To be completely honest, much of the material covered in the online course is also covered in the book. What I really appreciated about the online course was seeing some of the ideas in action - teachers working with students on number talks, students working with dot cards and students' video reflections on some of the activities. These videos helped me to imagine how some of the lessons might help my students and what they might look like in a classroom.
This class has inspired me to incorporate more lessons on mindset in my classroom. All of the middle school students at my school took Jo Boaler's student course this summer. I am hoping to create a survey for my students that asks them about their mindset before the course and whether it may have changed due to the course. I also hope to ask the students about how they think we can incorporate growth mindset into our classes.
There was one lesson that really struck a cord with me, how leveling or tracking can be pigeon-holing (if that's a verb?) our students at a young age. We currently level our students and, while I think we do a great job looking at various data points, I question if this is the right thing to do. I know that traditionally, independent schools level and that the high schools that we feed into take into account whether a student has taken honors courses in the 7th and 8th grades, but I question if putting a student into a certain level at this point of developmental maturity, is the best thing for them. It's something I struggle with and know that I do not have an answer to it. I just wish that the high schools and society as a whole would not put such an emphasis on honors mathematics at such a young age. I would love to meet with some of the high school math department chairs and ask them what they think.
This course was great. While a bit redundant after reading the book, the course did inspire me to change some things in my classroom including making more mindset poster for our classrooms (I will blog about this soon - once our classrooms are clean enough to photograph!) I would recommend the course for teachers of all levels.
- @kathyhenderson