Cultivating Teacher Mindset

Christina Villavicencio • Cahn Fellow 2018

Welcome aboard the Ocean School “A” train to Far Rockaway! as we embarked on developing growth mindset in Math instruction. Our first stop embraced teachers in deep conversations around growth mindset by using a diagnostic lens that fosters mathematical reasoning and practice. At our next stop, we engaged teachers in a deep dive on students’ Math performance spanning three years. Through this data analysis, we learned that the root cause was not student-oriented but rather a “fixed” teacher mindset. As we approached our final stop on the Ocean School “A” train, we realized the problem of practice wasn’t solely our third grade teachers; our problem of practice went back to our early childhood mathematical instruction. Wait, wait…the conductor has just informed us that there is a math problem on the track ahead. Please remain in your seats as we await further directions from our conductors as we head to P.S. 197Q Central Station.