 support numeracy for all learning. Numeracy like writing must permeate the curriculum. When it does, it will enhance your student's understanding of all subjects and their capacity to lead informed lives. One of the hottest topics in learning and teaching today is the importance of adopting a growth mindset about intelligence. It is about understanding that any person can grow smarter, that there's an understanding, that understanding the impact of believing that a person can grow smarter. Three books that I highly recommend you read as teachers. Mindset by Carol Dweck talks about the importance of having a growth mindset versus a fixed mindset. And then Joe Bowler comes out with how important that mindset is when you're teaching math. And Joe Bowler writes, what's math got to do with it? Because it's about numeracy, but what's math got to do with it? Our students, they're all different. Some of their differences will attract some roadblocks. Some of their differences have real instructional implications. All of their differences, though, would deserve our respect. It appears that it's more socially acceptable and tolerated than illiteracy to be enumerate. Illiteracy mostly will affect the uneducated. Enumeracy affects the intelligent and the well educated. I'm going to ask all of you in this room to make a change starting today, starting right now. Stop saying, I hate math. I was never good in math. It is not acceptable to say, I was never good in math. Never share your stories of how you failed math. Research shows that as soon as mothers tell their daughters, yeah, I was never good at math, their daughter's own achievement started to go down. If mom wasn't good at it, I can do this. There's no such thing as a math person. Don't hide or feel shameful about your deficiencies. We all have the capacities to learn through our own efforts and deliberate practice. Always challenge yourselves, no matter where you're at. You can always develop yourself further. Always stretch yourselves to learn something new. Can you imagine the impact if they were to do research on all the teachers who said, that's OK. I was never good in math either. Can you imagine what the result would be of all of our students? Well, if my teacher doesn't get it, then I understand why I don't get it. That's OK. We need to change that acceptance level of a comment like that. Today, right now, it has to start with us. Even if you have to put on your best acting skills, seem happy, even thrilled when you see math. Pretend, put that smile on. When my own kids came home, I eagerly asked them if they had any math homework to do. And they would say, yep, I go, yay. Can I help you with it? Mom, you're such a geek. This sometimes required some acting of my own, though. When my kids got into grade 10, 11, 12, university, they still came home with math homework. And I still put on that smile. And I still fake my way through it. I love this stuff. But I haven't done this stuff in over 30 years. You have to give me a minute. I have to read what the question's really asking. Because you know what? I'm a product of learning the algorithms. I am a product of learning the rules. I don't remember those algorithms. I do not remember those rules 30 years later. But if I look at it, I can remind myself what it was all about. At home, I always shared that I love math. I always aced math. In fact, I also told my kids I loved physics, except I never did really well in physics. In fact, my daughter came home just recently from her Physics 20 exam and aced it. I was so proud of her because you know what? I have saved in my filing cabinet. I have a physics exam that I wrote in 1978. I got 4%. Thank goodness my daughter didn't take this as a license to start failing physics. She started to take this as an opportunity to show that she was better than me. I love it. It's great. Many parents dread math homework. It can be very stressful for kids to be faced with pages of question at the end of a long day. It's even more stressful for parents to see it. But whatever the math homework looks like, start encouraging your parents to be excited about it. If you cannot encourage your parents to be excited about the homework that you're sending home, don't send it home.