September 12th - Exit slip

Leaving this class today I was very inspired by Jo Boaler's words with regards to engaging students. This, along with our group discussions about best ways to use classroom time has inspired me to implement group problem solving in my future classes. In my opinion, this is a great way to develop students' growth mindset.

Watching the clip in Jo's presentation where the students worked with one another to solve the skateboard problem showed me an engaged classroom. In this classroom we saw students tackling the problem and using math tools they had learned in their previous years. Additionally, we could tell that the students were having fun. One observation about this was that we could see students struggling with the problem and I believe this promotes social emotional learning for every student in this room. Students who struggle in math may find a positive connection to other students they may believe to be "a higher level" to them and be motivated to grow. In contrast, students who are "more capabable" in math will feel they still need to hone their skills to tackle harder and harder problems, developing their own growth mindsets.