I reflected more on the growth mindset around the
time that we were covering it early in the course, but it has had an effect on
the way I approach teaching and conversing with students. For those of you
unfamiliar, growth mindset, as opposed to fixed mindset is having the
inclination that you are capable of learning and applying new knowledge.
Through work, strategies and help, not luck and innate ability, you can improve
your lot! Believing this and acting as such can help with motivation and
empowerment (Dweck, 2006). This concept especially rings true in education. In
the last couple of decades, with the advent of technologies such as Magnetic
Resonance Imaging (MRI) has lead to an explosion in understanding of how the
brain works and it appears now that human brain are growing, developing and
refining themselves until at least a person reaches their 30’s. This point in
particular is why it is important to stop students from saying “ah well I
always was poor at Math!” or some equivalent statement (Snowman& McCown,
2015).
I remember doing an exercise on motivation factors
at a workshop on dealing with troublesome students a few years ago and I put
self-perception right at the bottom of the list I was making. I could not have
been more wrong! At least I am learning from it and I am increasingly aware of
how I deal with students in classroom settings. Note I am not saying I am
“good” at it though, but improvement should be the goal, as I often tell my
students!
In class I have spent more time this year working
on a broader or more holistic style of teaching. I have used more group work
and am having students give feedback to each other much more. I think it will
be important for students to analyze the work of others and learn from it. I
think also it will push them to think about their own work also. I intend to
increase the amount of emphasis that is put on work completed after feedback
and have students keep their work so that at various points we can as a class
review the changes and improvements that have happened over time. I hope this
will motivate students to think more deeply about their first draft with an aim
to getting to a point that they can prepare the work in such a way that the
first draft requires little modification. If we use the portfolio like element
and review work over a couple of months, we should be able to see the gains and
development, hopefully engendering the growth mindset and leading to better
motivation and success.
I am working on note taking, study skills, and
having students think about their goals and methods of learning. I have been
using more affective techniques to have students analyze their likes and
dislikes and reflect on the reasons for them. In using these tools in
conjunction with the feedback and portfolios review I think the students will
get to see what works for them and see that not all paths are equal. If they
also learn the benefit of working together and cherry picking the bits of
advice which works for them they will be learning the tools for progress. I have
a simple mantra we say often in class. “We are not trying to work harder, we
are trying to work smarter!” That likely applies to everyone!
I have used more affective assessment this year to
complement the other strategies and have students think about what they are
doing and how they are doing it. My action research asked students questions
about their perceived ability in class, the way the approach their study and if
they feel the work they are putting in is reflected in their grades. Parents
were also involved in the quizzes and the results should give me further
understanding of issues. I spent a class at the start of the year with the
students in groups making lists on an A4 sheet under the headings of first,
Respect, and then Winning. I want student to think about these two words and
often reference the “posters’ which are still on the back wall of the room. I
am trying to get students to see that how they treat themselves and other sis
important and deserves thought. Also, and maybe more importantly I want them to
think about what their goals are, and what a “win” will be for them. I stress
that some of the wins are constant and others require playing a long game,
which may involve some losses along the way, but it’s still the stated win
which is important.
I suppose a big thing for me is that none of the
changes I have implemented are content based, rather they are skills and
outlook oriented, and that certainly is a new mindset!
Thanks
References
Dweck, C. (2006). Mindset; The New Psychology of Success.
Ballantine Books
McCown, R. & Snowman, J. (2015). Psychology
Applied to Teaching (14th ed.). Stamford, Connecticut: Cengage
Learning
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