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1.7 Supportive Messaging (Required to earn certificate)
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Posted by CUNY Mindset Initiative on March 11, 2024 at 11:01 am💬 Reflection/Discussion:
- Which specific messaging strategies and techniques do you intend to try in order to create a growth mindset-supportive learning environment?
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As a support staff to Educators and students, I try my best to acknowledge the pressure and stress that comes with a fixed mindset. I encourage both parties to examine negative self-talk and negative messaging that contributes to this fixed mindset that can be very discouraging and unmotivating. Acknowleging where they are coming from and what they need to achieve their goals. Helping them identify a vision and action plan of what that looks like. And encouraging them to reach out for support when they feel stuck or overwhelmed.
One thing I do to facilitate a growth mindset supported learning environment is to let students know that being good at anything requires a lot of time and effort. Mistakes will be made along the way, but these mistakes also provide important learning opportunities.
Hi Carrie,
I love that you’re focused on using growth mindset strategies to facilitate communication between educators and students. Do you offer examples of growth mindset messaging when you encourage them to examine negative self-talk?
Hi Danesh,
I love your emphasis on time and development! Are there ways you might also reframe “mistakes” in terms of a growth mindset? In my composition I course, I focus on the language of lessons or learning when I ask students to reflect. Instead of asking them what mistakes they made in their essays, I ask them to identify specific instances where they learned something new or where they would apply new learning when they revise.
I read this section of the module thinking of the feedback that I give on students’ quizzes. Over the last year, my feedback has become more bare-bones (partly for the sake of saving time), highlighting where students have gone wrong in their mathematical thinking. I’ve neglected to include short comments of encouragement or confidence that students can master the topics, and those make a difference! I’m inspired to reframe my feedback comments through a growth mindset lens.
The focus of my advising sessions is always on “what’s next”? Oftentimes, the student’s goal is simple: graduation. After defining the type of graduation (e.g., raising/keeping my G.P.A. to meet the minimum required for graduation OR potential admission to graduate/professional school) I try to frame the discussion in terms of short-term and long-term goals–how many credits per semester, specialized advising units, student support services, etc. I also reframe potential “roadblocks” to success as challenges to be met. As appropriate, I may introduce the idea that there are less preferable but still effective ways to reach the student’s goal if Plan A doesn’t work the way the student hoped it would.
Hi Denise, thanks for sharing! Growth mindset messaging seems so important in academic advising. Have you found ways to highlight and celebrate students’ progress so far while still focusing on the long-term goal of graduation?
The strategies discussed here for fostering a growth mindset in educational settings are truly inspiring. Carrie, your approach to addressing negative self-talk and helping both educators and students identify their vision and action plan is crucial. It’s a reminder that growth starts with understanding our own barriers and actively working to overcome them.
- Elizabeth, reframing “mistakes” as “learning opportunities” in your composition courses is a fantastic way to encourage students to see each assignment as a step towards mastery rather than a final judgement on their abilities. This shift in language can significantly impact students’ engagement and persistence.
Danesh, emphasizing that proficiency in any skill requires time and effort, and that mistakes are a natural part of the learning process, helps normalize the struggles that students often face. It’s a vital message that can help reduce anxiety around new challenges.
Seth, revisiting the way you provide feedback on quizzes to include encouraging comments is a great example of how small changes can make a big difference in student motivation and self-esteem. It’s often these small acts of encouragement that keep students engaged and believing in their capabilities.
Denise, your strategy of focusing on “what’s next” and reframing roadblocks as challenges rather than dead ends helps students see obstacles as surmountable and integral to their growth. This proactive approach likely helps students remain focused and optimistic about their paths, even when plans need adjusting.
Each of your contributions illustrates powerful ways to implement and reinforce a growth mindset, which not only enhances learning but also supports emotional and psychological resilience. Thanks for sharing your approaches.
I understand that every discipline is different, so my own strategy here may not be universal. In writing courses, I do not put a grade on first drafts. Everyone who submits a complete draft gets full credit–no matter the state of the draft. But then, in my comments, I direct students to places where they can improve the draft using a combination of overall comments, marginalia comments, and a rubric. Students are invited to use these to write a second draft that addresses these suggestions. I find that allows all students to grow–no matter where they’ve started–and to improve their writing in specific, manageable areas. It also alleviates their worries about the “essay” because they know they already have multiple opportunities to try the same essay.
I really appreciated Kevin Kolack @professork sharing his welcome video for students! So many useful messages and frameworks! One thing that especially stood out for me is how he goes beyond goals for the class to bigger goals (e.g. graduate!). This, together with the discussion posts by Carrie Geith @carriegheith & Denise Sands Baez @denisesb serve as powerful reminders that growth is not just academic, in specific disciplines, but so much more than that. Â
I tell students that we are going to learn together.
Most of my teaching involves project-based learning. I use plenty of scaffolding, which is to present the project in stages. I give credit for each stage and emphasize how important it is to focus on process over the course of the term. This term I introduced AI tools and found that it was better to focus on one aspect of AI, which was making illustrations and graphics for a particular project. Students gave me a lot of feedback that they were overwhelmed, because they thought use of AI was cheating. I modeled some of the simple tools and how to integrate them with the other app I was using with it.
We then experimented in class with a few AI tools. Students were able to talk out their fears. I kept emphasizing experimentation and showed them some good and bad outcomes of mine. I found that students felt more likely to experiment when they had peer support. After projects were complete, I had them reflect verbally in class and in a short reflection. Most of them said that they were nervous, but they enjoyed experimentation and found that it tied to their work. They were willing to think about AI tools a little differently.
I demonstrate the skills that they need for a project. I model for students and set up peer support for them. I consistently use language that emphasizes process over product. I also make sure that students know that some of them will come in with different talents. I am not grading on talent, but grading on effort and how well the project meets the learning objectives. One component that I am going to add or gradually have been adding is what I learned in art school (my BFA was in Fine Art/Illustration) which is that talking about the work is a vital part of the process. Presentation is important.
Summarily, I tell students that we will learn together and repeat this throughout the course. There are some students who want to skip a stage or hand in work based on something that they do well naturally (or the opposite). I emphasize that it is not about what you came in with, but what you left with at the end of the course
I am going to add to the post because I did not answer one of the prompts. I will comb through my syllabi to add in growth mindset. I will also explicitly teach what this means in terms of each project that I present. One thing that I wrestle with is resubmits. I do allow resubmits after feedback at a certain stage of the project. I might open an opportunity for another resubmit for learners who still want to improve, but I must think about this carefully and set limits dependent on class size. For example, this summer I will have a big class and time is tight because it is a 5 week course. I cannot have resubmits for 60 students in a 5 week course. I might have them just resubmit a part of the assignment.
When I took an earlier iteration of this course, the welcome video was one of the most important changes I made. Kevin Kolack’s video is such a great example of this. It’s a very easy and very significant way to welcome students into our courses and to set a tone. I think often it’s difficult to know how the tone of our syllabi is landing. But, in a welcome video, through words, tone, etc., students really get a sense of the course and our support.
Hi Elizabeth,
It’s interesting that we’ve got a lot of crossover between the Learning Mindset community and the emerging AI community! I appreciate the way you scaffold the projects for your students. It sounds manageable and significant: students have opportunities to learn and practice along the way. I also appreciate your careful framing of AI and your discussions with students. I know that many faculty are feeling overwhelmed by AI. I can’t imagine how overwhelmed students feel with so many mixed messages! Your very clear and careful framing of this is a great example of supportive messaging. You’ve both explained and modeled why AI is appropriate in your course & field.
I’m replying here to both of your messages. As you move through the modules, you’ll see many examples of how to include supportive messaging in your syllabus. I’ve found this part of Learning Mindsets to be a big task–I really had to rethink the tone and purpose of my own syllabi. But the question of resubmits goes beyond the syllabus. Learning Mindsets help students–it doesn’t help students if you set up a task that’s impossible to achieve for yourself! 60 students in 5 weeks doing multiple resubmits sounds… daunting. I think setting limits makes sense. I don’t know how you do resubmits, but when I do them in my own courses(composition), I ask students to highlight all of the changes they’ve made in the resubmit. This makes it a little easier / faster to read and assess.
Hi @elizabethklein1 – This is such a powerful example, focusing on AI. Maybe this is specially powerful because the new tools have come out so quickly, relatively speaking, and everyone who is trying them out is going through a learning process. Even those who designed and trained some of the generative AI tools are learning and getting surprised by what comes up. I hear you that many students had resistance because they thought using AI was cheating. I’ve experienced that as well.
I hope you’re sharing your experiences and approaches with colleagues and I think that would really help them feel more comfortable trying out something new!
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