Introduction
Third grade is a tough transition year. The students go from being nurtured in primary grades, to being more independent and held accountable for their learning. I have noticed in my classroom especially, that my students aren’t really reflective on their learning, whether positive or negative. I want reflection for my students to be something that helps them grow as students and learners. I think that this is a defining age for my students to either become discouraged by school or embrace the productive struggle.
|
My Students' learning needs
My students have needs across all subjects. Based on data I have collected in my internship, I have a very split classroom. There is no “average” scores. Half of my students get the content, half of them do not. I have also been able to determine that the majority of my students are unable to explain why they got a question wrong after being told the right answer. I gave students a preliminary reflection assessment and my students were all able to tell me what they felt they were bad at, but the things they were good at were not academic. One student said she was bad at math but good at gymnastics. Another student also said he was bad at math, but good at video games. Over half of the class felt that they were bad at math. After report cards were sent out, I gave another assessment and asked students how they felt they were doing in certain subject areas. I plan to give this assessment after every report card to see if their opinion of themselves have changed. Five students felt they were doing okay or poorly in math, but ten out of seventeen students gave themselves an okay or poor for writing. I was surprised at their ability to be honest in their reflections. One boy in particular was interesting to me. He has the highest math grade in the class, but he gave himself an okay in the subject. I think it is interesting that although he is doing extremely well in math, he still feels like he can improve. I think that is an important part of growth mindset, which is what I want to instill in all of my students and goes along with how I can be responsive to my students’ needs.
HOW CAN I BE RESPONSIVE TO THEIR NEEDS?
I think instilling a growth mindset in my students is going to be one of the best way to empower my students. Growth mindset is the idea that with hard work and practice, you can accomplish anything. On the contrary, fixed mindset is the idea that you are born with a certain amount of intelligence and you cannot get smarter. I do not want my students to believe that their intelligence is predetermined and their cards have already been dealt. I want all of my students to believe that they can grow. The key to growing, is being able to determine what areas need more practice. If my students are able to identify what areas they struggle in, we can determine what areas to pinpoint our focus on.
CONNECTIONS TO MY BELIEFS
Throughout my coursework, I have come across many resources on instilling a growth mindset in the classroom. One of the images I have come across, through my science professor Melanie Kinskey is from the Florida Department of Education website. I love the graphic and the comparison between the two mindsets. Melanie also exposed us to a great TED talk where Carol Dweck talks about “the power of yet”. She basically is saying that instead of telling students that they fail or are dumb, we just use the words not yet. This shows students that learning is a process. They haven’t mastered the content yet, but we will get there.
|
MY ONGOING WONDERING |
As I move forward this semester and through my final internship, my wondering is:
How can implementing growth mindset help students reflect on learning and identify their strengths and weaknesses? |
Data I Have collected so far:
Moving Forward...
As I continue my inquiry throughout this semester and into my final internship, I plan to give students more opportunities to reflect on their learning. I plan on giving students the same flower reflection tool at the end of each quarter to see if their ideas of themselves change or improve. I also plan to start implementing self reflection at the end of lessons. I want to start using a number scale for students to tell me how they think they are doing. On this scale, four would be the highest and students at a level four would be experts and would be able to explain the topic to a friend, three would be I get it but I still may have questions, two is I sometimes understand with help from the teacher, and one would be I do not get and need help. Students who are able to reflect can self-advocate for themselves. Next week during my supervisor observation, I also plan on giving an exit ticket where students rate themselves and then tell me one thing they learned from the lesson and also one thing they still have a question about. With these multiple forms of reflection building on each other throughout the year, I hope to build my students into reflective thinkers who can identify their strengths and areas for growth.