Charting My Ongoing Growth-Mindset
How has my Growth Mindset Developed since the start of my journey with the ADL program?
In past posts, I’ve shared my evolving perspectives on cultivating a growth mindset in my game design classroom. This evolution continues through learnings in my Create Significant Learning Environments(5313) course. After recent professional development and self-reflection, I feel compelled to outline my next steps for furthering this critical mindset shift with students.
I now better recognize the risks of well-intentioned but counterproductive praise for talent over effort.
My teaching and learning philosophy increasingly focuses on fostering self-efficacy and intrinsic motivation through student-driven projects matching real-world careers(Harapnuik, 2018). This aligns with my proposed innovative blended learning pilot combining Game Design, Creative Writing, and Science students. Facilitating ambitious cross-discipline collaborations will expand critical thinking, creativity, and resilience according to growth mindset research. Students will gain more from applying their evolving skills to creative projects than any predetermined achievement metrics such as test scores.
Since my first post on growth mindset, I have implemented many of the things I listed that I would do(see lists below). Overall I have seen great general acceptance for the concepts behind growth mindset I have introduced to them. Because of this and the performance it has given them, I genuinely believe it has empowered some of my students.
Additionally, I will continue to focus less on test scores and more on empowering students to set and self-monitor learning goals aligned to a growth mentality. Whether tackling online tutorials or collaborative projects, the emphasis will be self-improvement over benchmark achievement. This will foster confidence and skills in one’s ability to incrementally master challenges and transition into a Learners Mindset (Harapniuk 2018).
As I continue developing my gamified blended learning experience and my own growth mindset, I welcome collaborations with fellow educators to make it a reality. My own understanding of creating significant learning environments and growth mindsets continues to develop as well. But the research shows that embracing challenges in communities of practice drives positive change. I look forward to all of us supporting each other on these never-ending growth journeys.
How will I continue to modify my use of the Growth Mindset
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I can nurture a growth mindset in this project by praising my students for their effort, creativity and persistence when developing their games, not just the final products. I'll reinforce that their skills are malleable through practice.
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To support growth mindset through this pilot, I need to ensure students feel safe taking creative risks without fear of lower grades. This means assessments should focus on participation, progress and qualitative insights.
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When facing my own learning curve with unfamiliar aspects of game design or technology, I will model a growth mindset by embracing challenges openly as opportunities to learn. I can demonstrate incrementally improving skills over multiple iterations.
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In giving feedback on project work, I will offer critique as fuel for positive growth, not as judgment on ability. This applies to iteration on game designs as well as debugging code or refining narratives.
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For the pilot, I will minimize focus on letter grades and instead emphasize qualitative assessments of effort, teamwork, critical thinking and other real-world skills that transcend GPAs. Developing grit and persistence will enable overcoming the obstacles inherent to innovation.
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To prevent growth mindset practices from becoming a superficial fad, I will commit to substantial teacher training and administrator buy-in on the cultural shift involved in this interdisciplinary approach. Misapplying grit as an excuse for excessive demands risks harming intrinsic motivation.
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While an essential starting point, cultivating only a growth mindset is not enough. I must provide tools, mentorship and opportunities for meaningful skill development so students' learner mindsets are activated toward mastery, agency and lifelong learning.
References:
Dweck, C.S. (2014). The power of yet. Tedx Talks. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J-swZaKN2Ic
Dweck, C. S. (2016). Mindset: The new psychology of Success. Ballantine Books.
Harapniuk, D. (2021, Feb. 9). Learner’s Mindset Explained. It’s About Learning: Creating Significant Learning Environments. https://www.harapnuik.org/?p=8705
Harapnuik, D., Thibodeaux, T., & Cummings, C. (2018). COVA: Choice, Ownership, and Voice through Authentic Learning: Vol.0.9 [EBook]. Creative Commons License.
Resources I'm keeping in my mind from my previous posts on growth mindset:
My hope is that this growth mindset empowers my students to see themselves as capable, creative developers ready to imagine big ideas and make them a reality. By supporting them as they take risks, overcome obstacles, and expand their skills, I want to mold and lead innovators by helping them realize their own capacity to change the world.
Of course, as much as possible I try to use myself as an example. I openly share my own failures when attempting to make games and what I learned from them. When demonstrating certain techniques, I focus on progress rather than perfection. I also tell my students about how I always continue challenging myself to develop new professional skills, this demonstrates that learning is a never ending process. We as humans never stop learning. In addition to my own personal experience I will share my growing list of resources with my students to promote growth mindset in my classroom and to other teachers so they can benefit as well:
Videos I will play on Monday morning for #MotivationalMonday in my classroom:
"Fixed vs Growth Mindset" on Teacher Tube (http://www.teachertube.com/video/fixed-vs-growth-mindset-271127)
Developing a Growth Mindset on ClickView Youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rUJkbWNnNy4
Growth Mindset Videos " compilation by Angela Watson (https://thecornerstoneforteachers.com/growth-mindset-videos/)
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