Blog

“I am just not a math person!” You’ve heard that, right? Maybe you’ve even said it at some point. 

I don’t often hear people saying, “I am not a reading person,” but parents and teachers are constantly telling me that they don’t have a “math brain,” or they are not a “math person.” Students will tell me that their mom and dad are not good at math, so they aren’t either.  Parents will tell me that their child is good at math, so they must take after their husband or wife.

Is being good at math a genetic trait?  Are babies born with a math brain or a reading brain or a basketball brain or a dance brain or a gardening brain or any other type of brain?

I am a strong believer in nurture and nature. Yes, we may be born with predispositions to certain areas of life and certain traits, but environment also plays a huge role in how our brains develop.  

My 6-year-old daughter has good number sense for her age and enjoys math.  Did she get that from me because I was a math teacher and am now an educational consultant who loves math?  Or maybe is it because she is the youngest of four children and came with me when I taught math lessons in her older siblings’ classes? She was my assistant and sat at the table and colored, but she also listened to everything the students said.  And as the youngest in a large family, she has always tried to get into conversations and says, “OK, my turn. Ask me something.”

I was not a strong mathematician growing up, and it was actually my least favorite subject in elementary and middle school.  I thought math was boring, nothing more than a series of rules and formulas to be memorized.  

I was wrong.  

When I finally had a teacher in high school who showed me I could excel in math with hard work and that I could grow my brain to be “good at math,” I soared in the subject. 

So how can we use this as teachers and parents?  

We need to help students develop a growth mindset.  We need to explicitly teach, discuss and model growth mindset, which is a term that comes from the research and amazing work of Carol Dweck.  

“In a growth mindset, people believe that their most basic abilities can be developed through dedication and hard work — brains and talent are just the starting point. This view creates a love of learning and a resilience that is essential for great accomplishment,” Dweck said in 2015.

As important as it is to teach students the routines and procedures at the beginning of each year, so is teaching them the growth mindsets of learning!  Jo Boaler has amazing videos and resources at youcubed.org that help teach students to have an open, creative mindset in mathematics, which I link to in my resource.

I chose five attitudes that I consider crucial in developing a growth mindset and created a resource to explicitly teach students these five attitudes.  

For each attitude, the resource has:

• A link to a video for students to watch
• Activities for students to do after watching and discussing the attitude
• A reflect and connect closure activity

Attitude 1: Brains grow and change.

Math is not just for “math brains.”  We need to stop saying “I am not a math person.”  We are all math people!  If we work hard and put in effort, our brains can grow and change.

Attitude 2: It’s OK to make mistakes.

Math is not about being perfect. We learn from our mistakes and from the mistakes of others. We shouldn’t be ashamed about getting answers wrong or not knowing a skill.  

Attitude 3: Speed is not important.

Math is not about being fast.  We need to take our time to see patterns, reason, justify, and make connections.  Good mathematicians are slow and precise in their thinking.

Attitude 4: Struggle is important.

Math is not always easy.  Learning happens at the edge of struggle and understanding.  When you’re struggling, that’s the very best time for your brain.

Attitude 5: Perseverance is key.

Math is not about ability; it’s about effort.  Perseverance is one of the most important traits for students to learn.  We must consistently praise students’ effort and perseverance.  Never give up! 

As we begin the school year, let’s all be “math people” and teach students the importance of a growth mindset in the classroom and at home!

Enter your email address at the very bottom of this webpage to get access to the FREE Resource (32 slides) to help students develop a growth mindset! It will be FREE for 1 week!