The Middle School Learning Curve: Growth Mindset and Critical Thinking
On Monday morning, several Middle School parents gathered to hear more about how our program helps kids develop the analytical skills they need to thrive.
In my opening remarks, I returned to a key theme from our parent dinners last fall: growth mindset. Put simply, growth mindset is the robust belief that intelligence isn’t fixed but rather malleable and sensitive to effort, experience, and practice.
When a student encounters a challenge, there are a few scenarios that can play out. First, they might muscle through it, using the same strategies they have used in the past until they finally master the subject. Second, they may adjust course, trying new strategies, asking for help, or exploring alternate ways to solve the problem. Third, they may simply shut down — convinced that they can’t get it and, more troubling, will never be able to get it. As I have seen time and again in my work with middle schoolers, students with a fixed mindset run away from error and don’t engage with it. Students with a growth mindset process the error and learn to correct it.
That’s why the word “yet” is so powerful — as in “I can’t solve this problem yet” or “I don’t know how to play this piece of music yet.” The word “yet” tells you that you are on a learning curve, and it gives you a path into the future because it leads to the questions: What do I need to do right now to move myself forward? What information do I need? What skills do I need to develop? What help do I need from my teachers?
If these types of questions sound familiar, it’s because here at Rivers’ Middle School we regularly ask students to reflect in this way. Last week, at our eighth grade student-led parent conferences, our oldest students shared their reflections on how they learn, the skills they have mastered, and those that they are still developing.
Our teachers are guided by the belief that all of our students are capable of growing and thriving as learners. And they give students the practical tools they need to become critical, creative thinkers. In Cathy Favreau’s Latin class, the students aren’t merely studying a language of the past; they are using Latin to develop vital skills for the future.
In Laura Brewer’s humanities class, she helps students see the larger picture by first breaking down complex concepts into manageable pieces.
Below, please enjoy a snapshot of Cathy Favreau’s and Laura Brewer’s presentations.
What Do the Romans Have To Teach Us?
(From Latin teacher Cathy Favreau’s presentation)
What do the Romans have to teach us? The answer is: so much.
Latin provides a unique opportunity to teach kids to see how a language is constructed. When students encounter a Latin story for the first time, the initial question is, “What do you see?” This prompts students to begin to search out patterns and recognize words that seem similar to them.
In experiencing a language very different from their own they are able to start to compare and contrast how English works. A lot of ah-ha moments follow as students connect grammar and begin to pull the pieces of understanding together.
There are three main parts to the study of Latin: the vocabulary, the forms, and the jobs of words. By exploring each, students develop strategies for decoding and pulling out meaning. The Latin language does not exist in a vacuum. It belongs to a people who had a culture, a history, and a big place in the development of the western world. Studying Latin allows students to connect to this distant time and place by examining the art, artifacts, stories, and cities they left behind.
Click here to view Cathy Favreau’s Presentation
Why Is Synthesis an Important Skill?
(From humanities teacher Laura Brewer’s presentation)
In humanities, we aim to take students from basic connection-making (where the student can identify two things that share a characteristic) towards more thorough connections (where specific details are amplified to show similarities and differences) and finally to a sophisticated explanation that not only includes those elements, but also predicts what may happen next or makes an argument with respect to the connection.
This is synthesis, and it cannot happen until students understand the component parts of big ideas. So we first need to break things down with students so they can understand the details. This allows them to take ownership of the concepts and make connections to other ideas.
We use a number of structures to help students scaffold information: charts, timelines, storylines, and graphic organizers to help students understand cause and effect and similarities and differences, or to enumerate details. Then those same scaffolding structures can be used to organize explanations and to develop clear reasoning.
