My Growth Mindset tween years

When I first started this journey towards getting my masters I never envisioned growing emotionally.

I knew I would learn some new theories, I would hear perspectives I agreed with and many I would disagreed with, and I had anticipated that there would be test. However, what I did not anticipate was that I would learn ways to help my students be successful on an emotional level.

I would have never anticipate finding a program that would align with my beliefs about education and a program that would allow me to dig deeper into something that was rooted inside me.

I title this post "the tween years" because that is where I relate as far as learning about and implementing the growth mindset. I felt like I understood the growth mindset eight months ago when I started this program, but until this course, I had not realized how much more there was to maturing in this belief as an educator.

When I first began to read "Mindset the new psychology of success" by Carol Dweck, it stirred something up in me, and I elaborated about this when I wrote about the power of the growth mindset. However, I did not realize all the areas of teaching this would effect me and my students.

I had always praised work ethic, perseverance, and effort. My natural pedagogy was to teach math with the belief that we all can grow, but I never knew the depth the "growth mindset" would play in the lives of my students because I had never experienced this type of teaching modeled before.

As the majority of the education system continues to grade students based on regurgitation, short-term memorization, and the ability to spew out mindless facts then forget about them the moment the test is turned in I have just experienced a growth mindset education. I had never experienced grading based on my personal growth and analysis of my beliefs and

I have never grown so much as an educator or a student than I have in the last eight months.

I did not believe if you took away a students preoccupation with grades that you would be able to get quality work. When I was told to stop worrying about the grades and to start focusing on my learning I was completely thrown off.

Using the growth mindset promotes grit and the ability to correct mistakes and grow in your learning without feeling punished is one way that we can help develop grit in my students. When you hear stories or examples of those who have grit they may be knocked down but they find a way to pick up the pieces and try again.

I can help my students develop a growth mindset by giving them opportunities to grow and make mistakes. Exchanging my rubrics for a 3 Column table so that students can be given the freedom to learn and grow with an outline but without limits and boxed in boundaries promotes a growth mindset. Learning about Understanding by Design taught me to look more closely at the details but not to get caught up in the grade as much as the process of learning. Although these two designs are different they both taught me how to focus more on the actual learning being accomplished.

Digging deep to think about Significant Learning environments was

something I always believed in but never stopped to really think about how to explain the outcome I desired for my students until I was able to reflect on how providing these environments had

effected my children and me personally. Looking at these environments and having conversations with my students and their parents about the significance of providing these types of environments for my students will change the education my student receive this year and into the future.

Another area I took a closer look at was my learning philosophy. I want to take the fear out of being wrong in math and teach my students that being incorrect or making mistakes is part of the learning process. Writing out my learning philosophy would have been different a year ago. When you have a fear of failure, it is hard to teach not to fear mistakes.

The DLL program has given me a freedom that I had never experienced as a student, and I can not wait to pass this experience onto my students. It is interesting we connect rigor with better education, however rigor by definition is completely opposite of a growth mindset. I would have never understood this prior to getting my masters through the Lamar program. I have grown and proven my growth in a plethora of ways, however, I have not studied or learned about rigor as it is described in the educational environment.

Anyone who has experienced learning by mindset as opposed to rigor will

never want to teach with rigor again. Rigor is a word thrown around during observations, does the teacher create an environment with "rigor?" However, I believe, as mentioned in Alfie Kohn's article, it isn't only about promoting a growth mindset, "rigor" should be replaced with the question, does the teacher promote collaboration, mistakes and growth, grit and perseverance?

My innovation plan would not be possible without creating significant learning environments and a growth mindset. In the virtual setting we are technology heavy but still traditionally bound. We have parents at home that remember the old ways of teaching and base all they do at home to reflect how they were taught using the industrial style of education.

Implementing a blended learning flipped model in the virtual setting takes a growth mindset for all involved with the student. Without effective learning environments my students can not reach their full potential.

The growth mindset is the base for all that I do. From the 3 column table to my learning philosophy I am focused on connecting dots. That is my ultimate goal, to help connect the dots for my learning coaches and students and to mature in my understanding of the growth mindset.

References

Dweck, PH.D., C. S. (2016). mindset The New Psychology of Success (Rev. ed.). New York, NY: Penguin Random House LLC.

Godin, S. (2012, October 16). STOP STEALING DREAMS: Seth Godin at TEDxYouth@BFS [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sXpbONjV1Jc

Kohn, A. (2015). The "Mindset" Mindset what we miss by focusing on kids' attitudes. Retrieved from https://www.alfiekohn.org/article/mindset/

Wiggins, G., & McTighe, J. (2005). Understanding by design (2nd ed.). Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.