Why do we have to do English in Math class?

I agree: high school math teachers, science teachers, geography teachers DO have their hands full in covering their own curriculum and trying to engage learners with subject materials. I also agree that students visibly cringe when "literacy" is mentioned. "Why do we have to do English in ___________ class?"

Nonetheless, students must be explicitly taught literacy strategies and practice these in all curriculum areas. As literacy leader, I wave the flag, offer to support, co-teach, co-plan, model, and assess with my colleagues in geography, history, math, science, art, tech, business, music, etc. But it is not often they take me up on my offers. I end up feeling like I am a nuisance and an imposition.

I am not sure why. There is likely a combination of factors: time constraints, fixed plans, and discomfort.  Maybe on some level there is still a notion that the teaching of communication skills is the domain of English Language Arts classes.  Largely, I think my colleagues are not convinced of any tangible benefits of teaching literacy within their subject area.  Theoretically they nod their heads that "of course course literacy is important."  But concretely will students be able to better learn each subject if we devote precious time to practicing reading and writing?

So often, in Literacy PD, I end up answering questions about "what's on the standardized test?" so that subject teachers can feel like they are doing their part and spending "extra" time on these discrete skills or ideas.

So  "what's on the standardized test"? Here is are examples of questions from the Released Items of the 2014 OSSLT that many students simply guess on:

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Now do these questions fall under the domain of geography or math or English?  All the questions require students to interpret graphical data and draw conclusions based on that data.  I have watch students stare at these graphs and questions and ultimately just guess.  Eenie, meenie, miney, mo...

Me: Why did you guess?

Student 1: I didn't know where to start.
Student 2: They all look right.
Student 3: It's confusing.
Student 4: I didn't want to leave it blank.

The issue here is not subject specific.  What we need to talk about is the elephant in the room: What are the challenges that students encounter when learning and how can we support them?  When I do work with colleagues in various subject areas, I am more focused on thinking skills and learning strategies than on reading and writing.  Students need all of us to teach them how to learn. Information literacy is part of the skills set, but so are memory, mindset, determination, focus, organization, and creativity. This skill-set is much more important in the long-term than the details in our content areas.

What is a Mistake? Addressing a Disconnect

Exploring the ideas of a Growth Mindset, one of my colleagues asked her students to write a reflective journal:

"Take a few minutes and think about a time when you made a really bad mistake. Write down what happened: what was the mistake, why did you make it, how did you feel, what could you have done differently? Reflect a bit more and write down what you learned from making the mistake--maybe about what you were trying to accomplish or about yourself." 

She found this prompt online.

My Grade 9 Applied English students did similar thinking in our Growth Mindset Unit.  A few wrote about not studying for a test, telling someone a secret, and doing something and getting hurt. But most couldn't think of anything.

Is it really that hard? I can think of lots of mistakes I have made: big and small.

Small: I didn't exercise today.  I didn't make time to walk the dogs.  I yelled at one of my kids.  I had a typo on the cover page of a test. I snagged my sweater.  I wore uncomfortable shoes to work. I forgot to call my mom back last night.   I misplaced my keys (still looking for these).

Big: I loaned money to someone who betrayed me.  I lost contact with good friends.  I drove through a snow storm instead of staying where I was and got into an accident.  I stayed with a guy I should have left.  That house warming party. I didn't go to Ottawa when my best friend's baby was sick.

I learned from each of these mistakes: big and small.

According to the explanation of Growth Mindset by Dr. Maggie Wray.

Fixed mindset students... Dislike making mistakes
Growth mindset students... See mistakes as learning opportunities

I am clearly in the Growth Mindset camp.  This is our goal for students.  That they have the courage to make mistakes, and then learn from them.

But maybe we need to back up.  My colleague shared with me one student's response:

"I don't think I have ever made a bad mistake because everything I did that people said was a mistake was pretty awesome and I felt pretty good after it and I would do nothing to change it." 

We may need a common reference point to define "mistake"?  What does the student think it means "to make a mistake," and, in comparison, how does society define it. 

When I think of a mistake, I am thinking "bad decision."  I do not equate a mistake with "regret" or "feeling bad." According to one dictionary, a mistake is "An error or fault resulting from defective judgment, deficient knowledge, or carelessness."  That's my understanding.

But my sense is that many students have an entirely different notion of a mistake.  I have not yet talked to my students about this, but imagine if they believe a mistake to mean "something that makes me feel bad." By extension, they might believe that a success is "something that makes me feel good."  How did they acquire this paradigm?  It becomes very difficult to grow from mistakes with that mindset.  

If these students judge their lives by acquisition of thrills and pleasures and avoidance of pain or suffering,  they will not "dislike mistakes" nor will they see mistakes as learning opportunities.  They possess neither a Growth Mindset nor a Fixed Mindset. They possess an entirely different mindset altogether.  My colleague and I will need to back up and initiate a conversation to address this disconnect so that growth will eventually become possible.