Unexpected Shift to a Growth Mindset

I wasn't expecting it, but it sure was good to see.  I knew there would be changes, heartaches, sleepless nights, and difficult conversations but the shift in mindset was unexpected.

Four 7th grade teachers in our middle school and four 8th grade teachers are using standards based grading for the first time this school year. And now that we have our first nine week grading period completed and well on our way through the second one, it was time to reflect.

All eight teachers met for their first formal meeting since school began to discuss what was working, what wasn't and what our next steps should be.

What's Working:

• Greater student ownership of learning
• Students know where their learning gaps are and what to do about them
• Student engagement has increased
• Student completion of assignments has greatly improved

What Isn't:

• Lack of parent awareness and understanding of standards based grading
• Misconception of process by colleagues and parents
• Difficulties in shifting the grading paradigm
• Adequate time to  prepare assessments to ensure congruency to the standards

Next steps:

• Find ways to increase parent involvement in the process. Even though we have sent home letters had two parent meetings, very few parents have attended the meetings so there are still some misconceptions to address.
• Continue to share out the process with our colleagues.
• Give ourselves permission to fail, we are not perfect.

But the BIGGEST benefit I have seen is the shift from a fixed mindset to a growth mindset for students AND teachers.  I am in a supporting role and not in the trenches as our teachers are, but the conversations I am having with students are incredible.

Take Sally ( I have changed the name to protect the innocent) for instance.  She is an 8th grader and in her previous two years at our building, I have had many conversations with her about........no, not grades...drama.  She has always had social issues including bullying, gender identity, and other typical middle school girl drama. These topics have dominated our conversations, but this year has been different. This school year our conversations have been about what she has learned and whether she is mastering the standards. For the first time in her middle school career she has demonstrated mastery of math standards and was sent to the office to tell me all about it!  It brought tears to my eyes...literally.  She is just one of many success stories that I have witnessed this year.

I wasn't expecting it, but I sure was happy to know students, like Sally, may finally be out of the rut of a fixed mindset shifting to a growth mindset.  And the best part, she is dragging the rest of us along for the ride.

I've Failed, Now What?

I have already failed.........This is how many of our students feel in the first few days of school and this is how I feel about my blogging.  On July 10th I published my first blog and my goal was to publish at least twice a month and here it is the first of September and my second post.  I am a failure.  So now what do I do?  How you react really comes down to whether or not you have a fixed or a growth mindset. Check out Carol Dweck's research on this subject in her book Mindset.

For some of our students what to do after a failure is a daily, maybe even hourly, decision.  Didn't understand math, didn't complete assignment...failure.  Had a football game, didn't study for social studies quiz, made a 40%....failure.  Listened in class, completed science lab, started lab report, parents fighting, turned in incomplete report.......failure.

What do we want our students to do when they "fail".  Two teams of teachers in our building devoted a big part of their summer coming up with a plan where failure is a normal part of learning.  These teachers have had a mindshift as they consider failure as a part of learning.  These teachers based their revitalization of the traditional grading system used in our building on Thomas Guskey's work and book Developing Standards-Based Report Cards.  This transition is a work in progress and they are seeing some roadblocks and some successes already, however their commitment to student learning is fueling their work in this area.  Some interesting reading on the difference between eastern and western cultures and how they view failure among students may help you shift your thinking and can be found in this link.  http://www.npr.org/2013/09/02/218067142/why-eastern-and-western-cultures-tackle-learning-differently

So as the school year progresses what will you do when students fail?  How does your school support student learning and mastery of the standards? It is no longer good enough to say, "I taught it ....... they should have learned it."

Sources:
Dweck, Carol S. Mindset. London: Robinson, 2012. Print.
Guskey, Thomas. & Bailey, Jane M. Developing Standards-Based Report Cards. California: Corwin. 2010

Growth Spurts

Just like in one's personal life there are milestones in a professional career that mark new beginnings or what I think of as growth spurts. I call them growth spurts because when you find yourself in certain situations the only way to survive is to stretch or grow.

For example, four years into my new elementary teaching career I found myself smack dab in the middle of an ungraded primary classroom......growth spurt.  I was faced with a multi-age, multi-ability classroom and encouraged to use developmentally appropriate practices, which meant I was scrambling from day one to teach a room full of 6, 7 and 8 year olds how to read, write and cipher arithmetic.

There have been other growth spurts in my career like transferring to a different elementary school, earning my National Board certification, completing my educational administration certification and now blogging.....growth spurt.  Yes I am ranking blogging right up there with the rest of them.  You might ask why and I would say because this is real stretch for me.  I can think of million reasons why I shouldn't be starting a blog: I can't write, I don't have anything interesting to write about, and TIME just to mention a few.

So that's leaves the ONE reason why I have decided to blog........it's time for a growth spurt and I suppose this one is self inflicted.  Look at me being all grown-up!

I am starting this blog as I near the end of my fifth year serving as assistant principal of a middle school in rural Kentucky and I'm getting that feeling.  You know the one.  It's the one that says you have done this for a while and you're "decent" at your job and you start thinking about using "auto-pilot". Screeeech!!! It's time for a growth spurt, so let's start blogging. Hopefully it will be of some benefit to anyone who might stumble upon this humble post and the ones to follow.

Mark Twain once said, "The two most important days in your life are the day you are born and the day you find out why."

I don't think I was born to blog, but maybe I will be able to grow and stretch just a bit more because of it.