Developing a growth mindset in the classroom

One of the most powerful tools that a student can develop is the elastic sense of the growth mindset. Learners go through quite a lengthy and generally demanding process during their school years. Most will find something that demands quite a bit of effort and it may demand more effort than a given student feels like they can give. This sense of elasticity comes into play here, when a student possibly fails or does not live up to their expectations. Students without the growth mindset might not be willing to allow themselves to try as hard again for the fear of letting themselves down.

“Individuals who believe their talents can be developed (through hard work, good strategies, and input from others) have a growth mindset.” (Dweck 2016) Typically, my classes are geared towards fostering a growth mindset, however, after reading several articles I know that there are ways that I can improve in the area of feedback. Providing clear feedback is important to young students because they will better understand the pathway toward success. I am definitely guilty from time to time of saying something like “You are going to have to put more effort into this if you want to learn that”. Feedback like this isn’t necessarily going to help give a student better tools to succeed since a lot of students simply don’t have an understanding of what exercising effort really means.

Going forward with my attempts to improve my feedback, I would say that what I say should make attempts to be more clear. I do attempt to be supportive, but as an instrumental music teacher, if I’m looking for a student to get a different result from their efforts towards performance I should try to specifically refer to the technique of playing the instrument and music notation reading/comprehension. An example of this would be, if a student is really far off the mark (not producing a characteristic sound or not reading rhythms/notes correctly) I should probably be making a comment on how to improve their playing at a very basic level. Rather than saying a blanket statement “You probably need to spend more time on this.”, I should say “I think if you tried to take a bigger breath and blow your breath in a faster/tighter stream you would be able to produce a stronger sound right away”. At least at that point they might be able to improve some part of their skillset and potentially move on to other, more sophisticated, skill combinations like reading and performing.

On the subject of growth mindset, many of the articles I have read also tend to discuss the democratic classroom. The students in such democratic classrooms become concerned for one another and they “may be helped to build bridges among themselves; attending to a range of human stories, they may be provoked to heal and to transform” (Fergusen-Patrick 2012). Essentially, the class as a whole tends to benefit from a heightened sense of community. They also benefit from choice and more open discussion. Individuals who believe their talents can be developed (through hard work, good strategies, and input from others) have a growth mindset.” (Dweck 2016)

Oddly enough, it seems as if high school classes are least likely to have this sense of democracy (Turabik 2016). While it seems as if high school students are often the ones who would most benefit from developing a democratic classroom, it is very common for high school students to have a lot of structure set upon them (especially in my district) due to the amount of standardized testing they are required to submit to. Most teachers have to be very regimental about the way they implement their curriculum for fear of not covering materials associated with these tests. It would seem incredibly difficult to implement a democratic classroom if there is a greater focus on “teaching to the test”.

In conclusion, having a growth mindset in the classroom helps student develop resiliency. If a student has the innate desire to improve their skills, they will be more likely to try and try again if they are provided with appropriate, direct, and clear feedback that is geared toward helping them learn that they can build from a solid foundation. Students in a democratic classroom will tend to have a growth mindset because they have more ownership of the class time. “The theoretical founders of liberal democracy conceived education to be instrumental for the ideal society in which citizens would develop their own potential”. (Sant 2019) It is certainly easier (and no less important) to implement such concepts in an instrumental music classroom like mine, but the restrictions on time and demands of an academic class may provide more roadblocks.

Resources

Turabik, T., & Gün, F. (2016). The relationship between teachers' democratic classroom management attitudes and students' critical thinking dispositions. Journal of Education and Training Studies, 4(12), 45-57. Retrieved from http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1118974.pdf

Sant, E. (2019). Democratic Education: A Theoretical Review (2006–2017). Review of Educational Research, 89(5), 655–696. https://doi.org/10.3102/0034654319862493

Fergusen-Patrick, K. (2012). Developing an inclusive democratic classroom “in action” through cooperative learning. Joint AARE APERA International Conference, Sydney

Dweck, C. (2016). What having a “Growth Mindset” actually means. Harvard Business Review