I’ve been busy filming video for a course I teach on Algebraic Thinking.
That sounds so official…it’s a simple screen recording of me walking my future students through several different critical thinking activities.
Years ago, when I started a YouTube channel, I was in a course for creators that really emphasized “one take” videos.
This was their philosophy: When you make a mistake, unless your house is on fire, keep going.
For me, with math and problem solving classes, I make tons of mistakes.
I occaionally do another take, if I feel that the error would be more confusing to the learner than not.
But the vast majority of the time, I just acknowledge my mistake, erase, and redo.
And the interesting thing about that is that it makes for a really strong connection with my students.
Don’t we all relate well to people who don’t “have it all together”?
For students who are feeling super self-conscious about their difficulty with math, I think it’s reassuring that the teacher is far from perfect herself.
So, what does this all have to do with you, the parent, helping your teen succeed in math?
Simple.
Let them know when you make mistakes and let them see you dealing with it well.
That means doing things like…
-NOT over dramatizing the mistake…it’s seriously not the end of the world if you underestimated the amount of chicken it would take to feed everybody at dinner.
-grabbing the calculator to double check yourself.
-laughing at yourself.
I don’t mean you should be fake…teens (and adults…and kids) can spot that a mile away.
I mean, as mistakes happen naturally, own them.
This does a couple of important things.
- Builds a more relateable and realistic view of you in your teen.
- Connects the two of you as obviously imperfect people.
- Demonstrates emotional strength in dealing with inevitable mistakes.
So, we see a great connection for building our relationship with our teens by being real.
What about critical thinking skills?
One of the biggest misconceptions that learners have with math is thinking that they should get the right answer immediately, 100% of the time.
That’s what all of the “successful” math people do, right?
Of course not.
Critical thinking involves perseverance and resilience…when you keep on working even though it’s not easy or you’re not being succesful.
When your teen routinely sees you dealing positively with mistakes, it helps them to internalize that behavior in their own lives.
Go ahead and make the parallel more obvious, if you need to:
“You know, this is kind of like when you were discouraged about that homework last night…I had to start over with this project and try a completely different strategy. It was frustrating and time consuming, but it worked.”
I’m rooting for you. You’ve got this!
