Self-Reflection for Growth Mindset Strategies

In our classroom, growth mindset really lays the foundation for the work we do throughout the year.

At the beginning of the year, I spend a lot of time really working with my class to build a working definition on what growth mindset is, why it's important and what it looks like.

So throughout our school day, we spend time looking for examples of moments when kids are using their growth mindset.

This might look like coming back together at the end of a lesson and instead of just going over the content, I'll ask kids, "What was tricky about that?" "What was hard?" "What did you struggle with?" and I'll have them share out some of their confusions and some of their struggles.

The thing we also make sure we do is think about how we work through those struggles and those challenges so kids kind of know that it's important that they're putting in effort, but it has to be effective.

What I think is really powerful about this, is it helps kids think about where they might have confusion or they might have made a mistake but then they also are really responsible for correcting that mistake or working through that confusion.

And if they approach something similar in the future, which they most likely will, they've sort of developed a toolkit where they have some strategies in place that can help them really approach that challenge more effectively the next time.

• So the first assignment I give to students at the beginning of the year, is to write a mathography.

So it's a history of themselves as a math student and they talk to me about how they feel as a math student, some positive experiences and some negatives.

And there's always a few kids who say, Miss, I'm no good at math.

This is my worst subject, I'm gonna be nice, I'm gonna be respectful, but I'm no good at math.

And so, how do I change their minds to make them think they can do math because if they're not gonna think they can do it, then they won't even try.

So I just had this conversation with Ashley the other day.

She had written in her mathography that her seventh grade teacher told her not to pursue math, that it wasn't worth her time and yet, she's in my ninth grade math class.

So I can tell Ashley, you can do it, I can tell Ashley, right on the top of your test I can, and I can tell Ashley that you're not allowed to say I can't.

But I also need to show her that her effort, that effective effort makes a difference in the future.

So Ashley was having trouble knowing the difference between squaring and square-rooting numbers and I made sure to explain to her, what the difference was and how to use it and how to recognize it and give her those mental cues so she knew when she saw that X-squared, she knew exactly what that meant for her.

So she made up her own mnemonics and did her own vocab, put poster on that.

Next time she took a test, that was exactly the question on that test.

There was an X-squared and there was a square root of X.

Ashley nailed it and she came back so proud with a proficient on that testing, "I actually can do it" And that, that can change her mind about who she is as a math student and now, she might think, oh, if I put forth this effort, if I try this new strategy, I'm gonna be successful in the future and that makes a big difference for her in her future academics.

• Students enter my class whether they are ninth graders entering high-school or seniors about to leave high-school.

Basically, with a notion of who they are, as students.

Some of them, fortunately, have developed a growth mindset around their learning in English, as readers and writers, but others are very fixed in their notions about what's possible for them as readers and writers.

And so what I do on day one, before I instruct them in any sort of way, is I ask them to draw a metaphor that speaks to who they are as a reader and who they are as a writer.

So most of them think of metaphor as just a comparison that doesn't use like or as.

But instead I explain to them that metaphors can frame and inform how we move through the world and what we think is possible for ourselves.

So students sit and they think about the feelings that they experience when they're asked to read, for homework at night, they sit and they think about what it's like to write, and some of them draw pictures that are wonderful.

They express warm feelings about these activities.

They're on a beach, relaxing, they are doing their favorite activity, slushing down a hill, things that they really enjoy doing, while others draw images of themselves trying to climb Mount Everest, never getting to the top.

Reading and writing for them, is a struggle, and they see themselves as always at that point on the mountain, never never being able to reach the peak.

And so what I do is I talk to them about ways, we basically do a gallery walk so everyone shares their metaphors, I put those metaphors on the walls and they walk around and see how each other feels about the activities they're about to do in the class.

And then over the course of the semester or the year, what I do is we use those metaphors as touch points.

So every few weeks, I will say, let's go back to that original metaphor and see what you think about it at this point.

And they'll look at them and inevitably, maybe not the first time they revisit the metaphor, maybe not the second time, but eventually, they revisit those metaphors and they begin to tweak them.

So you'll see edits on the visuals, right? So maybe the figure on the mountain makes it a little further up the mountain, or maybe they get rid of that metaphor altogether and they create another one that suggests that their feeling and their sense of capability around reading and writing is just something that they embrace more, that they feel more excited about.

And then we reflect together, about what has made that change occur.

And what students come to understand is that it's all about having a growth mindset so that notion of you can change, you're not always that person in the first metaphor, but the other thing that it makes very explicit for students, is that with intentional effort, you can shift your way of thinking about yourself in a learning context and you can shift what's possible for yourself in that learning context.

So learning how to revise more effectively, learning tools for reading each night, coming to an appreciation about how a class can help you work through misunderstanding, are all strategies they come to see are ways to help them grow and shift their mindset around their learning.