Maths Mindfulness

I was looking into finding some more open ended maths questions for mainly my top maths group, when I came across this lady Jo Boaler. She talks about maths mindsets and what this means in the class for the children. She talks about the studies she has done and others where taking a different approach to  maths and getting the children to do more inquiry type maths can make changes to their mindset and results.
 She also talks about maths being more creative and visual. It made me think I often don't think of Maths as being a creative activity. When I am doing maths problems I do like being visual and after listening to her it makes me think I should encourage it more. I would like to encourage more creativity in maths.
I like how she talks about changing children's mindset to maths as I know there are children in my hub who think they can't do maths. Another thing I have an issue with at times are the parents who say that I was not good at maths so my daughter or son is not.  I sometimes feel that this attitude to maths rubs off from the parents on to the children. So my question is how can I change this? I guess I can only change the child's mindfulness not the parents.
 So listening to her makes me think I still need to think carefully about the mindsets the children have in maths and would like to change this for some children.  She talks about how speed is not important and that how they get the answer and also how they interact with others to get the answer is important.
Watching her videos has made me think a bit about what I can do to improve my maths programme and so I look forward to checking out her website and to try some of the ideas.

Math mindfulness

Leadership

Leadership

Okay so leadership is not something that I would of ever thought I would be interested in. In fact I guess for many years I wouldn't consider myself to be a leader even though I am a teacher I was not one who ever had a desire to be in any management position. These people were the leaders as they held the authority. 

Over the years though,  after reading this article it really made me think more about leadership and if I am a leader and what kind.  I have taken on what I consider to be small leadership roles e.g, sport co-ordinator and Jump Jam coach etc. I did not necessarily put my hand up for these positions I usually got asked and being the person I am I did not say no.  But maybe I needed that as I had throughout my childhood always been the quiet one who did as I was told. I always thought the loud  confident and bossy people were the leaders. During my childhood I had a group of friends and I never got to be the girl smurf when we were playing this was again me showing how I preferred just to follow and do what I was told. I have learnt a lot more about leadership since then.

After reading this article Reflecting on Yourself as a Leader I saw myself as more of a leader. Of course I am a leader when in front of the class, however I see that as different to what I originally thought a leader was. It says in the reading does it excite you to be a leader?. The answer to that is probably not really it scares me a bit because of all the responsibility, however maybe that is okay to be a little scared. I mean this can make you really think about what you are doing and how you lead. Of course in my teaching team we are all leaders in that we are all teachers however we must all work together. We have a leader of the team which is a different level. I think a leader has to be one who truly listens to what others wants and takes this into consideration when making decisions. I think how you deal with people is extremenly important and I hope that although not a leader of a team I do this when in more of leadership role. The other things that the article mentions like a persons background and the system in which a leader works in can make a difference.