Growth Mindset in the Classroom

We learned about the growth mindset within the first couple of months of this program.  The growth mindset, designed by Carol Dweck, is the belief that people can develop their skills and qualities.  The fixed mindset, contrary to the growth mindset, is the belief that people have a certain fixed set of skills and qualities that they have no control over.  After Dweck designed the growth mindset, she tried to apply this mindset to teaching.  From what I remember from our previous classes, it was said that students with growth mindset (believe that they can develop) bounce back quicker from set-backs and are more determined to improve their academic skills.  Students with fixed mindset, on the other hand, get discouraged easily and tend to just give up if they can’t do something right the first time.  

I was really amazed by the growth mindset when I first heard about it.  When I started to teach, I actually mentioned the growth vs fixed mindset to my students.  I firmly believed that all of my students are capable of getting an A in my classroom.  After a few months passed, however, I started developing a doubt in the growth mindset.  I saw that certain students failed nearly everything while other students got high A’s on everything.  As much as I even tutored the failing students, they continued to fail.  I started to accept the lost hope I had in certain sets of students.  I started catering only to the medium and high students because I thought that catering to the low students was a lost effort.  I remembered the actual moment that some of my hope was renewed in the growth mindset.  A student who fails everything in my class with extremely low scores joined the basketball team.  He was only allowed to play on the team if he held his GPA high enough.  On the next test he took, he scored 100% on the multiple choice section.  It was then that I saw that although many of the students may consistently be failing everything, this was a reflection of how much they cared rather than a reflection of their ability. 

After my hope was renewed in the growth mindset, I have been using it in my classroom.  Seeing that students have motivation issues rather than ability issues, I started pulling students aside and letting them know that if they scored higher than a 90% on a test, I would give them a pack of oreos or a deck of cards (whichever appeals to them more).  The students that I have made this deal with have been studying a lot and have actually been making it to the top 5 scores of their sections.  

I have also been using an affective assessment to help me teach.  I gave students a survey of their interests and learning preferences on a homework assignment a few months ago.  Usually, with I recycle homework assignments or hand them back to the students after they’re graded.  For this homework assignment, however, I have stored it in my classroom.  I glance at it once in a while when I want to get an idea of what type of interests or learning preferences a certain student has.