Ever heard of a WAAG? I have to admit I hadn’t, until our new deputy started to send around an email called ‘Week At A Glance’ with all the notices and events on it. It’s pretty handy. But the reason I mention it is because recently she has been adding a little image at the top, a different one each week. Often to do with something happening that week, like a picture of a visiting author and a book she has written. However, the last two have been reminding folk of the ‘fixed V growth’ mindset discussion that is en vogue just now.
It has been interesting watching the growth of this thinking over the last few years. I find it fascinating how it has been taken by various media outlets, misrepresented and misinterpreted so much so, that Carol Dweck herself has had to update what exactly she meant. She has also added a few more points. We have the ‘false growth mindset’ as an idea that people know what they should say they are, and declare they have the Growth Mindset, but in fact their actions paint a different picture.
So where am I going with this? I don’t want to discuss the Growth Mindset itself, that has been done plenty of times by others already. In general, I like the concept, it makes sense to me, and I use the terminology with my students and myself. But, how can technology aid, clarify and articulate the process of developing a Growth Mindset?
There is nothing better than having to learn something new, to test out your approach to learning. And technology delivers new learning in abundance. For me, it is particularly interesting observing the teachers as they learn. The whole range of approaches surface, those who give up easily, those who know this is going to take lots of effort, and calculate that the outcome is not worth their effort, and those that just get on with it. Some just want me (or a colleague) to show them the steps, so they can get it done. But in reality, we know that is not an effective way to learn. The students, in my experience, are far more resilient learners when it comes to using new technology.
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But I believe the true strength of technology in regards to this lies in the ‘Mutability’ element of the ‘SAMMS’ model of transformation. The ability to revisit, edit, change and adapt work. But even better, the ability to document this process of creation. My students have their own personal blog, as well as the class one. Here they showcase their final pieces of work, and reflect on what they have learnt. But I’m starting to think we are missing a trick. Why do only their final pieces of work get to be displayed? Why not all the previous incarnations, so we can see how the creation has developed?
So my next task, is to work out a way of concisely showing the process of learning and creation that has gone into each final piece. This way, they can demonstrate the mistakes that they made, the problems that they solved and the different approaches they tried, as well as any help they sought and received.
Any ideas?
