I wasn't surprised so much by Jo Boaler's point about memorizers being the worst performers. To me, that seems very instinctual. What I was more surprised by, was how early the fixed/growth mindset develops. Throughout my time in school and in teaching, I have observed this difference in mindset, but I never had specific terms to describe it. Further, I never realised how concretely the mindset affects performance. It's somewhat shocking and amazingly imperative to bring this to light in class. I'm not sure students are even aware of this difference in mindset, and I think uncovering this can make a huge difference. The fact that I didn't understand this in high school probably affected the way I interacted with my peers. I think it probably also affected the class environment. With some people believing they fundamentally can't do math, there is going to inherently be less communication and cooperation from those students. If they don't believe they have anything to contribute, they're not going to participate. They are not the only ones to suffer because of this: the entire class suffers when we can't all collaborate. Perhaps by bringing up mindsets and discussing with students why they believe what they believe, it can create a dialogue between students to perhaps inspire them to their own potential.
Comments
Post a Comment