As we wrap up the 2021-22 school year at Anderson it is time for reflection on our school story goal of “Building Community Through Mathematics” This year seemed busier than most with many changes implemented throughout the school year. Despite that, we had engagement in our school goal. Having said that there is still much work to be done. We are hopeful that as our world returns to a more normal way, we will be able to implement more community into our daily school activities.

One of the most effective means of ensuring we were focused was our staff had a math innovation grant group, led by Ms. Li. The group read and implemented strategies from Peter Lilijedahl’s book “Building thinking Classrooms in Mathematics. We surveyed our students to find out what they thought and if we have made an impact on them. Below is a sampling of our students’ responses and where we need to go next.

What does community mean to you?

“working together”

“is a place with a lot people that help each other, share ideas and communicate”

“community means being able to feel safe and not judged”

“a place where people work together to create something new

Do you like math?

“we work together by using different strategies”

“working together is like figuring out a puzzle”

Who supports you in math?

“my teachers, friends and parents support me in math”

“my table group”

“My family supports me in math”

Do you feel safe enough to take risks in math?

“I do not feel safe to take risks in math. I think the math community is important because some people don’t know how to do a question so others can help” gr6 student

“I feel more safe to share my ideas in a small group than in front of the whole class”

“Sometimes I do. Sometimes when there are more people around I feel less confident to take risks”

“I feel safe enough to take risks in math because I can learn from my mistakes”

Where do we go next/ What questions do we have for next year?

What professional development to we need to pursue to support what we have started and to bring in new staff members?

How can we collaborate more between classes and not just within classes?

How can we include families in helping to fulfill our school goals?