Exploring growth mindset for students and teachers

April 28, 2016

(Photo credit: Center for Inspired Teaching)

This piece was written by Katherine Douglas Kindle, an alum of the Inspired Teaching Institute and an Institute Teacher Leader in 2012. Katherine has more than a decade of teaching experience in both the United States and abroad. Currently, she is the high school Case Manager for Learning Support at an international school in Bogota, Colombia.

A few weeks ago, I had the privilege of teaching 18 high school students about the concept of growth mindset. These were students who had opted out of our school’s “classroom without walls” travel week, so I was hoping to provide them with a learning experience that would be outside the norm of their usual routine at school. I was supposed to be teaching them about how to be successful in life after high school, and I thought if I could get them excited about the possibilities inherent in developing a growth mindset, then we might have some fun exploring a new topic together.

It was a huge learning opportunity for me, offering a chance for reflection and demanding that I continue to cultivate my own growth mindset. Recently, there have been big pushes to focus on both character education and growth mindset in schools. I don’t think either topic can be taught in isolation or through standard lesson plans; each needs to be cultivated through the very fiber of how schools operate.

What is a growth mindset? A growth mindset is the belief that the brain is malleable and that through effective practice and hard work, we can get smarter and develop our abilities. The question that Professor Carol Dweck set out to explore is why do some people seem to develop this kind of mindset while others don’t? This has been a question that has popped up in my special education career over and over again. Why do some of my students seem to develop resilience in the face of obstacles (and a viewpoint that allows them to continually take on new challenges) while other students seem to develop learned helplessness and low self-esteem instead? Those students are potentially sitting in the same classroom and getting the same kinds of support, so what’s the deal? How do we teachers help all students become resilient and self-confident both in our classrooms and out in the world?

I had my group of 18 students for 160 minutes a day for six days, and by day three, they were tired of talking about the brain. I was borrowing from Professor Dweck’s curriculum and knew that the foundation for developing a growth mindset is understanding how the brain works. (In order to believe you are capable of becoming smarter, you have to understand that when you practice and learn new things, your brain builds new neural pathways and grows more neurons.) I did everything I could to make the material interesting, relevant, and interactive but there’s just so much leverage you can get out of talking about neurons. Rather than spending too much time teaching students the mechanics of their brains and strategies for shifting their thinking (both of which are valuable to a point), I believe it is even more effective to focus on a teacher’s our own teaching practice and how our feedback, grading, and opportunities for learning are emphasizing a growth mindset.

In our discussion, one of my students commented that in a classroom, he is typically given one opportunity to learn something, and then he receives a grade. The message here is you either get it or you don’t. You succeeded or you failed. There isn’t any room for trying again or working at something until you do get it. My favorite word in education is “yet.” How do we design classroom opportunities and feedback systems that communicate to students that while they haven’t mastered a skill or concept yet, it is important to us that they will get there eventually, and we teachers are here to support them in that journey?

In my 9th grade English class, we have devised a grading scheme that allows students to see their progress as they are practicing a new skill, but in the end bases their grade only on their achievement at the time of reporting. This allows us to share student progress along the way, but not penalize students for practice rounds. It acknowledges that a student may fail at something repeatedly before they get it – and that’s ok.

There is a lot of research about how to provide feedback that supports learning and hence a growth mindset. The biggest lesson here is to emphasize the process and effort rather than intelligence. So, instead of “great work,” we might say “I see that you were able to bring your characters to life after working hard on creating realistic dialogue.” Or rather than telling a student that something is wrong or not meeting expectations, we can ask questions that invite them to engage in the process of working at something: “How might you bring these characters to life through the use of dialogue?” rather than “your characters are flat.” One caveat I would like to add as a special educator is that the message has to be more than simply “work harder.” There are many students work really hard and are still not yet experiencing success. Maybe that’s because the instruction isn’t best paired to their needs or readiness. To only give the message that students could be successful and smarter if they just worked harder sets many students up for failure and delivers the message that they’re just not smart enough or capable enough to succeed.

My little experiment in teaching growth mindset didn’t deliver the results I was hoping for, but it did teach me some valuable lessons. A little bit of teaching about the mechanics of the brain and how it works under different circumstances is useful. But after that trial, I’m going to spend my time focusing on creating experiences for my students that invite them to keep working at something challenging, with the right supports, until they experience success. Rather than talking a blue streak about how students would do better if they would just shift their mindsets, I’m going to try and show them how their mindsets are changing as they work hard and experience both failure and success. And I’m going to keep cultivating my own craft as I learn how to better provide student feedback that leads to growth and learning.

Micaiah Anderson

Community Outreach Specialist

As a Community Outreach Specialist, Micaiah is responsible for program promotion and outreach support for Inspired Teaching events and workshops. Micaiah has a passion for collaborating with community members to build-power and connect. She is an educator with a heart for youth and has experience supporting students fight injustices within their schools and communities. She has a BA in Political Science from, the real HU, Hampton University & anticipates graduating in May 2024 with a Masters of Arts degree in Educational Policy Transformation from Georgetown University.

AUTONOMY

"I want to have a say in what happens to me."

Autonomy is the need for independence; the ability to make choices, to create, to explore, and to express oneself freely; to have sufficient space, to move around, and to feel unrestricted with opportunities to exercise free will.

Brady Maiden

Outreach Coordinator

As the Outreach Coordinator, Brady helps maintain Inspired Teaching’s social media presence and supports the organization’s mission to connect with DC community leaders, educators, and parents. Brady has her Master’s in Public Policy from George Mason University and her BS in Political Science from Northern Arizona University. She is passionate about community, equity, and coalition building recognizing that learning and growing with the community at large is how we continue to be impactful.

What brings you joy in life?

I find joy in spending time with my friends and family and meeting new people. I like going to concerts and festivals, and finding new books to read.

The Learner’s Cycle, Wonder-Experiment-Learn, and the Teacher’s Cycle, Observe-Plan-Instigate, comprise Inspired Teaching’s approach to engaging students in inquiry-based learning.

When they are engaged in the Wonder-Experiment-Learn Cycle, students are immersed in learning. They take the lead in designing authentic learning experiences around their own interests and their school’s standards of learning. Each discovery leads to a new question which in turn leads to more wondering and more learning. In the Wonder-Experiment-Learn Cycle, Learn is not a destination or an endpoint; it is a deeper understanding, leading to a deeper wondering and new possibilities that create new entry points to further exploration. The cycle continues because what students have learned generates more wonderings that require more experiments that foster more learning – and on and on.

The Observe-Plan-Instigate Cycle is the work of an Inspired Teacher. While a student is expected to follow the Wonder-Experiment-Learn Cycle, the teacher joins them on the learning journey while following their own cycle of Observe-Plan-Instigate. This cycle ultimately serves to ensure an inquiry-based atmosphere is at play in the classroom.

Jaqueta Abbey

Teaching and Learning Specialist

Jaqueta is the Teaching and Learning Specialist for Inspired Teaching. In addition to her current role with Inspired Teaching, Jaqueta is a first-grade teaching assistant. Her background features a variety of traditional and non-traditional experiences in the field of education, including working as an adjunct professor, teaching summer reading programs to children and adults, and tutoring children in the foster care system. Jaqueta earned a B.A. in Communication Studies from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and an M.A. in Interactive Media from Elon University.

What brings you joy in life?

Creative self-expression! In addition to my passion for storytelling, I love dancing of all kinds. I've studied belly dance, bachata, and Brazilian Zouk among other styles. I also enjoy glass fusing, crocheting, photography, and cross stitching. These art forms allow me to express myself and build connections with other people at the same time. I think life would be a lot less vibrant without artists and storytellers!

Michelle Welk

Communication & Marketing Specialist

As Communications and Marketing Specialist, Michelle is responsible for finding and creating new ways to highlight Inspired Teaching and promote its programs in order to expand and deepen the organization's impact. Michelle has worked in communications in an array of settings, from creative agencies to state politics to national nonprofits. She has a BA in Journalism from Temple University in Philadelphia and is passionate about education, access, and equity.

What brings you joy in life?

My son, the beach, making a persuasive argument and good food!

Max Peterson

Real World History Assistant Teacher

Max received his Bachelor’s degree in History and African American Studies from Boston University in May 2016. He has worked in museum curation at the Museum of the White Mountains in New Hampshire and the Smithsonian National Museum of American History. Max has worked with young people of varying ages from young children to young adults transitioning to college.

Feedback and Accountability

We grow through feedback and an understanding that the quality of our work is a reflection of what we are learning, but the shift to remote learning this spring disrupted a lot of the tools teachers were used to using to evaluate student growth. How might we do things differently this fall? Participants in this workshop will explore ways to bring meaningful assessment into the virtual and/or socially-distanced classroom and approaches to student feedback that strengthen motivation, and build relationships and achievement.