Progress Memo #2

Unsurprisingly, my most generative data sources have been the journal entries that have asked students to reflect on their growth mindset, on the progress they have made towards the goals that they set at the beginning of the year, and on their study habits. A lot of what I have coded so far comes from these journal entries that students have written periodically since the beginning of the year. Right off the bat, perhaps because of my critical nature, I noticed the implications of what the data was showing.

One, I realized students were measuring their success on the grades they were receiving rather than on mastering the content itself. I realized that I had never discussed with them explicitly that there might be other ways of viewing personal success in the class. At the same time, this reveals that, without me explicitly asking or discussing, students are preoccupied with grades more than I expected and I don’t think I can totally change this thinking, regrettably, in the span of a year. To them, successful study habits are shown through their grade, and so I believe it may be reinforcing – for some students – that an average, or sometimes above average, grade can be achieved through some not so stellar study habits (or simply not trying hard enough or studying enough) which in the long run will reinforce the belief that intelligence is an ingrained ability if they were “successful” by doing their same old routine. I’ll speak more on this later. However, for those students who I notice have made vast improvements in their writing, grammar, and speaking, the journals prove that by documenting “struggle” (one of my codes), it has shown them what works and what doesn’t and concrete ways they can improve. From my teacher journal, I know they have gained confidence in themselves by speaking up in class a lot more, asking more questions than at the beginning of the year, volunteering answers more (even if they’re wrong), collaborating with each other more by asking each other for help, groaning less at difficult tasks (usually listening exercises), and being more willing to voice out loud when a task was difficult.

Other big sources have been the rubrics I use to grade alternative assessments that are not quizzes or bell ringers (i.e. oral quizzes and projects). For these I spend a significant amount of time generating suggestions for their future improvement as well as praising the areas where they hit the mark. From these, I see the general trend students overall have been losing some focus in class. As my mentor points out though, this also means I’ve created a classroom environment where students continue to have conversations about Spanish, the culture/country we’re learning about, grammar, or other topics we’re covering because they are so interested and invested in the material. They are not distracted on their phones and they usually will refocus when I ask them to. The only worry I have is that with the loss of focus, especially when working on a project or group task, more work is being done by certain students rather than shared by all. Also, my worry (as shown by including participation in the rubrics) is that they are limiting the effort they can put in. It’s clear that a lot of students benefit from spending time in class practicing for oral quizzes or taking time in class to work on projects, but others that don’t use their time as effectively tend to score lower.

Going back to students who may be achieving the same or higher than students who are working harder but learning more effectively, I asked students once to write if they had not studied or practiced for a certain section of our final exam and a couple admitted to them finding themselves not studying. Some also admitted that not studying worked out okay because they achieved a certain score. So, I really believe it is reinforcing fixed mindset. I don’t necessarily think I can change this attitude – nor does Carol Dweck in fact – and I have to be okay with realizing that changing growth mindset is a hard thing to do and takes time. Not only this but I am only one of many teachers my students have, so even though I may be spreading my message of learning being more important than grades, others have and will continue to disagree on the importance of grades. We are part of a competitive school where, like it or not, there’s no way to avoid thinking about grades as an indication of student worth and success. This was something I did not foresee being such a limiting factor (for these particular students who “cruise” through assessments) in my project, and I already know this is something I need to consider moving forward because of the correlation it has to growth mindset.