Mathematics Week Three - Half way done ALREADY!

Happy third week friends!!

Three more weeks and we will be in our placements and teaching students all of the strategies we have been learning here! I cannot wait - how about you?

This week our class concentrated on making mistakes and how mistakes are as important, if not more important than getting the solution "right" the first attempt. By making mistakes one is able to reason and grow their mathematics pathway when trying to resolve the problem they are given. 


Why is it good to make mistakes in math?

The idea that mistakes are a bad thing and that if you make mistakes you failed needs to be removed from every classroom. Without mistakes our brains, our students’ brains wont grow. By making mistakes, and struggling to find the solution to a math problem or to any other subject fields our brain grows, as opposed to when we get all the answers right without struggling.

Think of your brain as your bicep muscles. Without working out and engaging those muscles they wont grow and wont be as strong as you want them to be. This goes the same for your brain. Exercise it, work on hard problems, struggle and ask questions and make mistakes. Mistakes are an important step in math. It is not failing, it is growing. 

Watch the short clip below which deals with how success and making mistakes is interrelated: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_GoYi3hfiBg&feature=youtu.be

As future educators, it is crucial that we show students how success comes from failing first. Would they rather struggle with a problem, learn how to push through it and succeed or see a question and know the answer. Many students, without knowing the benefits behind failing, would choose the latter of the two. 

Making mistakes + struggling and learning how to find the solution = SUCCESS!

***** It is time for students and their teachers alike to recognize that making mistakes in math is not a negative thing. Instead, making mistakes should be seen as a growing opportunity and a positive thing *****

http://mostfunnyfacebookstatus.blogspot.ca/2012/12/

Mistakes Grow Your Brain

https://www.youcubed.org/evidence/mistakes-grow-brain/ 

https://www.someecards.com/usercards/viewcard

8 Reasons Making Mistakes in Math is a Good Thing:

https://mathgeekmama.com/8-reasons-making-mistakes-in-math-is-a-good-thing/

In closing, this message is for educators, candidates and students alike:

Do not hold back just because something is challenging. Regardless of what opportunities arise in your life you can choose to take the challenging one and grow or the easy one and remain the same. Take risks and remember that mistakes in life are just as important to growth as they are in math! You’ve got this!

Happy mistake making,

Emily