Mindset techniques and exit tickets help to master maths

Exit passes proved to be an excellent formative assessment tool for pupil learning and for personal development.  Whilst most pupils were keen to engage, some did not respond well.  As the project went on however, engagement rose from 60% to 98%.  The correct answer for the exit ticket question was covered at the beginning of the next lesson and showed the stages of working.  The pupils then used the ‘show me boards’ to do a similar example to reinforce their learning.  This approach allowed us to highlight to the pupils that everyone can do well at maths.  

Most of the work using exit passes was undertaken with a first-year class of 22 pupils, with mixed ability in maths and some with additional support needs.  The evidence from the exit passes gave an overview of class teaching and gaps in pupil learning.  This helped us to critically reflect and identify potential mindset techniques that could support the class.  Jo Boaler states “it is going to take a revolution for people to think (differently) about what the subject is” (Ward, 2015).  We examined our teaching approaches to see if they were based on the way we were taught, the textbook approach or the best way to teach the pupils.    

One mindset approach used was to start every maths lesson with a very basic example and then build the difficultly as we progressed through the work.  We used ‘show me boards’ and a whole class response system to inform teaching.  This meant that we had live insight into progress and could only move on in a topic once the whole class was comfortable with the learning.  Feedback from other teachers was that this approach visibly improved the confidence of the pupils lesson by lesson, as they were feeling successful.    

We also used a mastery-based approach by chunking up a topic into the skills the pupils required to be successful.  We began with first teaching them the skills (using my turn, your turn examples) and again adopted the whole class response system to only move on once the skill had been mastered.  This meant sometimes letting a topic run onto the next lesson.  It also meant that more difficult skills could only be introduced once pupils had mastered the basics.  Pupils gave their ideas and strategies for each stage of learning and used questions such as ‘why did I choose this method?’, ‘does it work with other cases?’, ‘is it different from other people?’.  This sharing of ideas highlighted to the pupils that there was more than one way to address a question.  

Covid meant that the timeline of the project was reduced.  However, the project still felt successful due to the benefits of exploring specific strategies for teaching growth mindset.  Exit ticket results enabled implementation of changes to practice, including use of explicit instruction, chunking up lessons to teach skill by skill for mastery, introducing a whole class response system, different use of language, and assisting the pupils to understand what they must do to be successful.  Unfortunately, the project was terminated with little notice.  The pupils would have benefitted from a longer timeframe.

The project became intense very quickly, due to the mixture of maths abilities within the class.  Lesson plans had to be adapted and more detailed so that all pupils got a feeling of success within the class.  There was a focus on mastery methods and identifying different techniques to allow us to quickly implement changes to practice, based on the exit ticket information.  This required extra time invested in researching and implementing new methods.  However, the skills and knowledge developed will be used in future teaching. 

This growth mindset project required improvements in teaching practice using information from the exit passes and mindset techniques.  Teaching chunked-up skills with explicit instructions, using a whole class response system, partnered with no time restrictions was an opportunity to introduce other supports into the classroom.  This included reformatting the success criteria to give examples of what you need to do to be successful, listing the skills required, worked examples and presenting tasks in a child-friendly manner.  Overall, the use of exit tickets meant that teaching could be analysed in depth, and strategies could be introduced to support a growth mindset and promote success in the class.

Before the project, the class teaching provided everything required, including differentiation and being aware of additional support needs.  However, we had not thought about teaching for a growth mindset – considering the language used, approach taken, examples presented and understanding the skills required.  Through the exit tickets, it was clear when pupils were not grasping concepts, and this reinforced signals from the classroom.  The introduction of child-friendly mathematical language, chunking-up tasks, focusing on the skills required and time spent analysing the examples to be used in the class, prompted changes.  The pupils presented as happier, more successful and more willing to engage.  The quality of the work also improved and outcomes were better, albeit the class still made relatively slow progress. 

Homework participation improved (some pupils stated that they were “doing homework because they understood it”) and ideas and support were freely shared between each other in the class.  Homework was linked directly to the work in class and the exit tickets and pupils pushed their homework from level 2 bronze to level 3 bronze.  This was a huge achievement.  Mathletics is another area where improvement was witnessed.  This is an electronic maths programme that pupils engaged with one lesson per week.  Pupils who traditionally had a low output on this and low score employed ‘show me boards’ to support their learning.  Whilst output was still low, the percentage of correct answers rose by over 40%.  Two pupils specifically commented on ‘how maths was making more sense to them now’ and the class frequently asked if they could stay for the next period.

This class is essentially a level 2 class, however, through the teaching changes made they were able to explore some level 3 skills.  The pupils improved their mindset and confidence in their ability to perform tasks and progress their learning.  They also benefited from the whole class response system.  Overall, the class were much more interactive with the strategies that were introduced, more forthcoming with answers and willing to discuss ideas.  This could have been extended further if the placement had not been terminated due to Covid 19.  

In conclusion, reflecting on teaching practices and mindset techniques allowed a more positive learning experience to be created for the pupils.  They showed improvement in their Mathletics weekly results, homework engagement, and engagement in discussion grew as they shared ideas with the class without fear of being wrong.

Some examples of exit tickets used to gauge understanding of mathematical concepts are shown below.

At the outset, my mentor was critical of unrealistic expectations for the class, and this was reflected in some of the early examples set for them.  This feedback helped promote enhanced practice and to seek meaningful learning for every pupil.  The introduction of a whole class response system through ‘show me boards’ allowed me to assess learning as we progressed through a lesson and not move on too quickly before a skill was mastered.  This and other strategies that were implemented in response to the exit tickets and growth mindset techniques, received positive feedback.

The intention is to employ and expand the skills identified through the project and build on the insights gathered through the exit tickets.  Use of chunking up a lesson into the skills required, so that the pupils can master individual skills before employing them in a sequence, will continue in future teaching practice.  The importance of language as we define mathematical words and give explicit instruction when teaching skills and strategies, is something that could be further developed.  We will also strive to adopt similar teaching approaches across departments, so that children get a consistent learning experience.