Define the fixed and growth mindset theories.
Reflection: I have always tried to convey the philosophy that, “if you believe, you can achieve it.” My experience as an educator in the early years of my career involved ESE students and students that identified as needing support . I found out very quickly that the students’ behavior was tied closely with performance. I have been successful with students by finding a starting point where they could be successful and building from that point. Success breeds success and providing a success experience for a student is the first step.
Strategy: I am “practicing” how to praise. I have had to break myself of the habit of “you are so smart.” It certainly is logical to see how praising on the process will result in an opportunity to continuing to strive for the next challenge.
Fixed mindset: Intelligence is something that we
are born with; it is the student’s ability to intake information, retain it,
and replay back at any given time. Intelligence is static.
Growth mindset: We can think of growth mindset as
each person’s potential; that potential is full of never-ending possibilities.
Everyone is born with potential as well as strengths in more or more areas.
Strengths may be demonstrated physically, creatively, socially, academically,
etc. Again, the possibilities are endless.
According to How Mindsets Affect the Classroom by Mary Cay Ricci a “growth mindset” is “a belief system that suggests that one’s intelligence can be grown or developed with persistence, effort, and a focus on learning.” In other words, one’s intelligence level is not static. One’s level of intelligence can be increased with hard work and a desire to learn.
ReplyDeleteA “fixed mindset” is “a belief system that suggests that a person has a predetermined amount of intelligence skills, or talents.” This belief system holds that an individual is born with a set level of intelligence that cannot be increased. In other words – one’s level of intelligence and potential for learning is set at birth.
Reflection: I do not believe that intelligence is “static”. I believe that intelligence is fluid. I believe it can be gained or lost. It is very important that students have a “growth mindset”. If a student has a “fixed mindset” he has an internal roadblock set up that will limit his ability to expand his intelligence level. If a child does not believe in herself it is unlikely that she will succeed or even be willing to try to learn something she considers “hard” or something she feels only “smart” kids can do.
Self-perception is of vital importance. Students are keenly aware of how they and the other students in a class are perceived by the teacher and by their peers. Students who believe they are “not that smart” often give up or try to find other ways (often negative) to gain peer approval. Students who are accustomed to finding learning “easy” may begin to doubt themselves when faced with something that does not come easily to them. For example, my daughter was shocked when she won an award at her college graduation for her work in her German Language class. I asked her why she was so surprised and she said, “Because I’m not good at learning languages.” I asked her why she thought that and she responded, “Because it was hard”. I responded, “Just because something is hard doesn’t mean you aren’t good at it!”
Session 1: Define the fixed and growth mindset theories.
ReplyDeleteMary Cay Ricci, author of Mindsets in the Classroom, defines a fixed mindset as, “a belief system that suggests a person has a predetermined amount of intelligence, skills, or talents.” In other words, people with a fixed mindset believe they are born with a certain level of intelligence, talents, etc. and are limited in how much they can improve these skills because they can only be “so smart” or “so talented”, regardless of efforts and practice. This type of mindset can be a huge roadblock for all types of learners. Struggling students will quickly give up and not put forth the effort needed to improve because they believe this is as good as they can do. On the other end of the spectrum, traditionally advanced students will avoid situations where they may fail, and if they do fail, they often blame outside factors rather than own up to the idea that they may need more practice/effort to improve because most things have always come easily to them.
Ricci goes on to define a growth mindset as, “a belief system that suggests one’s intelligence can be grown or developed with persistence, effort, and a focus on learning.” In other words, people with a growth mindset believe that through hard work and continued practice, they can improve their intelligence, skills and talents over time. This is the type of mindset that encourages a more attainable and positive learning experience for all involved because it promotes a “we can do this” attitude. The challenge I see with the growth mindset is that it is something that may take more time and effort to develop, and all involved (student, teacher, parents, community) need to buy into this way of thinking and believing to make it a successful experience.
According to Mary Cay Ricci, a "Growth Mindset" is "a belief system that suggests that one's intelligence can be grown or developed with persistence, effort, and a focus on learning." To me, this means that we can always keep learning. Students can learn and expand their intelligence, even when they initially think they can't. It is the job of the teachers and parents to show them that they CAN do it, and to encourage them to work hard, persevere, and keep on trying. It's a good message for all of us, and as a parent - not just a teacher - I wholeheartedly agree with this belief system.
ReplyDeleteA "Fixed Mindset" is defined by Ricci as "A belief system that suggests that a person has a predetermined amount of intelligence, skills, or talents." This would mean that we, whether student or teacher or parent, can only learn and grow to a certain predetermined point, and we are simply not capable of learning or attaining new skills beyond that point. This is sort of a depressing mindset to me, because it would suggest that there's not much point in really TRYING, because you are simply not going to succeed beyond a certain point. I simply can't buy into this theory at all, because then what's the point of trying to teach those "low" kids? If I thought they just could not do it/get it/produce it, I shouldn't even waste my time on them. I should, in this case, just focus on the "smart" kids, who can continue to grow and learn until they, too, reach their maximum intelligence level. Again, as both a teacher and a parent, this philosophy is just unacceptable to me. I believe that my students and my two personal children can do absolutely anything they want to do, and can ALWAYS work harder, practice more, try again, in order to succeed at their goals, learn a new skill, or perform at a nigher level.
Lisa Stavropoulos
ReplyDeleteReflection 1
Fixed mindset is the belief system that suggests that a person has predetermined amount of intelligence, skills, or talents. Whereas, growth mindset suggests that one’s intelligence can be grown or developed with persistence, effort, and focus learning. I believe that I am in growth mindset majority of the time. Having worked with students with learning disabilities and potential dropouts helped me change from solely focused on fixed mindset to more of the growth mindset.
The purpose of this book is to promote intelligence is malleable, all must believe children can be successful. I have had the opportunity to work as a co-teacher in the classroom setting and worked with fixed minded teachers and it was difficult for me and I can imagine what a student might feel like.
The last few years the students who walked past my threshold have changed significantly. I have students who are so fixed that they are dumb as doornails and then I have those like the John McEnroe example, where they are high achievers, but place their low performance on outside forces. I strongly believe that as a teacher, how I come off in the classroom will impact a student’s learning. If I think that a student cannot learn then that is what will occur, so I put forth effort to let student’s know that I know that they can learn with effort, persistence, and motivation.
I strongly believe in the theory of neuroplasticity which states that the brain is able to adapt, change, and rewire. I have experiencing this now. Last May, I had a TIA (mini stroke). This truly impacted me mentally. This occurred during the time I was starting my Master’s. That first paper I had to write took me a week due to the fact that I could not remember what I even read from my research. A year later, I am still not where I was before my TIA, but I am not even close to what I was after. With effort, persistence, and motivation I was able to have that “growth mindset”. Therefore, I believe that students are able too.
Furthermore, I really liked the Emma’s Literature Letter. This is so true in the school system. We place to much emphasis on the formative assessment scores then the actual ability that the student does have. My son has a learning disability and I remember that in 5th grade his teacher insisted that he take general math instead of advance. Instead, I knew that my son had the characteristics of growth mindset and placed him in advance classes, including math. Interesting enough, my son this year wanted to take Honors Chemistry in 10th grade, well we signed him up, but before school could start, he was assigned a fixed mindset teacher, who asked “why is this ESE student in my honors chemistry class?” He was doomed for failure, and we removed him in regular chemistry. He had final grade of A. Interesting, is that this growth minded child of mine is taking Honors Marine Biology and starting dual enrollment this fall. Did I mention that he had a learning disability?
Finally, my goal for next year was to “praise more”. Interesting enough, chapter 2 step 3, is all about praising students. I think that this will help significantly move me towards 100% growth mindset then majority of the time.