Week 3-blog 4 response to Margaret

Margaret,
I agree that it's sad that students are afraid to make a mistake or hate so much making mistakes. I try to set a tone in my room just like you were saying that I would rather have you share and be wrong then just sit there. We can learn from them.
I like that you tried to empower a student to teach and how they got frustrated. Here's another idea for empowerment. Go to www.mathtrain.com and click on student mathcasts. There students can teach, but not in a live situation and then have their work posted online.



The Fifth Practice: Leading from Any Chair


Comment on page 70 quote above:
When does this start? This worrying about making a mistake. How does it start? I have to start fixing this seemingly automatic response when I get them in seventh grade...and I don't remember being that worried about making mistakes myself...just "getting into trouble and winding up in hell." Why do people so quickly have to point to other people and say, "It was them." I mean, who cares? Does someone actually care who makes a mistake? I certainly don't care in my classroom. When kids quickly say sorry or start to get all upset about "making a mistake" I let them know that mistakes are part of living...and learning from mistakes is the only way to learn...nobody learns much by doing everything "imaginary" right.



Comment on page 72 quote above:
This is interesting...imagining oneself in the leadership position...having to lead...imagining oneself at the top...what would one do if one was called upon the next day to ________ fil in the blank...run a country, run a corporation, make a decision about releasing a film...I wonder if we could start leadership simulations at very young ages...what would you do if????



Comment on page 73 quote above:
What are some ways that I can invite students into positions where they can be empowered. I tried allowing them to teach their favorite math problems, but that did not work. Maybe they needed more practice or the opportunity to teach what they wanted to teach. However, one did say afterwards that it was really annoying when their comrades did not pay attention to them. I have to think about this some more.