I'm fairly certain most educators are familiar with the term "learned helplessness." When a student lacks the motivation and effort to try and instead, they avoid a problem often in an attempt to escape failure.
One of my students in particular suffers from learned helplessness. When trying to help them through a problem, I often hear a simple, "I don't know," "I forget," or "this is hard." Then, they sit in silence and wait for you to fill in the answer. At first, I struggled with finding a balance of providing support, but not giving in. For this student, math doesn't often come easy for them, so it was tricky to find that balance. After a talk with my teacher mentor, she helped me come to the solution that I need to be firm with them, but let them know I am still their to support their learning. For instance, I will often refer them to their notes in order to answer their question. Instead of opening their notebook and finding the page, this student usually will approach me and say that they can't find it or don't know where it is. Rather than find the notes for them, I firmly tell them that their notes are in there and once they find it, if they still don't get it, I will give them the support they need. So far, this has been fairly successful. The student then is required to put in their share of effort and they know I am still their to help. Then, when the student finishes answering the problem, I use appropriate growth mindset language and congratulate them on their effort and remind them that when they try, they are able to be successful.
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Yesterday, I decided to try something new. I was a little nervous going in because I truly believed there was a chance it could end in tears for a couple of the 5th graders, but I still gave it a shot.
We had been working with converting measurements the previous week and were about to move into comparing and ordering. I decided rather than directly teaching the students how to compare and order measurements I was going to give them a challenge where they would have to use what they already knew about converting measurements to create some strategies to solve a secret message. The kids were excited and the task seemed to engage them, so I gave them the directions and set them loose in groups of 3 or 4 to complete the challenge. At first, I heard various students say things like, "I don't get this," "This is too hard," "We don't know what to do," etc. Instead of giving in, I reminded the students to think about what strategies they could try that would help them solve this puzzle. Some groups picked up on it a little quicker than others, but overall, most were able to figure out how converting measurements would help them see what order to put the measurements in. After, we went over the correct answer and talked about the different strategies they used when solving the ordering puzzle. Then we went over some examples as a class where the students could use their strategies to help them order and compare measurements. In the end, I would absolutely try something like this again. It was very engaging and got the students to apply what they knew. I reminded them challenges can be a good thing and they help us grow into better mathematicians. Hopefully, when I attempt an activity like this in the future, the students will be familiar with tackling challenges and be able to approach the problem head-on. Also, there were no tears (including from myself), so that was an added bonus! Week 1 of teaching math has come and gone. It had been a little bit hectic being my first week teaching grade 5 mathematics, so I found I wasn't able to focus on growth mindset as much as I would have liked; however, the biggest struggle I found has been with my language with the students.
It has become almost like a habit to congratulate students on their intelligence and good marks, and encouraging students to keep trying and working hard. For instance, I found myself making comments like, "Keep trying and eventually you'll get it!" or "Way to go! See, you are smart at math!" At first glance, they do seem good-natured and innocent enough, but when implementing a growth mindset environment within the classroom I know the importance of focusing on commending effort over intelligence and encouraging students to try new strategies if they don't get it right away. Comments like those mentioned above may be encouraging to some, but can cause those who tend to struggle in mathematics to feel less or defeated. Instead, I want to work on changing my language in the classroom to both challenge the students who are picking up the strategies quickly and support those who need it. Rather than reminding students to keep trying, I could ask them what other strategies they could try that might help them find the solution. |
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