I believe wholeheartedly that all of my students are capable of achieving at an extremely high level. It is contingent on me to provide them with the opportunities to challenge their minds and develop their thinking. The impact of a growth mindset in my classroom will produce a classroom environment where students accept a challenge and would keep working or coding until they eventually accomplish it. This is an environment that is desired and wanted by myself to better serve my students.
As I taught during this past year, I began realizing that the way that I have been teaching in my classroom and the manner that it is structured wasn't helping a lot of my students. Even though I have attempted many different strategies to change a lot of things, in the end, i still ended up with a majority teacher-lead classroom. This aided in the fixed mindset that my students had already had upon entering my class. How can I change the mindset of my classroom? How can I change the mindset of my students, any other students and the parents of my students? A growth mindset was something that I had set out to accomplish at the beginning of the school year. I looked at my evaluation from last year, like I do every year, and I decided to do certain things to attempt to change things to make myself a better teacher. A growth mindset is the belief that the talents, intelligence and abilities are fluid and can be developed or strengthened with practice. In my classroom during the year, I consistently repeat "mistakes are opportunities to learn." And, my students fought that idea vigorously. I pressed on and I kept on trying thinking in my mind that I am going to reach them and change their minds. This, of course, was a little easier in a three of the seven courses that I taught. In those classes, the students were eager to learn, eager for information and eager to be taught. Those classes were a dream to teach. Yes, there challenges with them. Sometimes, they didn't have the prerequisite skills for the content being taught. Sometimes, they totally didn't remember what was taught to them previously. But in every case, I saw that as an opportunity to get their mindset changed from the fixed to the growth. I began every new lesson with prerequisite skill or reminding them of a previous lesson. I then told them that this concept is what were are going to do but we are not there yet. They understood that and they began the journey of the lesson with me. The problem with that was that it was primarily teacher-led. What I wanted was for them to look at something before entering class. If they had any questions about the were supposed to preview, that was how I was going to start class after a warm up activity. After all of the questions were answered, begin extending the lesson to include more problems or situations that promoted thought. That was the extent of my knowledge of the growth mindset. I felt that that was taking some very small steps with a group of students who were eager in every aspect but stuck in a fixed mindset. With a little more thought and ingenuity on my part, the class could have easily been transformed in to growth mindset. My statement of "mistakes are opportunities to learn" could have been changed to "okay let's learn from this mistake." Also, encouraging the students to consistently and eagerly attempt at solving problems and to not give up, had to become the norm. Also with that, I must give each of them a choice in what they produce for each lesson. For some lessons, the choices may be easy to demonstrate mastery of a particular concept. But, for others, those choices must present a challenge for them. The idea is to challenge them but don't break them. Encourage them but don't embarrass them. Each time, each day and each year, do these things and the culture of the classroom would not only change, but the mindset would change also.
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When I first entered the program, I was under the impression that I would be learning strictly about coding in Swift and Xcode. Developing apps was my focus and learning as much as I could about Apple, iPad, iPhone and MacBook. Interesting, I thought. And my first venture into the program and coding confirmed that I would be learning just that. But, I soon found out that it was going to be much more than that. Setting up my profile and website were next tasks. Then thinking about what is the "Growth Mindset" was next. My mind then took on a whole new perspective. That concluded the week at HCC during the summer with Lamar, Apple and all of the wonderful teachers I met.
I then went to my campus and let the games begin. First it took for what seemed like forever to get just 1 MacBook to teach my class. Granted, I had the MacBook Air my district had loaned me but that soon came to a screeching halt when they requested that I give it up to be repurposed somewhere else in the district. I, of course, was thoroughly aggravated. How was I to teach the class? How was I to implement some of the ideas that had been taught to me? I was totally overwhelmed. So I went to Apple and bought my own MacBook Pro and installed all of the necessary programs to it. My problems were temporarily solved. But then came the issue of actually getting the students to experience the software for themselves. I had no equipment except my own MacBook. I petitioned my district again and they finally relented and gave me 6 MacBook Airs. Mind you, I have 11 students. I'll take what I can get at that point. Issues with connectivity and with the software working within my district's network were a problem for a minute but eventually they were worked out and a work around was developed. Things were looking up. Then I discovered that Apple had sent over to my campus a cart full of MacBook Pros and a cart full of iPads. I was ecstatic to learn that and was very eager to get them into the hands of my kiddos. But, as fate would have it, delay after delay kept happening until I finally just about had it. The MacBooks arrived first, but the iPads were still missing. They were on campus but not in the kids' hands. Again, I'll take what I can get at this moment. By this time, I had my trip to Phoenix paid for by Apple and the 4-5 days spent at the resort there with everything Apple. The trip and the people were amazing. Each learning session that I attended was very helpful and informative. I then thought that, "I can do this conference every year. A great deal of learning happens here." I had such a great time that one day, I hope to be in attendance there not only as an attendee but also an instructor. Upon return from Phoenix, I had a renewed spirit with my class. Things began to look great and I could see the course taking shape. The students especially were eager and took to the instruction and software great. Then finally, the iPads arrived in my classroom. I immediately began using them in my beginning computer science course and had the same eagerness with those students. With all of that going on, I was meeting weekly with Lamar and the cohort for high school. The schedule alternated bi-weekly. Ideas were bounced off everyone's head and I thought that I was the only one with issues. I soon found out that I wasn't the only one. Everyone else had the same type of issue. Being part of this program was an eye opener. Not only was I teaching a course designed for Apple coding, I was learning what was necessary to have a successful class for online instruction. I didn't realize that until well into the program. Then the shutdown due to COVID-19 happened and the entire world was thrusted into an online environment. I have to say that I was so far ahead of my colleagues. My problem was that I had 7 preps and had to prepare for every one of them. I got it done and getting everything for the program done. It has been a task but a rewarding one to say the least, As I conclude, I will say that my mind has definitely been changed to one that is based on the Growth Mindset. It was already kinda leaning that way but that was coming slowly. Also, my classes have been set up to also have that growth mindset. It has some of the old school learning model but mostly a growth mindset is the basis. I really enjoyed this past year learning and growing. Students are not fully engaged with online learning. The students have become lazy in their approach to getting what they need to accomplish learning the content. Not only that, the students also don't make the necessary connections to the learning they need to make.
Too many of our students are playing games, babysitting, working, etc. and the task of getting online to learn is the farthest from their minds. A student can spend hours playing a playstation or xbox. The intrigue from the games is alluring and the students would do just about anything to be the one everyone is talking about online or to be the one who is ranked at a particular level on the game. Babysitting is also something that cannot be controlled. Older siblings are watching or in some cases raising their younger siblings in their household. Getting online to attempt to learn anything in that environment is utterly impossible. Working students are also impacted because they are working some crazy hours. That, along with their personal lives, takes up all of their time. It is amazing that these students actually get something done online. I agree with the notion that education has been like a checklist. Students have been required to accomplish things in a classroom without connecting to what is really meant for them to learn. We as teachers can get a better outcome in what the students learn by preparing products that not only check a box on a checklist but will also have a meaningful connection to what they are supposed to learn. An example may be produce a product that will use the concept taught in the lesson to show the connection with the product and the lesson.
My understanding of outcomes-based education begins with the teacher offering a choice for the students to produce a product that would give the teacher the proper notion that the student has learned a particular concept. In each choice, the product would step the student through the process with checkpoints to assess the student's knowledge of each step along the way. As part of the finished product, the student will also be asked to explain what impact their product has on an original idea or concept. For example, in a math class, an option to build a catapult could be chosen. The question could be "What is the impact of the length from the center of the catapult to its edge?". In a computer science class, the question, "What changes would you make to reduce the runtime of your code?". These questions will direct the student into thinking more about what they are doing. Also, this would promote a greater understanding of the product they are attempting to produce. The teacher could also ask the student to give a detailed list of the resources they used to assist them in the creation of their product. This research would promote the student into researching and develop a skill that they would use in college and beyond to find information. This research would also lead them into becoming a self-directed learner. This would include some of the following: identifying what is needed, choosing the appropriate manner of implementation and strategies, evaluating what they have done to make sure that they have accomplished the goal(s) of the product. All of these are beneficial to the development of the student. The student would also look back at the product to determine how effective it is. Again, this puts everything in the lap of the student. By self-evaluating their product, the student is reinforcing whether or not they have actually learned what the purpose of the product was. Overall, the teacher has given the student a choice in the product they are to produce. The student has ownership of what they produce because of the choice they made. The student has a voice in the creation of the product because of the explanation of the impact of their product. And finally, because of everything that has been done to produce the product, the authenticity of the product will be definitely present at the end when the product is presented to the teacher. Recently, my AP Calculus students took the AP Exam online as required by College Board this year. Even with practice submitting their work, several students nationwide had problems submitting their work. This caused them to not get their work scored for the exam. This is very disheartening for myself and teachers across the nation. I actually feel that the scores for the exam this year should be thrown out. Don't get me wrong, the college board did all that they could have done except getting a server that would be able to handle the influx of submissions at that time.
Advancements in technology has now made things a little easier for teachers to create a learning environment that is definitely conducive for learning. Videos, different types of products, video conferencing, etc. are just some of the different types of media that can be used to make learning accessible to all learners. I have ventured out and developed an environment for my classroom that I believe will assist my students greatly. Of course, it is a work in progress and I am sure that I will find other mediums that will make learning easier. Adjustments will be made as I learn to feature these.
With the UIL canceling all sports due to COVID-19, it eliminated some key opportunities for some schools. One such example is with the Thurgood Marshall High School Track Team. The boys and girls teams at Marshall were attempting to become state champions in both divisions at state. The boys team was attempting to become a 5-time state champion in the last 6 years. The girls team was attempting to accomplish this feat for the first time in school history. Both teams had a very promising shot at accomplishing their goals.
I believe a blended version of learning will become the new environment of learning in the near future. I say that because of what we are dealing with now with isolation from COVID-19. All learning is currently online. Of course, there are topics and things that are not covered extensively and that is because of the need to be hands-on with the students. Therefore an environment of teaching in a classroom and online would best serve this generation of students. The classroom would cover the hands-on learning and any extensions that a teacher may want to cover with the students. Online learning would cover the basics and any topic that can be easily taught without the teacher being there physically.
This year AP Testing is being done in an online environment. This is new this year and it will come with some complications. Students will have to submit their work by the deadline in a particular format in order to be successful. It is also being shortened to 2 questions and both being a free response question. This is going to be a challenge without the students getting an opportunity to do the multiple choice section of the test. On the other side of this is the opportunity to get this done quickly and efficiently. This is the plus of just having 2 questions as opposed to 45 multiple choice questions and 6 free response questions.
Education has shifted to an online environment. Students are required to log into a learning medium to gained access to learning new content. Teacher are now also required to provide instruction through videos and online conferences to students that are now accessible at any time. Success of this is contingent on everyone having access to the technology.
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May 2020
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