Mistakes, mindsets and mathematics

I started teaching mathematics in 2001, and I knew from my sports coaching experience that achievement comes from proper practice, hard work and a belief that success is possible. I was known for the phrase ‘Believe2Achieve’. If a child wanted to improve and had a good coach, then they would. In terms of mathematics, teachers, parents and children often had the opinion that learning mathematics was a gift given to some people at birth. I did not accept this. Having read Born to Succeed by Turner (Turner, 1994), I believed that psychology had a significant bearing on achievement. Dweck’s Mindset (Dweck, 2006) introduced me to the concept of Growth Mindset and led me to learn more about brain neuroplasticity. I understand neuroplasticity as the brain’s capacity to change. Although this enabled me to inspire students to believe they could learn mathematics, I was a long way from success until I read Teaching Adolescents to Become Learners (Farrington et al., 2012). This is a