Today鈥檚 guest bloggers are Jamie M. Carroll, associate project director for the , and David Yeager, psychology professor at the University of Texas at Austin.
This is the third piece in a series on growth mindset. The first was on and the second on how .
During distance learning, I think I鈥檝e been teaching my students to use a growth mindset. But how do I know when it鈥檚 working鈥攁nd when it鈥檚 not?
In the classroom, teachers can usually tell when a student is feeling discouraged. Maybe they put their head down. Maybe they throw their hands up in defeat. Or start copying answers. If you鈥檝e been establishing a , you can emphasize everyone鈥檚 potential to learn, even when the work is hard.
But it鈥檚 harder to see the early-warning signs of disengagement鈥攁nd sustain a culture of learning鈥攊n remote or blended learning contexts.
We asked Dana Stiles, an statistics teacher at Bowie High School in Austin, Texas, about how she handled this challenge during COVID-19.
First, the good news: Dana thinks that distance learning might have improved some students鈥� growth-mindset behaviors, such as help-seeking, because it removes a lot of the that teens are especially apt to make. In a regular classroom, some students are afraid to ask for help because they don鈥檛 want to look dumb in front of their peers or they think they are bothering you.
But distance made it harder for her to know who needed more support. 鈥淚n the classroom, I was able to take their temperature [metaphorically] by standing at the door as they walked in鈥攌nowing where their head is at and any personal battles they鈥檙e facing and challenges they鈥檙e dealing with,鈥� she explained. But during COVID-19, she had to reach out to students proactively to see how they were doing.
She started by sending personal, physical letters in the mail to students she knew had challenging home lives or other factors that might get in the way of learning. She used Calendly to give students the opportunity to sign up for one-on-one video meetings. Using the Remind app, she sent personal messages to students who were not engaging in material with specific questions they had to respond to.
In the video meetings, she could keep the discussion personal and brief, covering just two questions: How are you doing and feeling? And how can I support you as you meet the ambitious learning goals in this class? These two questions let students know that you care about them as people and that your priority is their learning鈥攏ot evaluating or judging them. Students can then feel free to challenge themselves and reach out for help when they鈥檙e stuck.
Contacting students individually is time-consuming and challenging, but Dana says it鈥檚 well worth the effort you put in: 鈥淭he kids actually thank you for it because you鈥檙e personalizing what they need to do based on their results and their reflections.鈥�
A form originally appeared on this page. It has been removed because we are no longer seeking submissions.