Future Practice & Other Considerations
Individuals with growth mindsets are courageous. They are willing to bet on themselves and take risks even if they have encountered failure in the past. The most troubling thing I discovered this year was how much fear actually inhibits a person’s ability to learn. While many individuals with admit that they are afraid of making mistakes I think very few realize just how damaging fear is to their confidence. I think moving forward it would be interesting to see if eliminating letter grades actually allows students to focus more on the learning process as opposed to the results. One of my fellow graduate school colleagues started to only give feedback in the form of teacher remarks. Similar to my experience with students, he noticed that students were so fixated by grades that they were not actually learning from any of their mistakes. While this was not the only one of my GSE colleagues that tried this form of feedback with their students, he was the only one who seemed to find it extremely effective.
Some would say that grades and test scores are inevitable part of life. Getting rid of them would be doing a disservice to students because it is a reality that they will inevitably face in college and beyond. While grades and test scores might be an unavoidable part of the education system, they do not have to set the tone of the classroom. As teachers we have some influence over how students view their grades and what they signify. By helping them develop a growth mindset, students can start to see grades as learning took as opposed to ridiculing letters. Throughout this experience I intend to adopt Michael Jordan’s philosophy when dealing with my students, “I can accept failure, everyone fails at something. But I cannot accept not trying.” Not trying is unacceptable. Not trying is toxic. Not trying leads to not learning. Not trying will never be allowed in my future classrooms.
Some would say that grades and test scores are inevitable part of life. Getting rid of them would be doing a disservice to students because it is a reality that they will inevitably face in college and beyond. While grades and test scores might be an unavoidable part of the education system, they do not have to set the tone of the classroom. As teachers we have some influence over how students view their grades and what they signify. By helping them develop a growth mindset, students can start to see grades as learning took as opposed to ridiculing letters. Throughout this experience I intend to adopt Michael Jordan’s philosophy when dealing with my students, “I can accept failure, everyone fails at something. But I cannot accept not trying.” Not trying is unacceptable. Not trying is toxic. Not trying leads to not learning. Not trying will never be allowed in my future classrooms.