As find your seats, consider this scenario: In the middle of the - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

As find your seats, consider this scenario: • In the middle of the semester, a student comes to your office hours, worried about failing the course you are TA-ing • The student shares that he/she spends many hours per week on your course, but they still struggle/don’t understand the material • She/he didn’t do well on the exam and doesn’t know if recovery is possible • “What should I do? I’m thinking of giving up” • Write down how you would respond • We will return to this later

Why Should I Care About the Growth Mindset? ENG 598 TL Guest Lecture: Dong San Choi November 1st, 2019

First, a think-pair-share Take 1 minute to think about a skill that you’ve developed Example: musical instrument, riding a bike, juggling, Rubik’s cube, magic, etc. What inspired you to learn it? How long did it take? Share your skill with a neighbor (1 minute each)

Think about another skill… This time, think about a skill that you’re bad at Example: cooking, speaking a foreign language, parallel parking, writing How does it make you feel - when someone finds out you’re bad at it? - when someone makes fun of you about it?

How many of you believe you are bad singers?

So, finally, what is the Growth Mindset? • By Carol Dweck – Mindsets: The new psychology of success (2006) • Growth mindset – You believe that your most basic abilities can be developed through dedication and hard work • Fixed mindset – You believe your basic abilities are fixed (for example: intelligence or talent) You believe these qualities are things that you’re born with and can’t change

Growth mindset improves academic performance • Can predict their academic performance over time • With fixed mindsets, every task, effort, and setback reflects your ability • With growth mindset, everything promotes learning and growth • With growth mindset intervention • Math scores for middle school girls improved by more one standard deviation (Good, Aronson, & Inzlicht, 2003) • College students had roughly +.23 GPA increase compared to control group (Aronson, Fried, & Good, 2002) • Impact were greater for Black and Latinx students who may face greater challenges because of negative stereotypes (Steele, 1997; Blackwell, Trzesniewski, & Dweck, 2007)

Fixed mindset is not always a bad thing It’s impossible to fly (without any equipment) No matter how much you believe it to be true, no matter how much you exercise, you cannot fly This is an appropriate mindset to have in this context However… for the learning experience, a growth mindset is desirable

How would you respond to this scenario: • In the middle of the semester, a student comes to your office hours, worried about failing the course you are TA-ing • The student shares that he/she spends many hours per week on your course, but they still struggle/don’t understand the material • She/he didn’t do well on the exam and doesn’t know if recovery is possible • “What should I do? I’m thinking of giving up” • What were some of your responses?

Extra Credit Assignment • Write a 200 to 500 word letter to your past freshman-self. Share how much you’ve changed since then and how much you’ve developed your academic and professional skills. Perhaps, you’re struggling currently with graduate school; write about how you believe you can move towards improvement and how you will cultivate the new skills required for graduate school.

Quick References • Yeager, D. S., & Dweck, C. S. (2012). Mindsets that promote resilience: When students believe that personal characteristics can be developed. Educational Psychologist , 47 (4), 302-314. https://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00461520.2012.722805 • https://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2015/09/23/carol-dweck- revisits-the-growth-mindset.html