conclusion
Unequivocally, the data was not equally matched in quality or quantity between students’ reflections and students’ self-evaluations. For one, some students would routinely forget to write in their journals and when they finally did, since it was ungraded, entries would incompletely respond to the prompts, making it difficult to get a greater sense of where students where at mindset wise. For the most part, however, students were more honest in their journals and surveys than in their self-evaluation rubrics. Especially considering lower achieving students, they were often the least honest, checking off, for example, turning in assignments on time “often” to “always” when this was simply not the case. This could be due to the fact that rubrics were filled out in class, usually at the end of the block and students rushed to finish and leave. Journals, however, could be accessed from anywhere, anytime. Again, because so much of my data collection came from students’ self-reporting and reflection, as well as my own self-reporting and reflection, one cannot accept the data trends entirely at face value.
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Because I can only confidently speak on the greater trends of what this data collection process reveals, there seems to be increased confidence and more self-regulation in a majority of my students. Students participate more, regardless of knowing the correct answer. They stopped reacting with “helpless” behaviors and focus on strategies they can use to tackle a challenging task. Their willingness to engage and stay motivated through difficult activities is entirely different to that of my other sections who did not engage in journals, portfolios, or goal-setting. B1 students report being less frustrated or anxious with speaking, writing, and listening, those macro skills they said they were the most frustrated or anxious with in September. Having them engage in the process of setting goals, monitoring through the strategies one might use to realize those goals, and evaluating the progress made, was effective in getting to recognize the connection between these aspects and effective learning, and, subsequently, success.
Implications for
future research
from Mindset Scholars Network, 2015
Regarding the challenge found in grades to sway a student from becoming more self-regulated, it is evident these two high achieving students’ experiences oppose the correlation prior researchers sought to establish. If Charlie and Maddie possess a strong sense of self-efficacy and find that self-regulation by way of goal-setting, monitoring, and evaluation (i.e. reflection) has not helped them succeed or gain a growth mindset, then these personal attributes may not be as highly correlated as previously believed. Further research and study are needed with students who already have strong self-efficacy beliefs to discover how to grow their mindset, helping them to find value in seeking improvement even when you have been high achieving.
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Additionally, more research should be conducted for self-regulated learning strategies in classrooms with traditional grading. In competitive high school environments with mixed messaging as to the importance of grades such as the one I have taught at for the past two years, I have found it difficult and, conclusively, ineffective to teach self-regulation.
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What is the purpose of setting personal goals if grades are explained to be the end-all-be-all for students’ future success?
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What is the purpose of reflection on how to improve if you are already at the top of the food chain?
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What message is it sending to lower achieving students if this process has been so unhelpful for their peers
but helpful for themselves?
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What is the purpose in teaching strategies that are not taught to students elsewhere?