This week #psuaged19 began their journey in AEE 412. For #psuaged18, this blog has served as a detailed recap and discussion about their cohort class sessions in 412. This year, it will be slightly different and will highlight instructional resources (websites, videos etc.) for the topics being covered in 412, and will also feature different guest bloggers from the virtual mentoring program.
Over the course of the next 16 weeks, #psuaged19 will embark on road trip to pre-service agricultural educator success. Each week's blog post will highlight the learning destination (ie. major class topic) for that week, and resources for each stop (ie. class meeting) on the journey to that destination. Join in the weekly adventures and share the learning experiences that are encountered along the way. The journey begins as #psuaged travels into the realm of the growth mindset.......
We began AEE 412 by focusing on an important theme that is relevant to all teachers and students: the growth mindset essential for becoming a successful learner. Just because someone doesn't know something yet (emphasis on yet), doesn't mean that with hard work and self regulated learning they cannot grow their intelligence to master the concept over time.
To get students thinking about this concept, a TED Talk called Amateur Hour and two articles about how students learn and approach learning were assigned to students prior to class. During class, students were split into groups and asked to analyze two additional articles, The Secret of Self-Assessed Learning and You Can Grow Intelligence. Each group was then asked to compare all of the resources they had utilized and share what they thought were three important thoughts/themes.
This activity got everyone into the idea that intelligence is something that can be grown through hard work and commitment. The brain is like a muscle, and if it is not exercised and challenged regularly, it cannot continue to grow and get stronger. Just like elite athletes regularly train and work their muscles to keep them in top form, successful students do the same thing to their brains. Self regulated learners understand the importance of consistently engaging their brain in new and different ways, and know that this hard work can pay off in the acquisition of new knowledge and skills, as well as the mastery of things that may once have seemed difficult.
Class members also identified that "yet" is a critical phrase to apply when someone says they don't know something and can serve as the difference between growth mindset and fixed mindset learners. Just because a student doesn't know something right now, doesn't mean that they cannot learn it over time. Growth mindset learners understand that just because they don't know or understand something right now, doesn't mean that they cannot learn it over time. Fixed mindset learners tend to quit or abandon things that are hard for them, and do not focus on the fact that such things could become easy over time if they were willing to work at them.
A real-world example for this concept would be someone who runs their first 5K and isn't happy with their time. A fixed mindset runner would be more likely to maintain the same training program that they did before the first race and then quit and say they would never be able to run faster when their time didn't change in the next race. A growth mindset runner would be more open to changing their training program to help them run faster, even if it were harder, and wouldn't get discouraged when their time didn't become faster right away.
A great Youtube video to help understand this idea further can be found here:
Growth vs. fixed mindset learning approaches are an important concept to remember as educators. The classroom is full of challenges: difficult students, varied types of learners, scheduling constraints etc., and if teachers maintained a fixed mindset, they would not be able to find success in the classroom. The best teachers are those who adopt and maintain the growth mindset perspective, and never stop pushing themselves to grow as educators.
Our students were challenged to maintain their growth mindset during their lab activity this week. They were tasked to teach a lesson on a topic that was unfamiliar to them and had a maximum of 15 minutes to present the topic and give an assessment and learning survey. They were not given any preface or directions on how to teach their lesson or any additional information on the topic they were assigned.
This experience could have been very frustrating if they were in the fixed mindset approach. However, because they were able to maintain their growth mindsets, they were able to walk out of the lab knowing that while they might have not been able to deliver the lesson that they wanted yet, if they work hard and implement the teaching strategies they will be taught, they will find success in the classroom.
As we end the first week of AEE 412, remember that the best is yet to come!
I am so excited to have the opportunity to work with each of you to prepare you for the most impactful experience of your undergraduate education: your Student Teaching Internship.
This year brings us all so many opportunities to grow and learn. We are all being challenged to have high expectations for ourselves. As your instructor, I expect you set goals for yourself and work hard to reach them, while I set very high goals for myself as well. My dream is deliver to you to best Agricultural Teaching Methods class in the world.
Reaching your goals can be scary and sometimes frustrating. It takes a very long time to become proficient at something you are not yet so good at. In fact, it has been evidenced by research that the only way to learn and get smarter is to attempt something new and work really, really hard art it.....even if you make a lot of mistakes.
YES! I SAID IT! I WANT YOU TO MAKE A LOT OF MISTAKES!!!
Do not be afraid to try something because you think you won't e good at it. Chances are, YOU WON'T! AND THAT IS GOOD! In order to be successful, you will need to make mistakes and learn from them. Easy is BORING. Effort is what makes us smart!
Please keep your "Mental Eraser" handy! Remind yourself to ACCEPT Challenges, to MAKE MISTAKES, and to LEARN from those mistakes. Most importantly, promise tot yourself you will KEEP TRYING. When it gets tough, as your instructor, I promise to help you along the way.
Remember:
"The worst mistake anyone can every make is to be afraid to make one."
Course materials for AEE 412 (Syllabus, Assignment Handbook, and Lab Packet) have been uploaded to your private NAAE Communities of Practice (http://communities.naae.org/docs/DOC-11382)
Mindset book by Carol Dweck
Please take time to review the materials closely as time will be given on Monday for questions and clarifications. The entire semester plan is provided to you before hand so that as adult professionals you can plan your time accordingly.
One of the Concepts we discuss on the first day is having a growth mindset. This is a concept introduced by Carol Dweck (Stanford Psychologist) in her book MINDSET: The new psychology of success. [Learn more here: http://mindsetonline.com; Book available for $11 on Kindle]. In her own words, Professor Dweck describes a growth mindset as follows: Individuals with a fixed mindset believe that their intelligence is simply an inborn trait--they have a certain amount, and that's that. In contrast, individuals with a growth mindset believe that they can develop their intelligence over time.
Here is a video of Dr. Dweck Discussing Mindset (There are a lot out there if you want to search!):
