Assessment for a Growth Mindset

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This week we are wrapping up our Mathematical Mindsets book study.  I have loved reading this book and going deeper into the big ideas in my classroom.  If you are just joining us, be sure to check out part 1, part 2 and part 3. 

Chapter 8: Assessment for a Growth Mindset

Big Ideas

-Teachers are being asked to test and to grade students to a damaging degree

-Often what is easy to test is being assessed rather than valuable mathematics knowledge

-It is common to start a math class with a pre-test to determine what students know.  This gives students a message that math is about performance. 

-Research has shown that test scores demotivate students and convey a fixed messages that result in lower achievement

-Boaler recommends assessing less

-Use more formative assessment 

Impact in the Classroom

Test Less

I am happy to get on board with this one.  We use standards based grading on our report cards so I don't have to worry about giving a percent score.  This naturally reduces the amount of assessing and grading that I have to do.  I never put a grade on classwork or formative assessment prompts. I do grade unit assessments and such but often do not share the percent grade with students.  I have to collect some percent grades currently mostly used during IEP evaluation processes.  I have not yet figured out a way to convince the special educators that a kid is in the lowest 15% of the class without some percentages.  I would be happy to never put a percent grade on anything again and would love to work toward this goal

More Formative Assessment

When I was in graduate school, I read Assessment for Learning and started using many formative assessment strategies.   The following school year, I got even further into formative assessment ideas when all of the teachers in my school had the opportunity to take a formative assessment course together during in-service time.  Reading this chapter brought back a few ideas that we had great success with in our school but have sort of fallen out of practice.  After reading this chapter, I led a staff meeting about formative assessment strategies to remind us all of some of our forgotten favorites.  We also got to have a good discussion about how the assessment practices in our district have shifted and what we have had to give up as a result.

Screeners and MTSS

Since starting our formal work as an MTSS (Multi-Tiered System of Supports) school two years ago, we are doing much more formal testing.  These tests are given 3 times per year and are meant to be screeners to see who is not meeting standards in math and reading.  I work in a small school where I literally know all of the students very well and many of them I work with for 7 years.  I do not need more assessments to tell me who needs help in what area.  These additional assessments have added more to our students' and teachers' plates and seemed to have pushed some of our formative assessment strategies out.  I am really struggling with how MTSS systems effect math mindset and will be having some discussions with other folks in my district about these ideas.

Chapter 9: Teaching Mathematics for a Growth Mindset

Big Ideas

-It is important to set up classroom norms based on research.  Here is the printable poster with the big ideas from Youcubed. 

-Teaching kids how to work in groups is an important step.  Designing Groupwork is an excellent reference to get you started.
-Believe in all of your students and make sure they know you believe in them
-Value persistence and hard thinking instead of speed
-Change praise!  Here is a great list of suggestions.
-Choose tasks with a low floor and a high ceiling!

Impact in the Classroom

The Participation Quiz

What an awesome strategy for encouraging group work!  I am a bit ashamed to admit that I learned this strategy from my mentor teaching when I was student teaching but somewhere along the way I lost it from my repertoire.  Bringing it back to the classroom was just the jolt we needed to re-invigorate our group work.  It is an amazing way to motivate students and share all the skills you value.  

Low Floor, High Ceiling Tasks

Many of the math tasks in this chapter I have tried out with my students over the past two weeks.  It is amazing how much mileage I have gotten out of some of these tasks and how much it has helped move some of my multi-age groups forward.  Another resource for these types of problems that I stumbled upon this week and then spent way to many hours there is Math Pickle. It is an amazing website full of great math problems, puzzles, games and ideas about how to bring unsolved math problems into K-12 classrooms.  

Thanks for following along on this book study!  This book is such a wealth of information.  I am considering doing another book study this spring around Designing Groupwork.  I will let you know the details when I work them out!