"A Cache Withdrawal"
posts will consist of vivid memories in my educational experiences that have
helped shaped who I am as an educator. Consider post an introspective of my
philosophical beliefs regarding education.
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As someone
who is new to the realm of educational research, I do not have the experience
nor knowledge to definitely state that all individuals can learn
anything/everything as a result of implementing a growth-mindset in situations
in which learning is to take place. It acknowledged that researchers are split
with regards to the idea of a growth-mindset, which makes advocates on both
sides passionate regarding their views and beliefs that are supported by their
analyzed data. What I can say, however, is that I once had a teacher who
believed in a growth mindset, and it literally turned my life around as a
student.
Prior to 8th
grade, I was simply an average student. I was content with making C’s in Social
Studies and English while making B’s in Science and even D’s in Mathematics. I
never really care for homework, nor did I really care about what I was learning
in school. In all honesty, nothing in school really interest me, nor did it
seem to have any affect in my life. I was, however, a well behaved student who
did complete work in class whenever given the opportunity to do so.
At the
beginning of 8th grade, I was placed with a cohort of students and
specific team of teachers. The cohort that I traveled with from class to class
was Hellacious at best; the behavior was out of control, the students were
awful to each other, and the atmosphere was not conducive to learning. Within
three days, my mother had requested that I be moved to a different cohort of
students so that I could “enjoy” school at peace. The only option, however, was
to be placed with a cohort of students known as the “8th Grade
Algebra” students; these students took Pre-Algebra in 7th grade with
the other students completed “7th Grade Math”, and these students
were always one grade level ahead in Mathematics starting from 5th
grade. As a student who was used to making C’s and D’s in Mathematics, it was a
scary moment for me; I did not even take the Pre-Algebra course that was needed
for success in Algebra. My mother and father, who are VERY successful to this
date, never worked in industries in which mathematics was used beyond
arithmetic. Essentially, if I was to take 8th grade Algebra, I was
to be on my own with only the help of the teacher.
The
teacher for the course was an individual who sat me down, told me that I could
easily do Algebra, and informed me that I was ready for the class regardless of
my background in Mathematics. She acknowledged that my Mathematics scores were
not as high as they should have been, but I could catch up with my classmates
with a bit of extra work and preparation. Regardless of my past history with
Mathematics, I was in the “big league”, which meant that I was to take the
class seriously and studiously. This was my only option to escape the terrors
of the “normal” cohort of students. For the first time in my life, a teacher
had explicitly told me that she did not care of my background, she did not care
of my previous grades, and she did not care of how prepared I was for the
course. She only cared that I rise up to the challenge and prove myself that I
was worthy to hold my own against the well-behaved students.
I buckled
down. I completed homework at home for the first time in my life. My mother
tried to learn the mathematics with me to teach the content for whenever I
struggled. I studied for quizzes. I studied for tests. I answered questions in
class. I did everything that I could do in order to show the teacher that I was
prepared for her course. By the end of the year, it was me who won the “8th
Grade Algebra Award” for the highest grade point average in the course.
However, it was also me who won the same award for Science, Social Studies, AND
English. Something about that academic school year clicked for me, the light
switch has been on ever since.
I went on
to be the top student in each course that I took in high school, and I went on
to be the top student in the school by the time of graduation. This same
obsession with grades and studied carried me into my undergraduate studies in
which I walked away with the “Scholar of College” award for two different colleges
and degree programs at Western Kentucky University.
My life as
a student forever changed simply because I had a teacher who thought that I
could grow as a mathematics student and who thought that I could grow as a
human being. Her simple belief was enough motivation in my life to finally
prove what kind of academic that I could be. This belief, a growth mindset,
changed me as a person…forever. Therefore, whenever I became an educator, I
always kept this notion in mind.
Even if a
growth mindset is later to be determined to be untrue, it still served as a
HUGE motivator in my academic career. As a teacher with almost six years of
teaching experience, I can state, with confidence, that explicitly stating that
students are capable of learning difficult material is enough motivation to
cause students to rise to the challenges that are established by the sometimes
difficult expectations that are placed on the same students.
As an
educator, even if you inherently do not believe in a growth mindset, I
encourage you to at least be convincing enough to your students that they
should believe in it. Even if this only affects a single student, a student
like me, then you have positively impacted that student’s life forever. If this
inspiring story happened to me, it can happen to anyone.
The growth
mindset. Pretend to believe it…even if you don’t.
And with
that, I am caching out!
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