Helen's day with Professor Jo Boaler

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This post is from Helen Teal the Kaiārahi for Northland Maths Association. Helen was one of the 520 teachers who spent a day with Jo Boaler and Cathy Williams from Youcubed.com during the April break.

"Jo & Cathy kept us engaged for the entire day as they shared ways of developing a growth mindset with students and setting up positive norms in the maths classroom. They inspired us to think about how we could teach maths in such a way that gives students mathematical freedom. 

Using low floor and high ceiling tasks was recommended as it makes mathematical learning accessible to all while providing scope for extension and the opportunity for students to seek connections and develop a deeper understanding of mathematical concepts. 

They suggested planning lessons around big ideas rather than methods. Ideas like
  • Number Sense,
  • Learning to Generalise, 
  • Maths as pattern seeking, 
  • Algebra as a problem solving tool and that you can teach the content/methods as the need arises.
Jo talked about moving away from rote learning, speed tests and practicing very similar questions repeatedly (such as with textbooks) as this can turn kids off maths, lead to less effective brain processing and sometimes to maths anxiety. 


She reminded us to value mistakes and that struggling with a problem and learning from mistakes is where the most learning and brain connections happen. This seems to be the way of the future in maths education and is more in line with how we do maths in the real world. 

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One really interesting point Jo made was that we need to look at changing the way we are assessing if we really want students to value mistake making and allow deep thinking and these brain connections to occur. 
Using the traditional tests where students get marked down for getting a question wrong will be counterproductive to developing these messages.
Rubrics and Overall Teacher Judgements can be used for years 1-10 but how might this play out in years 11-13 with NCEA assessments. 

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Certainly this approach will help develop understanding and students’ ability to think in an extended abstract way but it is all a bit unknown for those of us who were taught maths in a fixed way and who have been teaching it like that up until now.

Many primary and intermediate schools in Northland are already using Jo Boaler's ideas and methods in their classrooms.

A key takeaway for me was that people can change and that you can only do something if you believe you can."

Helen Teal, Kaiārahi, Networks of Expertise, Northland Maths Association


To explore the teaching resources advocated, read up to date research  or enrol in one of the online courses goto the  Youcubed website 

A huge thanks to Te Whai Toi Tangata, Institute of Professional Learning for organising this event. 
Six Key Takeaways from A Day with Professor Jo Boaler is a summary of their reflections from the day.

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