3 Ways to Encourage a Growth Mindset in the Middle School Math Classroom
"I hate math" and "I'm not a math person" are widely acceptable phrases in the United States.
As a middle school special education teacher I hear these phrases often, both from students on my caseload and from general education students in my inclusion classes. Students avoid failure in math by refusing to try and making excuses. I get it. I was that student. So, what can we as teachers do about it?
1. Acknowledge that math takes time and effort to learn
Many students have failed often in math, haven't kept up with the class, or have holes in their math skills from circumstances outside the classroom like a move, extended absence, trauma, being an English Language Learner and so on. They may have an unidentified learning disability, or may have a learning disability and have spent so much time in a resource room setting practicing basic skills that they have missed grade level content exposure for years. There are many reasons we don't learn math at the same pace and students need to hear that it's okay!
2. Teach in a way that honors the time and effort it takes
In middle school, many math classrooms I have seen, supported, and even co-taught in have spent the majority of the period in full class direct instruction. While direct instruction is necessary it cannot teach an entire class of students at their level, addressing their holes and misconceptions and pushing them to their best. We hold back those with stronger math skills, the ones that can do the basics of the lesson without any instruction (what else could we be exposing them to and challenging them with?) and they often spend the period bored. We hit the kids in the middle, who know the basics and learned the previous grade level content fairly well. And, we completely lose a chunk of the class. Almost always the ones with the fixed mindset, the "I'm bad at math" kids. Limit your direct instruction. Try small groups (ask your building specialists for help - Special Education teachers, Intervention teachers, ELL teachers), stations, carousel activities, and increase your student involvement. You know, those things that we tend to scrap when we are short on time because we have too many standards to cram in, and that we avoid because behavior management can be harder and the noise level often goes up.
3. Work for the Lightbulb Moments
Find small ways to keep working on key skills, and helping students actually get to those lightbulb moments and experience the success that comes with sticking with hard things. That can be repeating skills on your entry task or warm up until they've got it, reteaching after a quiz and doing retakes, or correcting and redoing classwork. And then, recognizing and celebrating that success with the student.
