Reading Workshop (Stanford Report)

This post is relating to the idea of fixed vs. growth mindsets when it comes to classrooms. Below is my journal entry while I read this article.

Questions I have before I read:

What is the main point of this article?
What will I learn about working hard?
What will I learn about geniuses?
Why is the article called "Even Genuises Work Hard"?
What was the writer's intent when writing this article?
What can I learn about facilitating good classroom environments from this article?

Questions I have while I read:

1. What does it mean if you say that you can be as smart as you want to be? I feel like this touches on a really big topic of students willingness to learn. If a student does not feel like they can learn or feel like they will never understand a topic or lesson or unit, then they might give up and not work hard.

2. Why should students enjoy effort? Isn't life about it being easy? effortless?
I am being sarcastic here. I think that life is about struggling,and learning through your mistakes. I think that students can learn a lot from discovering answers on their owns, being guided when necessary and having direct instruction in some cases.

3. What is a growth mindset and why is the author putting so much emphasis on it?
A growth mindset is important because it will lead to long term success and not in the moment success. We want to have our students take responsibility for their learning. A growth mindset suggests that if a student does not understand a concept they eventually will. A student with a growth mindset believe that they can change their intelligence level over time.

4. What is a fixed mindset? A fixed mindset is when you believe that your intelligence level is an inborn trait and you can never become smarter. You either understand or do not understand something. Students are unwilling to try and don't think effort is important.

5. Why is there so much emphasis on looking smart? Is that something that the parents are instilling in the students, society enforcing, or something that the students inherently feel?

I know that as a child I put a lot of emphasis on looking smart and was embarrassed when I did not look smart or struggled with a concept. I was always trying to save face and not publicly humiliate myself.

6. We need to reward students for the process of learning. We need to demonstrate the right type of praise.

7. I really liked when the author talked about the baseball student who was not good at playing baseball initially but through practice got successful. That is what we should suggest to our students.

8. Teachers need to foster the idea that challenges are good, exciting and that they are essential for learning something. I also liked that the writer emphasized that those students who "think they know everything" or are not struggling should have activities that make them struggle and get to an even deeper knowledge.

9. I really liked the paragraph on homework. I remember having mindless assignments that had so many of the same type of questions on it that if you struggled there was no escape. You need to have homework that enforces a growth mindset so struggles seem like a positive thing and it enhances the learning process.

10. I don't understand it "yet". I love this as well. It proves to the student that the teachers believes that they will eventually master a concept.


So, I really like growth mindset. It is such a fresh approach to teaching. My concern after reading is how I will implement it. Research shows that you teach the way you were taught. I hope to break from that model and teach to my learners. I want to foster an environment that shows that students will eventually learn something or they will eventually like something they are learning. Learning is fluid!

Questions for the future:

Are there websites and other articles that deal with growth mindset?
What do older, experienced teachers think of the growth mindset? Do older teachers approve/disapprove?
Have we conditioned ourselves to believe that it is bad if everyone got an A because then there would be no comparing and stratification in the classroom?

This was an awesome article and I feel like it is good to acknowledge where education and instruction have not been the best.