Another “okay, I need to know how to say it because it comes up all the time” … Somebody posted one of those “let them struggle!” lists. It included “Don’t give them easier problems!!!”
Lots of it was good – basically “work with wrong answers too and show the thinking” and to display ‘creative problem solving,’ not just high scores, and “provide non-routine problems” — essentially accepting math as being mostly procedural and algorithmic. Welp, I think I need to be good with that because it takes a little more to change that 😉 My response:
(Just be mindful that telling a student to have a growth mindset doesn’t make it happen. If a student is stuck because their mathematical thinking isn’t ready for the “harder problems” — the gfletchy progressionshighlight this — not going back to ‘easier’ and building the thinking means they learn “just fake it, you can’t understand this anyway.” Going “back” and building understanding is the truly inclusive thing to do.)
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