Musings from Mrs. Galvan

After 6 months of using Standards Based Grading, and speaking to colleagues individually, I gave a talk to the World Languages Department about my experiences. I use Active Grade and showed my grade book during my presentation. Obviously, that link won't work in the presentation below. I will add screenshots to the slideshow... eventually.

Today I started each of my classes with a discussion on failure. My students were immediately uncomfortable at the mention of the word. They prefer sugar coated versions like mess-ups or stumbles. We shared our typical reactions to failures. I shared that I typically get mad at myself and say something like, "Why I am so stupid?" Others shared that they cry or ignore the failure or laugh it off. Resilience is key for success in learning anything, math included . #Caedchat on Sunday reminded me of this great acronym. :) I am reading Creative Confidence at the moment so the importance of resilience in the face of failure has been on my mind. I shared with them a passage on pages 9 and 10 about "self-efficacy." If we are afraid to fail, we are afraid to take risks, afraid to try. The fear of failure can block our opportunity to Learn and Grow.

I have been saving interesting articles and blog posts lately that all point to the importance of certain non-cognitive skills for our students to be successful. Below are links to recent good reads. Also, discussed here on This American Life  and in my blog a bit here . Kids need these skills for success: Focus  - Avoid Distractions Positive Attitude  - Never saying "I'm bad at Math" Resilience  - I haven't mastered factoring YET GRIT , hard work, growth mindset matter most. As teachers, we can't just teach the concepts. We won't be successful unless we are encouraging these skills too.

I have been asking my students' parents to refrain from telling their children if they were bad at math at Back to School nights for years. Why would kids want to try at a subject that is hard if their parents give them an out? Here is a good synopsis , backed up by a recent study linking the anxiety of parents to the performance of students, of how and why parents (and teachers) should change their tone and " jump into the subject they once feared with both feet."

Yesterday we had the pleasure of listening to a talk by researcher Carol Dweck at our faculty meeting. She spoke about her research on mindsets . I enjoyed her talk and I am eager to put it into practice, though I think encouraging growth mindsets in my students won't be an easy, instant change. I consider myself a positive person and I try to encourage my students to have positive outlooks for success. I have also spent the last 6 months reading parenting books that warn against praising actions and encourage praising effort or simply summarizing actions to build self-esteem. In short, I was eager to hear her talk to learn more ways to help my students (and children) to succeed. Here are my notes: Fixed mindsets = non-learners Growth mindset = intelligence can be developed People with Fixed Mindsets are concerned with not looking dumb , believe talent in innate and tend to hide mistakes. People with Growth Mindsets will learn at all costs, work hard, pushing them...