President's Message - March 2025

High Impact Instructional Practice and Student Engagement

In the Ontario curriculum document, Roles and Responsibilities in Mathematics Education (Ontario Ministry of Education [OME], 2020a), there is a section about the roles and responsibilities for the different partners in students’ learning . The section about students says the following:

It is essential that all students take responsibility for their own learning as they progress through elementary and secondary school . Mastering the skills and concepts connected with learning in the mathematics curriculum requires a commitment to learning that includes:

continual and consistent personal reflection and goal setting 

-a belief that they are capable of succeeding in mathematics
-developing skills in persevering when taking on new challenges 

-connecting prior experiences, knowledge, skills, and habits of mind to new learning 

-a willingness to work both collaboratively and independently 

-dedication to ongoing practice 

-an ability to receive and respond to meaningful 
feedback 
(www .dcp .edu .gov .on .ca/en/curriculum/elementary- mathematics/context/roles-and-responsibilities-in- mathematics-education#students) 
I encourage you to take a moment to reread that section .

Do you see your students reflected in these statements? What barriers do you see that might limit the ability of your students to develop these skills? How would you list these skills in order of importance?

There are clear connections here between this list and the components of Strand A: SEL skills and mathematical processes . For me, “a belief that they are capable of succeeding in mathematics” is essential for being able to achieve the other responsibilities, and therefore being able to achieve in mathematics, whether the child is in Kindergarten, Grade 9, Grade 12, or post-secondary mathematics . We are seeing math anxiety and statements about lack of confidence and enjoyment in math as early as Kindergarten and Grade 1 .

In the 2023–2024 EQAO assessment, 68 percent of students in Grade 3 reported that they like math . This drops to 47 percent in Grade 6 and 48 percent for Grade 9 .

When asked to rate their agreement with the statement, “A person can always get better at math,” 89 percent of students in Grade 3, 88 percent of students in Grade 6, and 85 percent of students in Grade 9 agree . But when asked to rate their own ability in math, only 64 percent of students in Grade 3 state that they believe they are good at math . This drops to 50 percent for Grade 6 and 51 percent for Grade 9 . It appears that students have a growth mindset about mathematics for others, but not necessarily for themselves .

So how can educators address this concern? What steps can we take in our classrooms to help students develop confidence, enjoyment, and a willingness to actively engage in mathematical learning . To build classroom environments, which place students as actively engaged in mathematics, we must plan with intention and purpose to create instruction and assessments that support students to develop a strong sense of themselves as capable and confident learners of mathematics .

There are clear strategies suggested in High-Impact Instructional Practices in Mathematics (OME, 2020b), and in the eight Mathematics Teaching Practices from NCTM’s Principles to Actions: Ensuring Mathematics Success for All. For example, being intentional and transparent about learning goals sets students up for success because it demystifies math learning, helping students to see that math is not magic, nor does it have rules that only a few can know, but that math can make sense and can be understood . Math tasks need to be accessible by virtue of being open, or providing parallel (or thin sliced, mild, medium, and spicy) tasks . The contextual set-ups of our math tasks can provide windows and mirrors into the lives and communities of our students . We can provide opportunities for students to talk, to work with tools and models that are concrete and visual, and to reflect and self-assess their understanding based on those shared learning goals and success criteria .

This past Fall, many of us attended the virtual OAME/ AOEM Leadership Conference: Designing Equitable Mathematics from the Margins: Universal Design for Learning in Mathematics . The presenter, Dr . Rachel Lambert, shared her research that focuses on creating inclusive math classrooms, where all students can find joy, meaning, and learning . She encourages educators to examine their classroom environments, including lesson planning and assessment, with a critical eye, in particular, looking for barriers that limit access to mathematics for students and consideration of how they, the educators, can think critically and creatively to become designers for accessibility .

Take another look at the list of student roles and responsibilities . What are some adjustments you could make to your instructional practice to support students to develop these skills? When we plan for accessibility with intention and purpose, when we “place students at the centre of (our) mathematics planning, teaching, and assessment practices, and understand how the learning experiences (we) provide develop a love of mathematics and foster a positive “I can do math” attitude in all students” (OME, 2020a), then we move toward an environment that allows students to believe that they are capable of succeeding in mathematics, and perhaps even enjoying learning along the way .

I encourage you to continue your own learning journey by engaging in math content and pedagogy learning in your school board as part of opportunities offered by the OAME/ AOEM local chapters, and by attending the OAME 2025 Annual Conference in May 2025 . The more we learn and work together, the better equipped we will be to meet the ever-changing and diverse learning needs of our students .

Previous Message:
Coins, Magnets and Towers

Index of Messages