Pantagraph – Esther J. Cepeda
“There is an emerging education trend I’ve noticed that will hopefully sweep the nation: Asking the adults in children’s lives to not bad-mouth themselves about math. The first time I noticed it was several years ago at an orientation for parents at my younger son’s new middle school. The principal was trying to explain that the math standards on the statewide achievement test were going up and that it might be noticeable in work that was coming home at night. “Please encourage your children,” the administrator pleaded. “If you find that you are unable to help with the homework, know that we will have extra supports available for any students who need them. But please don’t say that you are not good at math. Or that math is ‘hard’ or you don’t understand why it all has to be so complicated.” More recently, an administrator at one of my local high schools had the same message for teachers: Don’t go around saying you’re not good at math.”(more)