Student 1:
Over the course of this year, I have a student that gets very frustrated when they don't get the answer right away. We can call this student Matt. In conversation with Matt, I learned that math has always been a strength that has come easy for him to do in school. Fifth grade math is challenging and requires more in depth understanding of concepts to problem solve. During small group time, I pulled Matt to conference individually about my observations. We talked about his feelings towards math this year and how they have changed from previous years. The next day, I pulled Matt and three other students that I noticed were struggling with frustration towards math. We did an activity called Stick It Together, developed by Runde's Room. In this activity, we read statements like "I’m just not good at this" and each student wrote on their sticky note what could be said instead of "I'm just not good at this." After each student wrote individually on their sticky note, we placed them altogether on the map. We read each others responses and talked about how changing our words can help us with our mindset. The next day, I gave Matt a stick it map that was blank. I asked him to write down something he felt that wanted help with in changing his mindset. He took the paper home that night and returned it with his statement. During small group the next day, I pulled Matt and the same three students to complete Matt's stick it map. The students did not know that Matt was the one to write the statement though. Each student wrote on their sticky note their response to Matt's statement and we had a discussion about how we can change our mindset. Later at recess that day, Matt came up to me and discussed how he really wanted to work hard and not always get so frustrated. We made a plan that if he starts to get frustrated, that he take deep breaths, talk to me or a buddy, and rethink the problem. This has helped tremendously and Matt is even now helping others when they become frustrated.
Student 2:
I have a student in my class that is afraid of taking chances and making mistakes because they always want to be right. Let's call this student Sarah. Sarah is always rushing to be done first and make sure that she has the right answers constantly. I love Sarah's determination and drive, but I really want to encourage her that it is not always about producing the work the fastest or always being right. To help Sarah, I started doing a problem of the week. Before beginning the problem of the week, I conferenced with Sarah individually to discuss observations and talk about her strengths. She was so excited when I introduced to her this idea of a problem of the week. The next day, I posed a real world problem that included a situation with my dog. Sarah looked at me stunned, like Mrs. D this is not about math. I told her that I needed help finding a solution to my problem. Over the course of the week, I allowed the students time in the morning to work and collaborate on the problem of the week. Students were brainstorming, creating, and conversing about if their solution would work. I would check in with Sarah each day to see how she was progressing toward her solution. Hesitantly, she would always tell me she was okay and she had a plan. Well the day came to test their solutions. Sarah's solution, among many other student's solutions, did not work. I then instructed them to go back and improve their plan or solution to make sure it addressed and fixed my problem. I pulled Sarah to conference with her about how she felt when her solution was not successful. Surprisingly, she was enthused and felt more determined to improve her idea to fix my problem. We discussed how this mindset can be used in her classwork. Sarah then took our conversation as motivation to really apply herself and take risks in the classroom.
