Growth Mindset and Motivation TIPR
Current Teacher Behaviors
1. Describe how your cooperating teacher teacher develops and promotes true growth mindset in his/her instruction, assessment, and/or procedures. Describe how the teacher and/or school motivate students. Give specific examples of both extrinsic motivators and how they are developing and promoting intrinsic motivation. Include information from specific motivational theories (e.g., Maslow's Hierarchy, Self-determination Theory) and cite specific examples.
Most of the classes I have been observing have adopted a more flexible policy concerning due dates and really encouraging test re-takes. These two examples allow students to stay motivated when things don't go as planned regarding classwork, and to be able to identify what they got wrong or didn't understand during assessments, and to try again to do better.
As far as motivation, I really have been able to see a wide range of students and teachers to see this in action. Some students, maybe most, are driven by extrinsic motivators either encouraging positive behavior such as trying to do well to get a good grade, or not misbehaving because they don't want the punishment of a homework assignment. Every once in a while I saw students that had started participating in a discussion perhaps simply to please the teacher (extrinsic), but then found themselves really intrigued by the direction of the topic and I could see those "ah ha" moments where the learning was being truly driven by their own interest (intrinsic) and background knowledge. Those were cool teaching moments and I'm sure every teacher wishes it was always like that. I feel this example demonstrates the ABC's of Self-Determination Theory well because the teacher has created an environment where the students feel they belong, which is what actually motivated their initial involvement in many cases, they saw that the teacher, who they care for, was standing up there asking for participation, and some of them feel bad when the teacher feels bad, hence they start answering the prompts. They felt safe taking the risk even if their answer was wrong. Once the rest of the students started to see that while the initial question might have sounded hard to answer, they actually did have a lot of background knowledge that they could tap into and talk about, that is the competence factor of Self-Determination. And then the teacher allowed the discussion to be driven by their interests and questions which exemplifies the importance of autonomy in getting students motivated to learn.
edTPA Prep
How does the teacher design lessons in a way that challenges students to engage?
Unfortunately, this seems to be the really hard part in many of the classes I observe, but I feel that I can easily pick one thing that is contributing to this problem. When teachers are doing the same thing for the whole class period, whether it be lecture, group work, or independent work, the students disengage every time. The classes that do the best are those that identify the learning goal so students know what the class is working on that day, and then mix it up with new activities every 10-15 minutes. Starting with a scavenger hunt around the class, moving to some reading and comprehension in groups, then to a class discussion, followed by an engaging PowerPoint assisted lecture. While it certainly took longer planning for the teacher, the students were engaged the entire class.
What does the teacher do during class to further challenge students to engage?
I think teacher interaction with the students is key here. While the scavenger hunt was happening, this teacher was walking around with them trying to help trigger their memories from previous classes to get them to come up with the answers they needed. During the reading activity, he stopped by each group and even read some parts for a group that was short a few students, then helped further discussion. He also provided a very clear graphic organizer that helped students find the crucial information from the readings to be used later. I really liked that during his lecture, the PowerPoint it self was engaging with funny memes, information video clips, and interesting trivia about the topic.
What does the teacher do to build mutual respect and rapport with the students?
This particular teacher with the very engaging lessons has a great rapport with the students. As I watched him and looked around the classroom, several things stuck out to me. First of all, he greeted students and talked to them before the bell rang and finished listening to a student even after the bell rang. Even though he was talking to this one student for an extra couple seconds, the rest of the students were sitting at their desk, just a couple were talking to each other but they were doing it quietly. This showed me that the class respects this teacher, and that his classroom rules and expectations had been covered very clearly throughout the school year, so students knew what they were supposed to be doing even without him having to say it each time.
Student Needs
2. What are these students' mindset and motivation needs? What more could or should be done?
It seems that at this age, we as teachers should be cautions of expecting too much intrinsic motivation from students all the time. We need to always do our part to try to help them see the value in the work they do in our class, as well as ensuring it is at their level of capabilities so they are challenged but not overwhelmed. Staying positive towards them and their work is a major aspect of our relationship with them, and how motivated they will be to continue to learn and try. Sometimes encouraging students with positive or negative extrinsic motivators is necessary, since wanting good grades and the aversion to extra work are realities when dealing with students. However, all that should be done within a bigger plan of providing engaging, genuine learning opportunities for students, so they can develop those intrinsic motivators including a joy of learning new things, wanting to improve as a person overall, and developing the self-confidence to be able to do what they set out to do.
Plans for your Lesson
3. How will you address these needs when you teach your mini-lesson to this class?
In an effort to build a positive learning environment straight from the start, I plan on providing a name card tent for students to write their names on so that I can call on them by name, as well as writing my name in a clear spot on the board. This will help us build a relationship quicker and hopefully provide some motivation for them by seeing that I care who they are, and want them to be able to reach out to me and ask any questions they might have throughout the lesson. Next, I think that providing the scaffolding necessary to accomplish the ultimate goal is crucial, as well as mixing up the activities but ensuring they all complement each other so the students are always working towards the learning objective.
1. Describe how your cooperating teacher teacher develops and promotes true growth mindset in his/her instruction, assessment, and/or procedures. Describe how the teacher and/or school motivate students. Give specific examples of both extrinsic motivators and how they are developing and promoting intrinsic motivation. Include information from specific motivational theories (e.g., Maslow's Hierarchy, Self-determination Theory) and cite specific examples.
Most of the classes I have been observing have adopted a more flexible policy concerning due dates and really encouraging test re-takes. These two examples allow students to stay motivated when things don't go as planned regarding classwork, and to be able to identify what they got wrong or didn't understand during assessments, and to try again to do better.
As far as motivation, I really have been able to see a wide range of students and teachers to see this in action. Some students, maybe most, are driven by extrinsic motivators either encouraging positive behavior such as trying to do well to get a good grade, or not misbehaving because they don't want the punishment of a homework assignment. Every once in a while I saw students that had started participating in a discussion perhaps simply to please the teacher (extrinsic), but then found themselves really intrigued by the direction of the topic and I could see those "ah ha" moments where the learning was being truly driven by their own interest (intrinsic) and background knowledge. Those were cool teaching moments and I'm sure every teacher wishes it was always like that. I feel this example demonstrates the ABC's of Self-Determination Theory well because the teacher has created an environment where the students feel they belong, which is what actually motivated their initial involvement in many cases, they saw that the teacher, who they care for, was standing up there asking for participation, and some of them feel bad when the teacher feels bad, hence they start answering the prompts. They felt safe taking the risk even if their answer was wrong. Once the rest of the students started to see that while the initial question might have sounded hard to answer, they actually did have a lot of background knowledge that they could tap into and talk about, that is the competence factor of Self-Determination. And then the teacher allowed the discussion to be driven by their interests and questions which exemplifies the importance of autonomy in getting students motivated to learn.
edTPA Prep
How does the teacher design lessons in a way that challenges students to engage?
Unfortunately, this seems to be the really hard part in many of the classes I observe, but I feel that I can easily pick one thing that is contributing to this problem. When teachers are doing the same thing for the whole class period, whether it be lecture, group work, or independent work, the students disengage every time. The classes that do the best are those that identify the learning goal so students know what the class is working on that day, and then mix it up with new activities every 10-15 minutes. Starting with a scavenger hunt around the class, moving to some reading and comprehension in groups, then to a class discussion, followed by an engaging PowerPoint assisted lecture. While it certainly took longer planning for the teacher, the students were engaged the entire class.
What does the teacher do during class to further challenge students to engage?
I think teacher interaction with the students is key here. While the scavenger hunt was happening, this teacher was walking around with them trying to help trigger their memories from previous classes to get them to come up with the answers they needed. During the reading activity, he stopped by each group and even read some parts for a group that was short a few students, then helped further discussion. He also provided a very clear graphic organizer that helped students find the crucial information from the readings to be used later. I really liked that during his lecture, the PowerPoint it self was engaging with funny memes, information video clips, and interesting trivia about the topic.
What does the teacher do to build mutual respect and rapport with the students?
This particular teacher with the very engaging lessons has a great rapport with the students. As I watched him and looked around the classroom, several things stuck out to me. First of all, he greeted students and talked to them before the bell rang and finished listening to a student even after the bell rang. Even though he was talking to this one student for an extra couple seconds, the rest of the students were sitting at their desk, just a couple were talking to each other but they were doing it quietly. This showed me that the class respects this teacher, and that his classroom rules and expectations had been covered very clearly throughout the school year, so students knew what they were supposed to be doing even without him having to say it each time.
Student Needs
2. What are these students' mindset and motivation needs? What more could or should be done?
It seems that at this age, we as teachers should be cautions of expecting too much intrinsic motivation from students all the time. We need to always do our part to try to help them see the value in the work they do in our class, as well as ensuring it is at their level of capabilities so they are challenged but not overwhelmed. Staying positive towards them and their work is a major aspect of our relationship with them, and how motivated they will be to continue to learn and try. Sometimes encouraging students with positive or negative extrinsic motivators is necessary, since wanting good grades and the aversion to extra work are realities when dealing with students. However, all that should be done within a bigger plan of providing engaging, genuine learning opportunities for students, so they can develop those intrinsic motivators including a joy of learning new things, wanting to improve as a person overall, and developing the self-confidence to be able to do what they set out to do.
Plans for your Lesson
3. How will you address these needs when you teach your mini-lesson to this class?
In an effort to build a positive learning environment straight from the start, I plan on providing a name card tent for students to write their names on so that I can call on them by name, as well as writing my name in a clear spot on the board. This will help us build a relationship quicker and hopefully provide some motivation for them by seeing that I care who they are, and want them to be able to reach out to me and ask any questions they might have throughout the lesson. Next, I think that providing the scaffolding necessary to accomplish the ultimate goal is crucial, as well as mixing up the activities but ensuring they all complement each other so the students are always working towards the learning objective.
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