Developing Academic Mindset

 I was first exposed to Zaretta Hammond's book, Culturally Responsive Teaching & The Brain, about two years ago through our staff book club. We were a small group--just myself, our school social worker, and one 8th grade science teacher--but we had a rich conversation about both the science and the practical application of Hammond's book.  In the spring I decided to dig back in and reread the book in its entirety and I've been carrying it around with me all summer, slowly digesting all it has to offer.

I was particularly drawn to Ch. 7, "Shifting Academic Mindset in the Learning Partnership: Restoring Students' Natural Confidence as Learners." Hammond cautions against teachers focusing on surface level engagement from students in which we try to coax students into being interested in the lesson, hoping that if we do this repeatedly students will eventually develop positive academic mindsets. In reality, she says, we need to first focus on developing our students' academic mindsets in order to help create independent learners. I had never seen the term academic mindset described in as much detail as Hammond uses in the graphic below. One thing I really appreciate about these components is that it requires reflection on both the student and the teacher when one of these components is lacking.

Hammond, (2015) P.111 Figure 7.2

Many Dependent Learners do not have strong or positive academic mindsets and as a result they don’t take the initiative or persevere through challenging tasks as independent learners do.  We cannot, however, attribute lack of academic mindset to social class, race, gender or other parameters over which we have no control.  Part of our job as teachers, in learning alliances with students, is to help students cultivate an academic mindset and believe in themselves as learners.

After reading about the different components of academic mindset, I had an idea to create a series of statements to help students and teachers identify their current academic mindset and maybe identify the areas where they feel stronger or weaker. The purpose of these statements is to get a sense of where students are in terms of their academic mindset to help us determine how much and what kind of work we need to incorporate into our content instruction.  If we fail to acknowledge students’ current academic mindset, or lack thereof, we will not be able to develop independent learners.

The statements are still a very rough draft but I'd love to hear other teachers' thoughts on getting a temperature on students' academic mindsets, the idea of using statements like this with students, or feedback to improve the draft.  Any and all feedback is welcome! 

Students should read all 24 of the statements and respond on a Likert Scale of 1-5 (1=strong agree, 5=strongly disagree). After reading through students’ responses, build in time to meet with each student and conference about the areas of strength and areas for growth.  The goal of the conversation is for you to uncover what kind of support and push each student needs from you.

Statements available in a Google Form HERE to make a copy for your students.

I belong to this community

Community can be defined as broadly as education in general, the whole school, your specific class or even a small group to which they’ve been assigned. 

1.     The teachers and other staff seem happy to see me when I come into school each day.

2.     My teachers know and use my name when they speak with me.

3.     My teacher seems interested to hear my responses to his/her questions.

4.     My classmates ask me for my opinion and/or discuss classwork with me.

5.     I have ideas and answers to offer my classmates.

6.     My teachers' body language and words show that the questions I ask are valuable and worth answering.

I can succeed at this.

1. When it comes to _______ (subject), I consider myself a good student.

2. My family/friends say that I know a lot about _______ (subject) or that I can do _______really well.

3. Most of the time I get good grades in _______(subject).

4. When I’m learning something new in ________ (subject), I feel pretty confident that I’ll be able to figure it out eventually.

5. I have generally positive feelings about __________(subject).

6.  In the future, I could see myself studying, working, or having a career related to _______(subject).

My ability and competence grow with my effort.

1   1.   I have always been bad at ________ and there’s no way I can really change that.

2   2. My friends that get good scores on assignments and tests are just naturally smart.

3   3. When I make a lot of mistakes on something I usually stop to think how I could do it differently.

4   4. I know I’m good at something when it is easy for me and I don’t have to try.

5   5. When teachers and coaches give me criticism it makes me want to give up.

6   6.  If I’m confused about something I don’t ask questions. I often just tell my teacher, “I don’t get it.”

This work has value for me.

1  1.  I have some idea of the career field I would like to be in when I’m older.

2  2.  The topics we learn in ______(subject) are interesting to me and I want to learn more.

3  3.  I’ve seen topics from class on TV, the Internet or read about it in other classes.

4  4.  In ______(subject), I get to discuss how the topics relate to my life.

5  5.  I like to share what I’ve learned about in ­­­­­________ (subject) with my family.

6  6.  In ______(subject), I’ve gained skills that I can use right now in my life outside of school.