Which subjects are you bad at? Maths Languages P.E. French Art I’m an art and textiles teacher and I’d like to ask your thoughts about which subjects are you bad at?

‘Is this ok?’ Reflecting on resilience and growth mindsets By Tina Herringshaw Is this ok? My study reflected on resilience and growth mindset

What is the issue? ‘Miss, is this ok?’ Why do they need confirmation? Students ask for reassurance. ‘Miss, is this ok?’ Art has fundamental rules we teach. Students still ask if their work is ‘Right’, ‘Good’ or ‘Correct’ Why do they need confirmation? Why are they not able to work it out? As a reflective practitioner I have been part of numerous research groups at JMS looking at a wide variety of educational research, however I still found that my main issue in my lessons was(CLICk) that my students would constantly ask for re-assurance. (CLICK) ‘Miss, is this ok?’ Teaching a visual art subject has it’s difficulties in what we believe is ‘good’ as we each see art differently. However (CLICK) we teach a set of fundamental rules that students use to develop skills and analyse their work to know how to improve. (CLIKC) Why then did I still have endless students needing confirmation that their work is ‘correct’ or ‘good’.? (CLICK) Why do they need confirmation? (CLICK) Why are they not able to work it out?

Dispelling the myth – Fixed mindset Who is bad/good at: Maths Languages Sport Art? Born natural artists? talk, walk, write No.  ”A fixed mindset—the idea that abilities are carved in stone,… When [students] hit obstacles, setbacks, or criticism, this [is] just more proof that they [don’t] have [these natural] abilities.” Dweck (CLICK) We, as a Visual Arts department, always teach our first yr7 art lesson on dispelling the myth that you are either born ‘good’ at art or not. Are we born natural artists? Are we born able to CICK talk, CLiCK, walk, CLICK, write. CLICK – A fixed mindset is the idea that abilities are carved in stone,… When [students] hit obstacles, setbacks, or criticism, this [is] just more proof that they [don’t] have [these natural] abilities.”

So how do we learn? So we can improve at art or any subject? By watching, trying, failing and trying again.. practice When we fall off the bike and we get up, brush our knees off and try again. So we can improve at art or any subject? (CLICK) We learn as infants how to walk, talk, swim, ride a bike. Through trying, failing, trying again and practicing. (CLICK) We fall off (CLICK) we get back on. (CLICK) We can learn how to get better at art or any subject. Through further discussion with an ex-colleague of mine – Lucy Dusgupta, I made the link that this lesson is at the core of Growth Mindset. I wanted to find to out more. How can I build resilience in students so they ‘know’ they are doing well, and can use feedback to help them improve?

Building confidence in yr7 Example of students work with progress over 1 lesson 1. Memory 2. Observation 3. Taught observation “With a growth mindset, kids don’t necessarily think that there’s no such thing as talent or that everyone is the same, but they believe everyone can develop their abilities through hard work, strategies, and lots of help and mentoring from others.” Dweck This is an example of my first follow on yr7 art lesson. It shows how students make progress through scaffolding and belief. (CLICK) Memory – students believe they can draw from memory – this is really hard. (CLICK)Observation – we ask them to draw from an image – this is easier (CLICK) Taught Observation – we teach them the skills step by step how to observe and draw. As well as accepting that everyone comes with differing experience and therefore starting level. They are not born good at art, but have to practice, put in effort, use strategies and help to get there.

How can I build resilience in students so that they ‘know’ they are doing well, and can use feedback to help them improve? So my research question – How can I build resilience in students so they ‘Know’ that they are doing well (like this guy) and can use feedback to help them improve?

What the research said Lucy Dasgupta’s MSc ‘Exploring strategies that foster a growth mindset rather than a fixed mindset in previously high attaining secondary school Mathematics students’ ‘The perils and promises of praise’ by Carol Dweck ‘Carol Dweck Revisits the ‘Growth Mindset’’ “Students mindsets - how they perceive their abilities-played a key role in their motivation and achievement, and we found that if we changed student’s mindsets, we could boost their achievement.” Feedback Among others the key pieces of research I read were Lucy’Dasgupta’s MSc, and Carol Dweck, who is the leading researcher in this field. From her research she found… CLICK .. That students mindsets, played a key role in their motivation and achievement and by changing the students mindset their achievement improves. CLICK From Lucy’s MSC I found that feedback was key to building a fixed or growth mindest.

Feedback Feedback observation template So I used her feedback template to undertake lesson observations to firstly look at what types of feedback we give to students. (CLICK) I found that ‘empty praise’ was what I needed to try to remove from my verbal feedback.

Praising intelligence Dweck explains why; “Many (educators) believe that praising a students’ intelligence builds their confidence and motivation to learn, and students’ inherent intelligence is the major cause of their achievement in school. Our research has shown that the first belief is false and the second can be harmful – even for the most competent students.” Dweck goes into how praising intelligence is harmful

Empty Praise “Good”, “Well Done”, “You’re Great”. Fixed mindset,- intelligence Students care about being judged: smart or not. Afraid of effort = dumb Previously high attaining students stop working when the work becomes challenging Lack of resilience Empty praise is when you give meaningless praise; such as ‘good, well done. CLICK This instils a fixed mindset as you are praising their intelligence rather than the task they have achieved. Students with a fixed mindset care about being judged as smart, not the learning process. ClICK - They are also afraid of effort because effort makes them feel dumb. They believe that if you have the ability, you shouldn't need effort. CLICK This is one of the worst beliefs that students can hold. It can cause many previously high attaining students to stop working in school when the work becomes challenging. CLICK A lack of resilience. .

Action research Peer observations & discussions Videoing our own practice to self-evaluate Break ‘empty praise’ habit Barriers prevented us from developing a growth mindset Strategies build resilience CLICK Across the past 2 years I undertook peer observations and CLICK videoing my own practice to self-evaluate, I was able to become more aware of the feedback I was giving, including using non-specific praise. (CLICK) And found, only thorough self=awareness can you work towards breaking the ‘empty praise’ habit. Last year , in our small team we looked at what barriers prevented us from developing a growth mindset as a teacher and what strategies we could implement to build resilience through feedback to students.

Findings “you have managed to sew accurately around that shape, now see if you can add a second layer to build more detail to your design” Add on … “Well Done!” Unfinished – “OK” “You could have a predominant growth mindset in an area but there can still be things that trigger you into a fixed mindset trait.” Dweck An example of my GM response is ‘you have managed to sew accurately around that shape, now see if you can add a second layer to build more detail to your design’. CLICK However I found it hard to not add on the phrase ‘well done’ at the end. CLICK It felt unfinished, so I often used ‘Ok’. I am still trying to practice not using any empty praise in my feedback. Evaluating my practice regularly through videos, helps to make me aware of where I use fill words. CLICK Dweck explains an explanation for this is that you can still have triggers that lead you to a fixed mindset. Understanding these helps to not fall into that mindset.

Moving forward Build resilience Highlight & alter practice Aware responses Student self evaluate They have the interventions “ that will boost their motivation, resilience and learning” Dweck. How can I support teachers in their personal growth mindset? Is there a set of strategies that teachers can use to improve their growth mindset feedback and reduce empty praise? How can I make growth mindset important to staff and not just another tick box exercise? In summary being part of the R&I group on Growth Mindset has helped me to (CLICK) build resilience highlighting and altering my practice. Has the number of students asking ‘Is this ok’ reduced, it’s hard to say. (CLICK) What I do know is that I’m more aware of my responses, so if my students do ask me, (CLICK) my response is to guide them towards the success criteria to self-evaluate and less of me praising their intelligence and fixing their mindset. (CLICK)They now have the tools to work out the answers so don’t need me to tell them. Moving forward I want to look at these questions: around, supporting teachers mindsets, strategies to reduce empty praise and the importance of growth mindset to staff.

“…As educators, it is our responsibility to create a context in which a growth mindset can flourish.” Dweck Lastly I will leave you with a quote