Objectives
Resources for Today’s Session
Window open with Zoom meeting
Participant Guide via Link to Google Drive
Session Norms
Logistics:
Dispositions:
Do First
Imagine the following scenario. One day, you go to a class that is really important to you and that you like a lot. The professor returns the midterm papers to the class. You got a C+. You’re very disappointed. That evening on the way back to your home, you find that you’ve gotten a parking ticket. Being really frustrated, you call your best friend to share your experience but are sort of brushed off.
Growth versus Fixed Mindset
Fixed Mindset | Growth Mindset |
My life is pitiful. I have no life. Somebody upstairs doesn’t like me. The world is out to get me. Eat chocolate. Listen to music and pout. Do nothing. | I need to try harder in class, be more careful when parking the car, and wonder if my friend had a bad day. The C+ would tell me that I’d have to work a lot harder in the class, but I have the rest of the semester to pull up my grade. I’d look at what was wrong on my exam, resolve to do better, pay my parking ticket, and call my friend to tell her I was upset the day before. |
Think and Share: What is different between the fixed mindset responses and growth mindset responses?
Image from “What We Know about Growth Mindsets”
Defining Growth Mindset
The growth mindset is based on the belief that your basic qualities are things you can cultivate through your efforts. Although people may differ in every which way--in their initial talents and aptitude, interests, or temperaments--everyone can change and grow through application and experience. (Dweck, 2014)
Growth Mindset and Academic Success
After controlling for students’ and schools’ socioeconomic differences, students with a strong growth mindset scored significantly higher on all subjects—31.5 points in reading, 27 points in science, and 23 points in math—compared with students who believed their intelligence was fixed. (Sparks, 2021 citing OECD, 2021)
Process for Creating a Growth-Minded Classroom
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1. Teach Students about Growth Mindset
Explicitly teach concept of growth mindset and brain plasticity along with communicating your growth mindset towards students.
2. Create & Share Success Criteria
Create and share process or product success criteria to break down steps to excellence.
3. Focused, Process-Based Feedback
Using success criteria, create glow(s) and one focused grow using evidence from students’ work.
5. Reward Growth Over Time
Offer opportunities for students to practice again, but build intentionality into that practice with student-set goals and strategies.
4. Foster Deliberate Practice
Use assessment methods that support student growth over time and reward evidence of using deliberative practice.
Following the Journey...
Tasked with teaching freshmen virtually in 2020, I soon found that I had to re-think my approach to fostering student engagement and student agency.
No longer could I be the driving force in the classroom. It was critical for students to become focused, deliberate, and self-motivated.
More importantly, students had to believe it was possible for them to grow as learners in a virtual environment.
The online environment I created had to support students’ belief they could and would grow as learners...
Phase One:
Teaching Students about Growth Mindset
Introducing Concept of Growth-Mindset
Secondary Level | Elementary Level |
Carol Dweck TED Talk, “The Power of Believing You Can Improve” PERTS Growth Mindset Training, “Growth Mindset for 9th Graders” Mindset Work Introduction to Brainology Lesson Mindset Works Mindset Quiz | Children’s books such as Jabari Jumps by Gaia Cornwell, I Can’t Do that, Yet by Esther Pia Cordova, Everyone Can Learn to Ride a Bicycle by Chris Raschka, and After the Fall: How Humpty Dumpty Got Back Up Again by Dan Santat |
At this stage, also begin to communicate explicitly that everyone can learn and everyone can grow. Muenks et al. (2021) found explicit messages that all students can make progress and succeed signaled to students the teacher had a growth-mindset.
Phase Two:
Creating and Using Success Criteria
Assignment #1 | Assignment #2 |
Using the short story, “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson and the non-fiction text on conformity, write a paragraph about whether conformity can be dangerous. | Using the short story, “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson and the non-fiction text on conformity, write a paragraph about whether conformity can be dangerous. Ensure your response includes the following:
|
Success criteria break down what success looks like on a task. Instead of students guessing what leads to a successful response, the teacher clearly names steps to success and communicates them to the student before the student attempts the task.
Example: Success Criteria
The parts of an introduction appear below. With a classmate, use the exemplar introduction to describe each of the three parts.
1st--general statement of theme
2nd--text information
3rd--thesis statement
Wait...How do I create these and use them?
After Task
Draw exemplar from student products and use as task-specific model and construct success criteria.
Before Task
Examine or create a non-task-specific model and construct success criteria.
During Task
Refer to success criteria often as students complete the task.
Pro-Tip: You can have students look at exemplars and co-construct these for added student understanding of the criteria.
Phase Three:
Giving Focused, Process-Based Feedback
Reflect...If a student receives this feedback on a final essay, how might he or she respond to the next essay task?
How can focused, process-based feedback show students their teacher believes they can grow?
Focused, Process-Based Feedback
Sentence Stems for TAG Feedback
TELL Tell something you liked that was well-done (including process). | ...was strong because.... The most effective part was ...because… ...stood out because…. Good job using...process because it helped you achieve... |
ASK Ask clarifying questions about ONE key foci area for improvement. | How did you…? How might you…? Have you thought about…? When might you…? What do you mean by…? |
GIVE Give strategies the student could use to improve that foci area. | Next time, try out… You may want to add… One strategy you could try is… Consider using...resource to... |
| Original Teacher Feedback |
Success Criteria Ensure your response includes the following:
| Total Score= 80 You don’t have textual evidence from the non-fiction article or the story to prove your topic sentence. |
T-Tell something you liked that was well done.
A-Ask a clarifying question around one key FOCUS area.
G-Give a strategy the student could use to improve that foci area.
Rewrite this feedback using the TAG feedback structure to encourage a growth-mindset in the student.
Growth-minded Feedback
TELL Tell something you liked that was well-done (including process). | You had a topic sentence which clearly stated the character(s) and type of conformity. |
ASK Ask clarifying questions about ONE key foci area for improvement. | What evidence from the story and non-fiction article might prove that topic sentence? |
GIVE Give strategies the student could use to improve that foci area. | As a strategy to ensure you have textual evidence, first refer to the exemplar body paragraph to find examples of textual evidence. Then, go to your paragraph to highlight any textual evidence you find. If you haven’t included any, go back to the article and highlight two lines that made you think what you wrote in your topic sentence. |
Think and Share: Why might the TAG structure encourage a growth-mindset?
Feedback Stickers in Participant Guide
Phase Four:
Fostering Deliberate Practice
Ordinary practice is not enough: To reach elite levels of performance, you need to constantly push yourself beyond your abilities and comfort level...Those are the conclusions reached by Ericsson, a professor of psychology at Florida State University; Prietula, a professor at the Goizueta Business School; and Cokely, a research fellow at the Max Planck Institute for Human Development, who together studied data on the behavior of experts, gathered by more than 100 scientists. What consistently distinguished elite surgeons, chess players, writers, athletes, pianists, and other experts was the habit of engaging in “deliberate” practice—a sustained focus on tasks that they couldn’t do before. Experts continually analyzed what they did wrong, adjusted their techniques, and worked arduously to correct their errors. (Ericsson, Prietula, & Cokely, 2007).
How can we gets students engaged in deliberate practice, practice focused on the tasks they can’t do?
KEY: One grow at a time from success criteria + a strategy
Structuring Deliberate Practice
Have student set a goal.
My goal is to make a 5 on my AP exam.
Have student set a goal.
My goal is to make a 5 on my AP exam.
Have students break down that large goal into a smaller, targeted goal.
My goal is to earn a 4 on my Q2.
Have the student set a focus intention for this task using their previous work and feedback.
My focus is to make sure my specific example relates to the prompt.
Have the student name a strategy to achieve their focused intention.
To do this, I will circle the prompt and rewrite it in my own words. Then, I will check the prompt after I write my example. Last, I will have a peer read my example and check it against the prompt.
Student Example
Examples and handouts in participant guide
Continuous, deliberate practice focused on one focused goal and determining strategies for growth
Student Created TAG Feedback & Goals
Stems for TAG Student Self-Reflection
TELL Identify something you did well or continue to show strengths in. | This...was strong in my work because.... The most effective part of my assignment was ...because… I think...stood out because…. |
ASK Ask clarifying questions about ONE key foci area for improvement. | How do I…? How can I…? Maybe I can think about…? When this happens maybe I should…? I wonder what I mean by…? |
GIVE Develop strategies to help you improve your focus area. | Next time, I could try out… I may want to add… One strategy I can try is… I can consider using...resource to... |
Poster & Handout with Stems in Participant Guide
Phase Five:
Rewarding Growth Over Time
Extra Credit | Growth Points |
If you earned less than a 70 on the last test, you need to come in to tutoring and correct your mistakes. If you are not passing at the end of the term, you can complete an extra credit packet to bring up your grade.
| To earn growth points added to your test score, you can
until you earn a 100.
|
Think & Share: What is different about these two approaches? Which one do you think would be in the growth-minded classroom?
Wait...How do I create growth point opportunities and reward them?
After the Assessment
Add “growth points” to the assessment.
During the Assessment
Build in voluntary, “extra,” growth moments.
Before the Assessment
Consider what your most successful students do, voluntarily, to grow.
They write out their essay tests beforehand to practice...
For up to five growth points, you can pre-write your….
80 + 5 growth points! = 85
Consider...How do I support growth as a sustained effort?
After a Term, Semester, or Year
Reward students for reflecting on long-term growth and developing a growth mindset.
Before the School Year
Consider how your students can best track their growth.
During the School Year
Build in habitual tracking of performance, goal-setting, and reflection.
Pro-Tip: Students can add to their portfolios as they move from year to year.
Think and Share: How can you help your students track their growth over time? How could you reward them for long-term growth?
Submit your completed growth tracker and a one-page reflection responding to the following prompt:
As a writer and a student, what has this year taught you about the value of having a growth mindset?
Long Term Reflection
Stella’s* Story: End-of-year Reflection
14-years-old, A/B student, anxiety disorder
“As a writer and student, this year has been more of a challenge and put me in a position of change for the better. Due to remote learning, I had to learn to rely on myself to ask questions and do school. My mindframe proved to be a negative one, and I learned to switch to a more positive one of growth. This has helped me value thinking differently of challenges and learn through criticism.
*Student’s identity has been protected
End of Year Reflection Continued
“I also learned by having a mindset of growth, criticism is your friend. I learned and value my switch of seeing criticism as all the things you do wrong as a way you can improve. Instead of looking at criticism as a reflection of you, you’re able to grow due to feeling less down about yourself. By using the helpful criticism, when I write I check for common mistakes.”
Reflection: Set one GOAL for your classroom and develop a strategy to take one, bite-sized step towards that goal
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1. Teach Students about Growth Mindset
Explicitly teach concept of growth mindset and brain plasticity along with communicating your growth mindset towards students.
2. Create & Share Success Criteria
Create and share process or product success criteria to break down steps to excellence.
3. Focused, Process-Based Feedback
Using success criteria, create glow(s) and one focused grow using evidence from students’ work.
5. Reward Growth Over Time
Offer opportunities for students to practice again, but build intentionality into that practice with student-set goals and strategies.
4. Foster Deliberate Practice
Use assessment methods that support student growth over time and reward evidence of using deliberative practice.
Participant Guide:
Resources to Grow Your Growth-minded Classroom
Posters for Your Classroom
Handouts and Sample Assignments
Growth-minded Stickers
References
Denworth, L. (2019, August 12). Debate arises over teaching “growth mindsets” to motivate students: Research shows conflicting data on the impact of the intervention, but a major new study confirms it can work. Scientific American. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/debate-arises-over-teaching-growth-mindsets-to-motivate-students/
Dweck, C. (2014, November). The power of believing you can improve [Video]. TED Conferences. https://www.ted.com/talks/carol_dweck_the_power_of_believing_that_you_can_improve
Ericsson, K.A., Prietula, M. J., & Cokley, E. T. (August, 2007). The making of an expert. Harvard Business Review. https://hbr.org/2007/07/the-making-of-an-expert
Muenks, K. et al. (2021). What cues do students use to discern their professors’ mindset beliefs? An exploratory study of the beliefs and behaviors that communicate faculty mindsets in college STEM classrooms. Manuscript submitted for publication.
Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development. (2021). Sky’s the limit: Growth mindset, students, and schools in PISA. https://www.oecd.org/pisa/growth-mindset.pdf
Ricci, M.C. (2015). Ready to use resources for mindsets in the classroom: Everything educators need for school success. Prufrock Press Inc.
Sparks, S. D. (2021, April 9). Growth mindset linked to higher test scores, student well-being in global study. Education Week. https://www.edweek.org/leadership/growth-mindset-linked-to-higher-test-scores-student-well-being-in-global-study/2021/04
Romero, C. (2015, July). Mindset Scholars Network. What we know about growth mindset from scientific research. http://studentexperiencenetwork.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/What-We-Know-About-Growth-Mindset.pdf
Images from Pixabay unless otherwise noted