Growth mindset TIPR

This topic is one of the reasons I was so excited to work with the teacher that I chose.  Mr. Walker promotes a growth mindset and engages students in a way I have never experienced before. I find this particularly fascinating as he has not been formally educated to do this. He has come to teaching through alternate routes. One of the things that Mr. Walker (Dave) has done since the beginning of the year is to emphasis the Yet concept. I cannot do that YET, I am not good at that YET, etc. He is constantly praising and encouraging the students to push just a little further and to try something a little more difficult with each activity. At the beginning of the year he often used extrinsic motivation in the form of candy to encourage participation. As the kids get more comfortable and open he has transitioned to praise and encouragement. There is the grade component of course but his grading focuses on effort and participation over the perfect performance.

Mr. Walker has numerous games each day that incorporate the topic that the class is working on. The students now ask for certain games and I was surprised to notice the games they ask for are the more difficult and challenging games. In order to receive full points for the day students must be on time to class and participate in the games and activities.
Mr. Walker participates fully in the class and encourages all students to do the same. He leads by example. One of his favorite sayings is "the only thing that stands between you and being a great actor is your ego." Being too good for an activity or to too "shy to try", he often reminds them that acting is making yourself vulnerable but that doing so makes you strong. He is never too good to do what his students are doing.
 Mr. Walker is conscious of the challenges his students face and encourage the students to participate in ways that are comfortable for them. For instance, there is one student who carries a stuffed unicorn with him everywhere. Mr. Walker will respectfully listen when the student uses the unicorn to express what he himself is feeling. He also gives each student a few seconds to tell the class what they did the day before and encourages conversation between them during this time. This helps the students learn more about each other and is fostering friendships. He also has a list of random questions that he picks from each day and everyone answers these questions. This helps the students to see how much they have in common.

There are 14 students in this class and all but 2 have a pretty open mindset about their abilities at this point in the semester. Mr. Walker spent a little extra time this week with these 2 students explaining how participating in theater can change their life. He changed their perspective to encourage them to value the lessons and participate more. The student body of the school where I am doing my hours has an overabundance of students from state care and low income families. They are motivated by ways to improve their lives. They need to see paths to a better future than the past they have come from. Mr. Walker and the rest of the staff at this school excel at showing these students alternate paths to viable futures. Mr. Walker addresses the Maslov hierarchy of needs by having drinks and food available for those that do not have those needs met at home. He keeps all work in class to allow students to excel even if they do not have support at home. He follows the Self-determination theory. He provides opportunities to belong at the beginning of each class, fostering friendships. He gives the students autonomy in their assignments, they can pick any topic for their assignment, encourages them to pick things that they know well. He makes sure they feel competent. He excels at this and it is one of the reasons I chose to volunteer in his class. He has an ability to praise and correct students while making them feel like they are award winning actors already.
When I do my mini-lesson I will allow the students to choose from a variety of scenes thereby giving them a degree of autonomy. I will encourage them to work in groups, fostering belonging. I will also give praise for the things that they do well, ensuring that they feel competent.

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