Hattie’s research places each approach to teaching and learning on a continuum. His hinge point is .40. Those above will have more effective results. Those below will have less effective results. Mindset, with an effect size of .19, is way below the hinge point. However, Hattie believes that the problem is not in the theory, but in the teachers having a fixed mindset and it is this that needs changing. Thus, teachers have a major responsibility to ensure that they cultivate a growth mindset.
Unless teachers change their practices, becoming aware of their own mindset and the effect this has on their students, mindset will quickly become yesterday’s failure, still not faded as the next fad pushes in.
It is naïve to believe that setting out to produce a growth mindset in each student can be achieved by the simple action of praising the student’s actions, rather than praising him or her as a person. Likewise, it is equally naive that mindset can be restricted to a constant growth mindset. It is much like the weather: it is changeable and determined by the climate in the area. While there are many aspects of climate, in the classroom, teacher mood and behaviour are one of the strongest influences in any given classroom.
Mindset Movers is a term coined by James Anderson. The term highlights the day to day influences, intended or unintended, that push one toward a fixed mindset or a growth mindset. The most important group of these Mindset Movers in a school are the teacher’s classroom practices and reactions. Moreover, if Hattie is correct about the predominant teacher mindset, the Mover is likely to be a fixed mindset.
A year 12 Pakeha student has this to say: “After two weeks of a lesson a day, he still didn’t know my name. Maybe trivial, but to me, infuriating and insulting.” Media reports that other ethnic groups, particularly, but not exclusively Maori and Pacifica, are disrespected by mispronunciation of their names. This is the teacher’s fixed mindset asserting itself, and in the process, sabotaging any other teacher action. Thus, the Mindset Mover mentioned here, getting names of students wrong, has the unintended effect of developing a fixed mindset.
Mindset development is not just what the teacher says or does not say. Robert Fulghum wrote this warning for teachers: “Worry that they are always watching you.” This is not something that is grown out of as age increases in students. They, whoever they are, will be watching.
That of course means your facial actions or reactions are also Mindset Movers, which will be noted by your students. Do you smile at the girls and have a set face for the boys? Most teachers won’t be able to answer this because you will never have been aware of it, but if you are aware, are you sending growth mindset signals to some students and fixed mindset signals to others? Most teachers will have some automatic actions like this, perhaps not based on gender, but on other differences. Another example of this automaticity depends on who you feel most comfortable with, or most uncomfortable with in the classroom? This will show and be interpreted by students, too.
There are many other Mindset Movers in the everyday teacher actions in the classroom, such as the procedure for asking and answering questions. According to Bill Gates, “We all need people who will give us feedback. That’s how we improve.” Formative assessment will do this best, but it needs to be ongoing and timely. Fortunately, the resource to do this is at hand: the students.
The procedure for feedback is something for individual teachers to work out according to their circumstance. If there is high trust in the classroom, post-it notes could be placed publicly on the wall. If not, post-it notes put privately on the teacher’s desk would suffice. All that is needed is a summary of what the Mindset Mover was, and a few bullet points o describe how it can be enhanced and grown if it was a growth mindset moment. If the situation caused fixed mindset, a statement of how to avoid and substitute in the future. If the examples can then be discussed in class, that most important part of assessment is being played out for the teacher and students. Where do we go to next?
The poem below by the Englishman Richard Whitfield has had a profound influence on me. The students providing feedback to the teacher is one way of achieving what the poem eludes.
Swimming Lessons
The teacher gave passionate megaphone instructions,From his side of the river bank to his class on the other.Neither could feel a current of mutual concern;That demanded they get in the stream together,A matter of mutual confidence, and trust.Many lessons fail to capture the current,Let alone the thrill of the rapids,Bound to the same driftwood,Logged-on together.So, Father Duck, even sometimes Mother Duck,Do not try to teach unless you enjoy swimming with ducklings.