BLOG POST 21 MARCH 2020

Cultivating Learners
Math Edition

Cultivating
Math Learners
Math Confidence
Making sure that all children
feel capable of learning and
succeeding in math lessons is a
priority for me. I don’t believe
that any child is born more
“gifted” or “capable” than others
and every child has the potential
to succeed given the right
support and circumstances. I
believed, when I was in school,
that whilst I was ok at math, I was destined not to be good at it. It was an attitude that I adopted or
was socialised to believe. This is a common occurrence and you often hear people say: “Oh, I’ve never
been good at math!” This is exactly the attitude I hope to discourage in my classroom. Children are
not born with a “math gene” and building confidence in all children, starting in kindergarten is
extremely important to me.

The Capacity Building Series: Yes I Can! notes that:

“Attitudes to mathematics in fact are learned – not inherited – and they can be learned and unlearned,
to…. (this can be done)…by creating a learning environment in the mathematics classroom that
encourages students to learn from mistakes, to persevere in overcoming challenges and to recognize
and enjoy success.”

I have identified four other important factors to support confidence and self-efficacy in math learning:


1 2 3 4
CREATE A SAFE VALIDATE DIFFERENT TEACHERS LISTEN FOCUS ON PROCESS
SPACE TO DISCUSS WAYS OF THINKING AND EXTEND RATHER THAN
AND TAKE RISKS STUDENT’S THINKING CORRECT ANSWERS
1
BLOG POST 21 MARCH 2020

Bansho Math in
Kindergarten
Three Part Lesson Plan
I have always liked the three part
lesson plan format for math and I
like to use it in a kindergarten
classroom. First of all I engage my
student’s prior learning and start
discussing previous topics that
relate to our new one. Then I
introduce the provocation. For
example, I want to introduce the
idea of capacity, I may bring up other think that is?”. Then after the exploration we
measurement lessons that we have done and will have a consolidation where each child has
pose the new problem about measuring how an opportunity to share their thinking,
much something can hold. Then I will leave the observations, and understanding with the class.
materials at the sensory table (sand, water, I make sure at this point that all the children’s
measuring cups, jugs, spoons etc). I will let the ideas are validated and explored and I make
children all have a chance throughout the week sure not to focus on the “correct” answer but
to experiment with the new concept. I will rather I celebrate everyone’s discoveries.
circulate and ask the children leading questions
like: “what did you notice?” and “why do you This kind of lesson format can be applied to all/
most math topics. Depending on the project, the
children’s responses and ideas can be
represented in many ways. Through discussions,
drawings, with manipulatives etc. The children
benefit from sharing and seeing different
strategies and gain a better understanding of the
problem and solutions.

Sources:
Making Space for Students to Think Mathematically:
http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/literacynumeracy/
inspire/research/WW_SpaceThinkMath.pdf

Yes, I can! Paying Attention to Well-Being in the

Mathematics Classroom:
http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/literacynumeracy/
inspire/research/math-classroom2018.pdf