Hi All,
Some of us were wondering if we should create a structure or a loose framework in which to respond so every one gets a chance to reflect on their own as well as others' readings and posts. I know that some of us are involved in report cards and this is a busy time of the year. I know that I have read till chapter two and have blogged. If some of you have gone ahead, that is great, but would it be okay if we can restrain ourselves from blogging till about chapter two so everyone can catch up. We will continue to blog if we wish to or wait until report cards are over. Hope this is okay with everyone.

I can finally contribute!

After solving some technical difficulties (thanks Monica), I'm finally on.

I probably won't be contributing much though until after report cards.  Sorry :(.

Mistakes in Life: Celebrating Failures

While reading the chapter on mistakes and struggles, I couldn't help but think about young math learner Carlene, teachers' college, and Numeracy teacher Carlene.  As a young learner, I always struggled with math; a language that intrigued me. I don't recall worrying about failing anything because my parents were very supportive and always encouraged me to do my best, but I was worried about my peers knowing about my struggles with math especially K.W.  Everyone knew K.W. got perfect on every test/quiz.  I am that student who needs time to think and to discuss my ideas and hear other's ideas. We always worked independently. I use to look for the answers at the back of the textbook and then try to figure out how to arrive at the answer.   I admired K. W. and wanted to understand math just like him.  Fast forward to teachers' college where my path to becoming a math teacher began.  Dr. Andrew Allen is the math professor at university of Windsor who changed my perspective about mathematics.  I clearly recall him telling us that we should celebrate failures with our students just as we would their successes.  When I was hired to teach in PEEL, I struggled with teaching math, the way Dr. Allen talked about, through problem solving in a collaborative community of learners, mainly because I didn't have a partner with similar philosophy.  I had such a hard time with parents not understanding the approach; one even wanted their child removed from my class. I refused to conform. I did a lot of research on my own which I used as talking points with parents, have had supportive administrators and would eventually meet Shannon Lee.  As a Numeracy teacher I encourage students to own their mistakes and share their struggles.  It's not enough for students to say "I made a mistake" or "I can learn from my mistakes." I challenge them to dig deeper and explain what they mean.  How do you know that you have made a mistake? What did you learn from someone else's mistake or your own? How did you overcome your struggles?  It use to be hard to watch students struggle, but now I smile every time I see it or hear it cause I know they'll be stronger learners because of it!

Chapters? Blog as we see fit?

Are we reading and discussing the book as chapters or pages or would you like to just blog as you read and make connections? 

The Power of Mistakes and Struggle
Today, the math in my class was all about the struggle. I posed a challenging problem in class and I was hoping to look for strategies children were using as they struggled. I also noticed children's body language and facial expression as they struggled. It was interesting to see that most of them were trying something to figure out the 'answer', the 'right' answer. When they felt they had the answer, their math talk stopped. There was nothing more left for them to do as in their minds they were 'done'. It is interesting that the messages we send about mistakes and wrong answers as well as about right answers really lead to the way student act in class. In fact I struggled to debrief the math today because it was really students' attitude I was debriefing and not the math strategies themselves. Nancy, my teaching partner suggested that I should ask students what they did when they were struggling. I read parts of pages 2-4 from the book to the students and they were quite amazed with the idea of "brain plasticity" and the possibility of our brains to grow.