Mindset: The New Psychology of Success - How We Can Learn to Fulfill Our Potential By: Carol S. Dweck, Ph.D.

A student in your class has a fixed mindset.

• How does that impact their motivation?
• Their effort?
• Their work completion?
• What other consequences could it have?

What are the consequences of a teacher having a fixed mindset about their students?

What are the consequences of a teacher having a fixed mindset about themselves?

If you could share one paragraph of this book with another person, which would you choose?

What was your favorite part of this book?

What was your least favorite part of this book?

Chapter 7 Getting Started : Questions and Answers

Sorry this is late, I left my book at school over the weekend. ooops!!

This chapter focused on 3 areas of concern: group formation, providing content, and introducing group work.

Group formation:

For the most part, he recommends not using ability grouping. Using ability grouping goes against the idea of the group working together to teach each other. Ideally, it should be 1 higher achieving student to 2 lower achieving student.
Putting students together by choice isn't always a bad idea, as long as they are choosing based on interest and not necessarily by who they want to go with. (It is mentioned that choosing friends would be ok if they were working together outside of school.) Randomly assigned students would be okay also. However, student choice and random assignment have a downside. If the groups do not end up with a variety of skills then the groups will not work out the right way.
P.99 has a method of ranking students based on ability level and social factors. I think this is a pretty good idea, but would need to try it to see how it really works out. They also mention the same use of partnering the kids together with a list split in two that Doug Fisher mentioned at the in-service.
Four students per group is ideal, but 3 or 5 would be okay too. The shorter the project, the fewer students you would want because that way all students will be able to share their ideas. It would be okay to have more students work together on a project that takes longer.
It is important that students are grouped using formative assessment, and it would be okay for groups to change if they are not working part way through.

Providing Content-
All students should be working on the same standard, but this can be done in a variety of ways. This section focused on differentiation, which I feel like we have talked about a lot. However, when we roll this part out to staff I am sure it would be beneficial to talk about some specifics. The book talks about varying the texts used for each group. It could be varied by type or level.

Introducing Group Work-
They recommend to start small. Starting with partner-driven conversations is a good place to start. Also, using sentence frames (such as the ones on p. 105) are helpful and of course a lot of MODELING (not sure if you guys knew this yet :) ) They show a 20 implementation guide that seems to be appropriate for centers, but it would be helpful to have some kind of lesson plan to follow for basic groups, such as model how to use sentence frames, work in partners with sentence frames, etc. etc. I'm not sure what it would look like, but I know I would appreciate some very structured way begin getting kids to work productively in groups.

I really like how this chapter answered several questions I was wondering about, but I would still like to SEE how teachers teach students how to use productive group work.

Ch. 6 Incorporating Group Processing

A key component of PGW is allowing time for students to reflect on their learning as a group (group processing). "Group work improves when students discuss and assess their interaction, the progress they make toward their goal, and what did and did not work, and then go on to talk about what they'll do differently in the future" (p. 84).

Group processing builds metacognition, the ability to reflect on one's learning. Part of metacognition is being able to to plan an approach and follow through with the plan. Executive function is when a student can take what they have learned and apply it in a new situation or when something unexpected happens. This makes me think of how our non-fiction writing and focus in data team works. "Without the of instructional routines that foster metacognition and executive function, students would have a very difficult time developing these capacities" (p. 86).

The authors discuss three routines to help support group processing.

1. Self-Monitoring Questionnaires: Examples would include smiling and frowning faces, Likert scale (1-5), and open-ended questions. See p. 87 for examples. Using the questionnaires establish a common basis for discussion during group processing.

2. Learning Logs: They are used to keep track of student learning. They can last for a few days or weeks, and, possibly longer. Students use the log to reflect what they understand, find confusing, or have questions about. I liked the quote on p. 88. "[My learning log is] a discussion with myself on paper." They caution that the logs are used just to keep track of their experience. They discusses have pre-planned questions. There is a great example on p. 89.

3. Roundtable activities: This allows all members to reflect on their work. A couple topics for discussion include: Name something that surprised or confused you and identify something you learned that you will use in another class.

This chapter had a lot of useful information. I thought back to Hattie's recommendation of using self-monitoring/self-reporting of grades. This is an area where we could get "the most bang for our buck."

There is something in this chapter that every teacher, no matter their content area, would be able to use. I think teachers try to incorporate group work in their classrooms, but seldom allow time for self-reflection. Again, this will have to be modeled.

Chapter 5 Building Interpersonal and Small Group Skills

Building Interpersonal and Small -Group Skills are a critical component to successful productive group work. Learning to work well with others requires modeling, lots of practice, reflection, and refinement of skills. Lessons need to be designed that include routines and group tasks that specifically focus on expanding students' interpersonal skills.

There is a brief description of theory of mind. This suggests that empathy and the ability to take on different perspectives can emerge from exposure to the feelings of others and from experiences that foster differing points of view. There is a good chart on page 70 which states important skills and an operational definition of each skill.

Teachers need to model and provide opportunity with routine. Students need to be taught the skills for thinking and communicating with clarity. A good tool for this is graphic organizers. A caution...graphic organizers should not be handed out like a worksheet to be completed by students. This chapter suggests teacher modeling of a variety of graphic organizers and then allowing student choice for organizing information for sharing. Five types of organizers commonly used are described on page 73. Active listening is another group work skill that students need to be taught. There is a good description on page 75, but a great example explaining how a teacher implemented active listening in his class using daily feedback from students on his own implementation ofactive listening. The checklist he uses with students is included on page 76. The list sets the expectations for listening and provides scaffolding for good listening behaviors during group work. A third skill that is discussed is responding to peers. Teaching students to give constructive feedback that is meaningful and not too polite or too blunt. Again there is a good chart on page 78 that explains several techniques. Finally, considering different perspectives and creating opportunities for students to disagree with one another on a topic of substance. Successful group work is designed to expose students to multiple viewpoints, and it canbuild students' capacity to understand the perspective of others and craft a position for themselves.

The chapter ends with three different scenarios implementing these skills. In the high school scenario a discussion web is mentioned. I have seen a web used by teachers, but never thought of sharing with students what the web looks like after a discussion...great idea! It would be interesting to do this in a data meeting, staff meeting, etc.

Chapter 4: Ensuring
Individual and Group Accountability
Chapter 4 takes us on a journey of what is required from
each member of the group when doing PGW.
The word accountability is equal with responsibility, and is important
that we create opportunities for all students to be responsible in PGW. There are two levels to PGW: individual accountability and group accountability. “Regardless of the rigor or duration of the
collaborative learning task, each student needs to clearly understand his or
her individual role as well as what the group is expected to produce or
accomplish” (52).
The authors provide 6 ways for building accountability into
each task:
1.
Tasks
should be designed to focus on larger learning goals.
2.
Students should have time to practice with small
tasks before expecting them to complete longer projects.
3.
Timelines should be created for individual work
and group work due dates.
4.
Conferences should be scheduled DURING the
projects to give feedback to individual and group progress.
5.
Students should evaluate themselves and the
efforts of their group work.
6.
When grading, make sure to factor in individual
work and the overall group project.
One way that teachers can ensure work distribution is to
create roles for students when working in productive groups. The most important thing to remember when
doing this though is that students should have practice with these roles before
being thrown into them. Table tents are
an easy way to keep students focused on the learning task, instead of worrying
about what they are supposed to contribute.
I know that during data teams, it is nice to have my responsibilities in
front of me so I can be reminded of what I need to complete. Expectations and setting up routines ahead of
time can help maximize the learning.
Checklists, timelines, and rubrics are good ideas for teachers to have
in place when planning PGW. They can
help guide students in participation, interaction, and providing specific
feedback to each other.
Two specific ways that teachers can give feedback to
students is through observations and conferencing. There are two forms on pages 56 and 57 that
could be useful for teachers but I personally do not think it needs to always
be that detailed. I like the quote on
page 55, “Recording kidwatching observations can be as simple as using a
clipboard with sticky notes in order to jot quick comments about a student’s
participation in group work” (55).
Conferencing can and should be done with individual students and also in
groups. The most important thing I took
from this is that it should be done during the projects, not afterwards.
To end the chapter, the authors give us four different
routines that can help ensure individual and group accountability:
1.
Numbered Heads:
This strategy is already on our blue cards, but are teachers using it?
2.
Collaboratively Constructed Products: Becky and I tried this last year, and I am
skeptical because students can technically do their own part with their marker,
but the conversation piece can be forgotten.
Ideas on how we can include the rich conversations?
3.
Progressive Writing: This is an interesting idea, and was
wondering if anyone has tried it in their classroom?
4.
Writing Frames:
The READ 180 curriculum uses writing frames (sentence starters). Do other subjects/teachers use writing frame
in their classes?