The article on Growth Mindset and the feedback we give to kids caused a great deal of reflection. My school has jumped full steam ahead on the growth mindset band wagon which I do believe is a good thing and has led to some meaningful changes that will benefit our students in the long run. However, I do not know if it is the children or the adults who have had a more difficult time "shifting their mindset". My grade level team has worked with the 2nd Grade team to pilot Standards Based Report Cards at our school, and with that we were basically charged with the task of making every meaningful decision that relates to completely changing the way we give feedback to our students. The difficulty arose when some simply wanted to use cut scores/percentages for different ratings on a 1-4 scale ( 4=90-100%,3-80-90%, etc.) and basically creating a more complicated way to do the same thing we have always done. Many have a difficult time separating themselves away from grades/percentages and want a cut and dry method as opposed to providing meaningful feedback that paints a clear picture where a child is at. It took some time, but I was able to convince my colleagues that a 4 is exceeding standards by going above and beyond/utilizing a higher level thinking skill, not doing the same task as everybody else at a higher accuracy rate. Many adults also struggle with the idea of letting children fail because we want everything to be neat and orderly. A project doesn't look nice on a bulletin board if all 22 work samples don't look exactly the same the very first time or we simply don't have the time to allow students multiple opportunities to demonstrate their mastery. We can encourage growth mindset by eliminating hand holding and letting children go about things however they see fit, and letting them figure it out on their own when they don't know how or where to start.
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AuthorRyan Huels is a 1st Grade teacher in Northern Illinois. A graduate of Northern Illinois University, Ryan places an emphasis on being a connected educator eager to put the needs of all students first! Archives
October 2015
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