of working with all ages of children in the school. I often notice that in grades 3-5, one little thing will trip children up and from here they will move to a place of saying, “I’m bad at math. Why is this hard for me?”
Here is a recent classroom example,
A hard-working student was adding 7/8 and 5/6. She correctly began by trying to find a common denominator for 8 and 6. As instructed, she listed the multiples for each number.
For six she wrote, 12, 18, 24, 30, 36, 48, 54, 60. At 18, she couldn't automatically recall the next multiple and so added 6 to each successive number. Then she moved to 8 and listed the multiples again by adding 8 to each number. Here she made a mistake and added 8, 16, 23, 29, 37, 45, 53, 61. At this point, she became frustrated. She didn’t have a common multiple listed and had spent some effort adding and was disappointed that her effort hadn’t paid off. She paused, put her head in her hands, and looked around the room.
I noticed and sat next to her. She asked me for help and said, “I’m not very good at this.”
I responded by telling her I would help her but first she needed to tell me what it was that she wasn’t very good at, “You said you weren’t very good at this. What is this?”
In an aggravated voice, she replied, “Math. Everyone else can do this and I can’t. This always happens.”
Before this problem, she had successfully solved four others just like it. During this lesson, she had quickly learned the confusing process for adding fractions with unlike denominators, had success, but then suddenly disregarded all the positive that had occurred because of one mistake. And this one mistake had led her to conclude that she wasn’t very good at math in general. Now, this wasn’t her first mistake in math. She has made many mistakes during math lessons over the years and these errors and subsequent frustrations had begun to pile up.
One thing, I love about being a math coach is that I get to see students grow up at Baldwin. I know them as kindergartners and as fifth graders. In first grade, this student wouldn’t have ever said that she wasn’t very good at math. She did make mistakes at age 7, but back then, mistakes were mistakes, not reflections of her overall math ability. Now at age 11, her mistakes have really started to bother her.
In her classroom hang several hand made posters that the children discussed at the beginning of the year and now use as references. One reads, “Doing things without having to try hard means that the activity you chose is too easy to learn from." These posters came from Opening Minds, a book by Peter Johnston. All of us at Baldwin are reading it, in part of our effort, to learn more about how we can help students develop perseverance and grit. Children who, demonstrate perseverance and grit, understand that mistakes are part of learning. They will actively try to learn from their errors rather than shut down. Challenges, for them, are not a sign that they really aren’t as smart as other people.
After hearing this student say, “Everyone else can do this and I can’t.” I pointed to the poster mentioned above and said, “I’d like you to think a little about what that poster means before we keep going with your math work.”
She said, “Mistakes are good, I get it.”
To which, I replied, “Let’s see what your mistake is about. It’s not a mistake that means you are bad at math. And no one likes to make mistakes, but mistakes are good opportunities to learn, because if you understand your mistakes then you can get better at what you are doing.”
We looked at her work, found her error, and then I pushed her to say back what it was that made this problem hard for her. She said, “I don’t know my 6 and 8 times facts. I have to add, I can’t just think of them.”
“I see,” I said. “And that doesn’t mean you are bad at math, it just means that if you knew your sixes and eights, you wouldn’t have to add each time, and then this problem might be too easy for you, because you know how to find common denominators and add fractions and that’s the complicated part. Knowing your math facts is just one little thing."
As a parent here are some ways you can help foster perseverance and grit.
- Don’t accept, “I’m not good at this. Math is hard for me.” Remind them that when things are hard, it just means that they are learning and that it’s hard now but it won’t be for long.
- Find the one little thing that is hard for them in whatever it is that they are doing. Name that one little thing. Tell them how that one little thing is hard now but that’s just because they haven’t learned it yet.
- Tell them it’s normal to get confused, frustrated, and to make mistakes.
- Praise their effort and not how quickly, easily, or smart they were. Say, “Wow. You really worked at that. I see you are frustrated that you didn’t get the answer yet. Let’s see if we can find the tricky part together.”
Practice their math facts. Learning math facts is a great way to see effort pay off. To help them learn their math facts, have them use REFLEX MATH--an online math fact learning game. Reflex keeps track of the facts they have learned and shows them how many facts they have gained. It gives them concrete evidence that they are learning and this is the best reward.
MATH Problem of the Month
This month’s problem comes from fourth grade and Ms. Logiudice. It’s an estimation challenge. Look at the illustration that comes from Beverly Cleary’s, Homer Price. How many donuts are pictured? What’s your approach? We will hear how some fourth graders made an effort to estimate the number of donuts at the upcoming Baldwin All School Meeting, slated for Tuesday, November 25 at 9:15AM.