Touted as a recipe for success in a
number of arenas, including business, education and sports, a growth mindset,
compels people to “believe that their
most basic abilities can be developed through dedication and hard work—brains
and talent are just the starting point. This view creates a love of learning
and a resilience that is essential for great accomplishment.” This is in
direct contrast to a fixed mindset, which leads people to “believe their basic qualities, like their intelligence or talent, are
simply fixed traits. They spend their time documenting their intelligence or
talent instead of developing them. They also believe that talent alone creates
success—without effort” (Dweck, 2010).
Recently I set off on a journey to learn more about growth
mindset, hoping to provide richer learning experiences for my students, so I
googled Dweck’s work, coming across what I shared above. And though I eventually read on, this was as far as I had
gotten before I made a discovery about the implications of this theory in
education, a discovery that struck me straight on. I don’t think growth mindset will work in education. Truly. I don’t think it is just
something teachers can pick off the shelf and decide to do, unless...unless, they first are willing
to create a classroom culture that can breathe life into and sustain the
growth-mindset approach. If they are not willing, not committed to doing this,
then it is probably best left on the shelf, for it will not succeed. So how do
we create a model that fosters a growth mindset among our students? Let’s
take a look at the current model first.
There’s a reason why so many of our
students have a fixed mindset. We gave it to them. In many respects, as they
crossed the threshold into education, we handed them a mindset that was then
fed by the “learn-it-and-leave-it” approach to learning, which consequently
resulted in their developing fixed beliefs about their abilities, stuck there
from our passing judgement as we moved them through crazily crammed curricula. Year after year after year. We
teach. They learn. We test. They succeed. They fail. They begin to
believe what they can and can’t do. After all, we told them. And before long they have set ideas on their
abilities. It is no wonder that by the time kids reach high school they are
rigidly set in their perceptions. I am
not good at math. I suck at writing. I hate science. In sum, they hate
learning. We have to change that. Kids aren’t naturally predisposed to shun
learning. They have learned it. But can
we change that? I believe we can.
The
New Model
To begin, we have to quit thinking
of learning as a line. We, instead, have to think of learning as a
circle. The old model suggests that we move kids along—ready or not. In the old model,
learning is predicated on success or failure, generally determined in a final
test at the end of a unit of study, a final judgment before moving on to the
next unit of study, a long linear approach that moves through content but never
really allows kids to discover the effect that dedication and hard work can
have not only on accomplishment but also perception. But what if we did it
differently? What if instead of “learning it and leaving it,” we gave kids
consistent chances to be dedicated and work hard to improve both their
abilities and perceptions, continuously circling back to and around the key
concepts and skills that we are focusing on? If we did, then we’d need a
new model. It might look something like this.
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| Poster created by Krissy Venosdale, @venspired |
Steps
to Creating a Classroom Culture That Fosters a Growth Mindset
1.
Slow down. Learning takes time.
2.
Focus. Condense content into
meaningful, manageable sets of focus standards. Give kids a smaller number of
skills and concepts to really focus
on and to really learn.
3.
Adopt a path-to-proficiency
approach: practice, feedback, performance. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Really, this is the most important
step. This is the circle.
4.
Implement and embrace an assessment-for-learning instead of an assessment-of-learning
approach to evaluating student performance. If we can get kids to believe
that assessments are crucial measures, milestones for growth rather than
ability alone, then we are moving in the right direction.
5.
Let go of the “one-and-done”
approach to learning. Let kids redo, re-submit, and retake everything.
7.
Provide independent learning
opportunities. Consider project-based learning.
8.
Adopt and model your own genuine
growth mindset. You have to walk the walk, too. Engage in independent
learning opportunities with your kids. Be a learner.
Above are the steps that I am
following as I make my own way. And now that I have taken those initial steps,
I cannot imagine going back to my own fixed mindset about my ability to change
students’ perceptions about their learning, about themselves. I found freedom. I found a growth mindset. Let’s help students regain their own
freedom. Let’s help them find their own
growth mindsets. In the end, it could be the most important thing we do for
them.
Monte
Syrie
teaches English at Cheney High
School and education classes at Eastern Washington University. He is also the
creator of the education blog ,www.letschangeeducation.com<ht
