To my classmates:
It has been a long and busy semester and I am glad it is finally drawing to a close. I think I was able to really help a few of you with some of the concepts of this class and I am glad for that opportunity. I have a passion for helping people learn and that is why I want to become a teacher. If anybody needs anything in the future, don't hesitate to contact me. My school email address is jbd601@jaguar1.usouthal.edu. I hope everybody has a nice, safe summer and I wish you all luck in your respective teaching fields.
John
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Reflection on what I've learned this semester
EDM 310 was actually one of my favorite classes I have taken so far in college. I came into the class with a pretty good amount of computer knowledge and technical proficiency. I have been using computers extensively since I was in high school and actually had several elective courses in keyboarding, word processing, and Microsoft Office. But times have changed drastically since then. I was interested to learn about many of the technological tools that are now available for use in the classroom.
Google documents were new to me. I have been using Microsoft Office my whole life and had no idea they even existed. I like the fact that they are free and can be recommended to any of my students that doesn't have Office. I also like that they are stored online and can be accessed anywhere. However, I still prefer to use Office for my personal needs. There are issues that I had with Google documents that made it inferior to Office in my eyes. The main problem I had with Google was lag. The menu options sometimes took a very long time to load. I also did not like the interface. I found it nearly impossible to determine where I was on a page and print preview was not always accurate. Google also lacked a lot of the features of Office, especially when it came to presentations. I believe Google needs to devote time and energy towards combating these problems before anybody with access to both actually chooses their service.
Contacting a teacher outside of my region was immensely helpful to me. Not only did she give me a lot of cool technological ideas, but she also gave me ideas for hands-on projects and how they apply to teaching psychology. Anybody who has read my professional blog knows how much I love active learning! In the future, if I am having trouble conveying a concept, I may just write Ms. Damschen and ask her how she approaches it. I am not even teaching yet and already I have a good contact that I can network with and share ideas.
Blogging was definitely an interesting approach that I have evaluated in a previous post. However, I loved the Professional Blog project. I am probably going to edit mine to look more like a resume and use it as a tool in job interviews. I have often thought of what I am going to be like as a teacher, but this is the first time I have actually organized those thoughts and conveyed them into written form. That process actually made me even more excited about my future teaching career. I can't wait!
Podcasts were another project that made me think a little differently than I had before. Prior to taking this class, I hated podcasts. I would much rather read an article at my own pace than listen to the podcast about it. I think it would be a really cool idea for an interactive project though. However, if I implement this as a teacher it will totally be unscripted. There was nothing more boring to me than listening to the people who were reading their podcast directly off of a sheet of paper. When the students spoke from their heart and actually interacted and had a real conversation, it was significantly more enjoyable. I also think it is cool that the podcasts can be posted online and students can show their parents, or even out-of-state relatives, exactly what they are doing in class.
There were many other helpful concepts we went over in class. Everybody can read about my love-hate relationship with Twitter in my previous blog. I was very thankful for the Foliotek instruction. This is the first class in which I have had to use it and now I know enough about it to make posting standards for my other classes much easier. It was much more confusing than I thought it would be so I am glad to have the info. Delicious was also cool, as I had never heard of it before the class. I actually used it to help a fellow student, Christie Love, save information about her out-of-state teaching contact. iTunes was a good place to find educational multimedia that can be used to enhance the classroom experience. Google forms can be used to get a wealth of information about my students.
There were a lot of areas that I would have liked to learn more about. ACCESS and ALEX were two of those areas. I really wish we could have visited ACCESS labs, or even had the planned video available on the class blog. I also wish we had used Google Earth more. In my Hitler and Nazi Germany class last semester, my professor used Google Earth to show us the exact march Hitler made to the town square. I thought that was a neat way to present the information and wished we could have learned more about how to do that for ourselves. I also wanted to learn more about Picasa, especially some of the more advanced capabilities. We also didn't really get into the accessibility issues very much either. I was interested to see the blind guy's talking computer than was mentioned earlier in the semester and am disappointed that we never got to do that. I also would have liked to explore some of the prospective educational uses of Myspace and Facebook.
There is nothing that I did not want to learn in this class and now wish to unlearn. I believe that whether or not the technology is something I wish to incorporate, it is good to know that it is out there. I think that teachers should want to be knowledgeable and educated about all of the options that are available to them. I think they owe it to their students to at least be willing to give an unconventional approach a chance if it can enhance the educational experience.
I have always striven to be a technologically savvy individual and this class just confirms that I want to transfer that attitude into my future teaching career.
Google documents were new to me. I have been using Microsoft Office my whole life and had no idea they even existed. I like the fact that they are free and can be recommended to any of my students that doesn't have Office. I also like that they are stored online and can be accessed anywhere. However, I still prefer to use Office for my personal needs. There are issues that I had with Google documents that made it inferior to Office in my eyes. The main problem I had with Google was lag. The menu options sometimes took a very long time to load. I also did not like the interface. I found it nearly impossible to determine where I was on a page and print preview was not always accurate. Google also lacked a lot of the features of Office, especially when it came to presentations. I believe Google needs to devote time and energy towards combating these problems before anybody with access to both actually chooses their service.
Contacting a teacher outside of my region was immensely helpful to me. Not only did she give me a lot of cool technological ideas, but she also gave me ideas for hands-on projects and how they apply to teaching psychology. Anybody who has read my professional blog knows how much I love active learning! In the future, if I am having trouble conveying a concept, I may just write Ms. Damschen and ask her how she approaches it. I am not even teaching yet and already I have a good contact that I can network with and share ideas.
Blogging was definitely an interesting approach that I have evaluated in a previous post. However, I loved the Professional Blog project. I am probably going to edit mine to look more like a resume and use it as a tool in job interviews. I have often thought of what I am going to be like as a teacher, but this is the first time I have actually organized those thoughts and conveyed them into written form. That process actually made me even more excited about my future teaching career. I can't wait!
Podcasts were another project that made me think a little differently than I had before. Prior to taking this class, I hated podcasts. I would much rather read an article at my own pace than listen to the podcast about it. I think it would be a really cool idea for an interactive project though. However, if I implement this as a teacher it will totally be unscripted. There was nothing more boring to me than listening to the people who were reading their podcast directly off of a sheet of paper. When the students spoke from their heart and actually interacted and had a real conversation, it was significantly more enjoyable. I also think it is cool that the podcasts can be posted online and students can show their parents, or even out-of-state relatives, exactly what they are doing in class.
There were many other helpful concepts we went over in class. Everybody can read about my love-hate relationship with Twitter in my previous blog. I was very thankful for the Foliotek instruction. This is the first class in which I have had to use it and now I know enough about it to make posting standards for my other classes much easier. It was much more confusing than I thought it would be so I am glad to have the info. Delicious was also cool, as I had never heard of it before the class. I actually used it to help a fellow student, Christie Love, save information about her out-of-state teaching contact. iTunes was a good place to find educational multimedia that can be used to enhance the classroom experience. Google forms can be used to get a wealth of information about my students.
There were a lot of areas that I would have liked to learn more about. ACCESS and ALEX were two of those areas. I really wish we could have visited ACCESS labs, or even had the planned video available on the class blog. I also wish we had used Google Earth more. In my Hitler and Nazi Germany class last semester, my professor used Google Earth to show us the exact march Hitler made to the town square. I thought that was a neat way to present the information and wished we could have learned more about how to do that for ourselves. I also wanted to learn more about Picasa, especially some of the more advanced capabilities. We also didn't really get into the accessibility issues very much either. I was interested to see the blind guy's talking computer than was mentioned earlier in the semester and am disappointed that we never got to do that. I also would have liked to explore some of the prospective educational uses of Myspace and Facebook.
There is nothing that I did not want to learn in this class and now wish to unlearn. I believe that whether or not the technology is something I wish to incorporate, it is good to know that it is out there. I think that teachers should want to be knowledgeable and educated about all of the options that are available to them. I think they owe it to their students to at least be willing to give an unconventional approach a chance if it can enhance the educational experience.
I have always striven to be a technologically savvy individual and this class just confirms that I want to transfer that attitude into my future teaching career.
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Sir Ken Robinson - Finding your passion changes everything
Sir Ken Robinson believes that most adults have no idea of their true talents. He believes that people should be doing what they truly love, "in their element". Most people's job is not their passion however. He feels that the education system is partly to blame for this. Academic subjects are emphasized over the arts. Robinson wonders why our children are taught math every day and not taught dancing or painting in the same manner. He says that creativity is just as important as literacy and if you're not prepared to be wrong than you will never come up with anything original.
I agree with a lot of what Sir Robinson says. A large portion of my professional blog deals with bringing out the creativity of my students. I feel it is a trait that needs to be nourished and encouraged as much as possible. Unfortunately, it is not emphasized in the classroom as it should be. I think that teachers should assign projects and lessons that emphasize active learning with their students taking a large role in their learning process. I do not know if I would teach every student dancing every day like Sir Robinson proposes. Instead I would make that option available for the children that would be interested. I feel that each child is unique and schools emphasize a singular path towards college too much. More care should be taken to prepare children for different career paths.
I agree with a lot of what Sir Robinson says. A large portion of my professional blog deals with bringing out the creativity of my students. I feel it is a trait that needs to be nourished and encouraged as much as possible. Unfortunately, it is not emphasized in the classroom as it should be. I think that teachers should assign projects and lessons that emphasize active learning with their students taking a large role in their learning process. I do not know if I would teach every student dancing every day like Sir Robinson proposes. Instead I would make that option available for the children that would be interested. I feel that each child is unique and schools emphasize a singular path towards college too much. More care should be taken to prepare children for different career paths.
Thursday, April 23, 2009
PROJECT 7 - INVESTIGATION OF TWITTER
I was driving down the interstate about a week ago when I noticed a billboard I had never seen before. Ashton Kutcher was petitioning for people to follow him on Twitter. I actually researched his efforts and just read that his advertising campaign has gained him more than 1 million followers. The rise in Twitter's mainstream popularity has been amazing, especially considering the site has only been in existence for 2 years. But can Twitter be useful for something other than finding out every superficial move of your favorite celebrity?
I became a Twitter user (Twitterer? Tweeter? Twooter? The jargon is still killing me!) for the last 4 weeks. Before this project, I thought that Twitter was a colossal waste of time. While I still believe that for the most part, there are ways that it can be educationally valuable. I read several articles concerning ways that it could be helpful to me as a teacher. I followed several teachers who used Twitter to collaborate and send pertinent links. I even Tweeted myself, including both personal information and material that could help my classmates, such as the article concerning the Tweeting of the Passion of the Christ on Good Friday.
I learned that the majority of people on Twitter really don't have much useful to say. Unfortunately most of the Tweets that I received said something along the lines of "I am in class" or "I am studying". Am I wrong to think that even the posts about every-day events should be somewhat unique and interesting? I tweeted the unusual things that happened to me, such as my saga a few weeks ago when my car and motorcycle broke down on the same day. However, unless someone knows me or is stalking me that information would not have much value to them. I also found those who do have something useful to say usually say too much. It is hard to find the useful links when there are users sending out several in one sitting! I tended to unfollow any user who Tweeted more than 2-3 times a day.
I believe the main educational benefit of Twitter is as a group collaboration. Teachers can follow eachother and share links, project ideas, lesson plans, and anything else that might be helpful to their fellow educators. Twitter enables teachers to submit their own ideas and methods and get instant feedback. It also opens them up to a social network outside of their own school, city, or even country. Connecting with educators around the world to share knowledge makes Twitter an invaluable tool. However, the same functionality could be performed with Myspace, Facebook, or any other social networking site. What makes Twitter the most viable option is its current popularity, which is impossible to gauge whether or not it will remain in the future. If everyone (and literally their mother) is still a fervent Tweeter a few years down the road, there will be vast social networking possibilities for educators.
There are several negative aspects to using Twitter. The most crucial to me is that there is no way to separate the good information from the drivel. The use of hashtags helps but is often too specific. The main solution I can see to this problem is to create a Twitter account solely for educational purposes and only follow teachers that do the same. However, that would take a great deal of outside effort to organize and might be overwhelming for teachers who are not as technologically savvy ("I need more than one Twitter account, why?"). I also found that I got bored with Twitter very quickly. I was excited at first when I began Tweeting but lately the novelty has worn off. I went into Twitter daily to check the postings for this project, but I rarely made a post. I also think the interface of Twitter can be superfluous, especially if you are following a lot of people who tweet often. As I stated before, I deleted most of the people on my list who tweeted several times a day because I had to wade through so many things that did not apply to me to find the things that did.
Many people are using Twitter in creative and unusual ways, though. Dr. Strange posted the links I found to both the Twittering plants and the Passion of the Christ on his blog. I especially liked the article on the class blog about the professor encouraging his students to pass notes on Twitter during class. I think that would be extremely distracting! Twitter is also being used by police to inform the public about important issues, some of which can be read about here. A few more bizarre uses for Twitter are listed here, including a Tweeting washing machine.
While I can see the positive uses of Twitter, I doubt it will be a tool I will use in the future, personally or professionally. Personally, I am just not interested in writing every mundane thing I am doing and reading similar updates of others. I do not care about what celebrities are doing in their spare time. I also do not see Twitter as being anything other than a temporary fad which will gradually wear off in popularity. I prefer Myspace, where I can converse with my friends without a character limit and can post more detailed information about myself, such as my pictures and favorite songs. Professionally, I will probably not utilize Twitter either. While it may work for other teachers, I guess it is just not for me. However, I would be open to using it in the future in one of the exclusive teacher groups I described above.
I became a Twitter user (Twitterer? Tweeter? Twooter? The jargon is still killing me!) for the last 4 weeks. Before this project, I thought that Twitter was a colossal waste of time. While I still believe that for the most part, there are ways that it can be educationally valuable. I read several articles concerning ways that it could be helpful to me as a teacher. I followed several teachers who used Twitter to collaborate and send pertinent links. I even Tweeted myself, including both personal information and material that could help my classmates, such as the article concerning the Tweeting of the Passion of the Christ on Good Friday.
I learned that the majority of people on Twitter really don't have much useful to say. Unfortunately most of the Tweets that I received said something along the lines of "I am in class" or "I am studying". Am I wrong to think that even the posts about every-day events should be somewhat unique and interesting? I tweeted the unusual things that happened to me, such as my saga a few weeks ago when my car and motorcycle broke down on the same day. However, unless someone knows me or is stalking me that information would not have much value to them. I also found those who do have something useful to say usually say too much. It is hard to find the useful links when there are users sending out several in one sitting! I tended to unfollow any user who Tweeted more than 2-3 times a day.
I believe the main educational benefit of Twitter is as a group collaboration. Teachers can follow eachother and share links, project ideas, lesson plans, and anything else that might be helpful to their fellow educators. Twitter enables teachers to submit their own ideas and methods and get instant feedback. It also opens them up to a social network outside of their own school, city, or even country. Connecting with educators around the world to share knowledge makes Twitter an invaluable tool. However, the same functionality could be performed with Myspace, Facebook, or any other social networking site. What makes Twitter the most viable option is its current popularity, which is impossible to gauge whether or not it will remain in the future. If everyone (and literally their mother) is still a fervent Tweeter a few years down the road, there will be vast social networking possibilities for educators.
There are several negative aspects to using Twitter. The most crucial to me is that there is no way to separate the good information from the drivel. The use of hashtags helps but is often too specific. The main solution I can see to this problem is to create a Twitter account solely for educational purposes and only follow teachers that do the same. However, that would take a great deal of outside effort to organize and might be overwhelming for teachers who are not as technologically savvy ("I need more than one Twitter account, why?"). I also found that I got bored with Twitter very quickly. I was excited at first when I began Tweeting but lately the novelty has worn off. I went into Twitter daily to check the postings for this project, but I rarely made a post. I also think the interface of Twitter can be superfluous, especially if you are following a lot of people who tweet often. As I stated before, I deleted most of the people on my list who tweeted several times a day because I had to wade through so many things that did not apply to me to find the things that did.
Many people are using Twitter in creative and unusual ways, though. Dr. Strange posted the links I found to both the Twittering plants and the Passion of the Christ on his blog. I especially liked the article on the class blog about the professor encouraging his students to pass notes on Twitter during class. I think that would be extremely distracting! Twitter is also being used by police to inform the public about important issues, some of which can be read about here. A few more bizarre uses for Twitter are listed here, including a Tweeting washing machine.
While I can see the positive uses of Twitter, I doubt it will be a tool I will use in the future, personally or professionally. Personally, I am just not interested in writing every mundane thing I am doing and reading similar updates of others. I do not care about what celebrities are doing in their spare time. I also do not see Twitter as being anything other than a temporary fad which will gradually wear off in popularity. I prefer Myspace, where I can converse with my friends without a character limit and can post more detailed information about myself, such as my pictures and favorite songs. Professionally, I will probably not utilize Twitter either. While it may work for other teachers, I guess it is just not for me. However, I would be open to using it in the future in one of the exclusive teacher groups I described above.
Sunday, April 19, 2009
EDM 310 podcasts and how mine could have been better
The first podcast I listened to was Tracy Traylor, Tyler Tuveson, and Ashlyn Wilcox discussing Shift Happens. I thought this would be interesting to listen to as I did my podcast on the same topic and wanted to see how another group approached it. There were several good things that I found in this podcast. The segment where everyone gave their first impression of the video was interesting. I also liked some of the suggestions, such as once a year technology classes for teachers. I loved how they analyzed the video from their respective teaching fields. However, I felt this podcast went off on tangents (especially about other Karl Fisch quotes) quite a bit without really dealing with the content of the presentation itself. They didn't really talk about the presentation other than saying it had amazing statistics. Only one of those statistics were actually discussed in the podcast. Sound was also an issue with the first girl too close to the microphone, and the last girl too far away. A lot of the segments sounded too rehearsed, like they were obviously reading from a sheet of paper. There was a long definition of special education that especially sounded like it was being read.
The next podcast I listened to was Nikki Hunter, Christi Turner, and Tiffany Blocker discussing Burp Back education. The first thing I noticed about this podcast is that the girls talked extremely fast. I thought it was cool that they did some research and found a pertinent outside quote. I also enjoyed the suggestions of activities for elementary school kids. However, there was still quite a bit of obvious reading from notes. The unrehearsed parts were better and far more interesting. I also thought the recommendation to take breaks after two or three MINUTES of teaching was a bit drastic. I would have also like to seen a discussion on whether or not there are any benefits to Burp Back education.
I then listened to April Griffin and Jeremy Harvey discuss the last lecture of Randy Pausch. I was a bit distracted by the background noise. Were there other students talking during their podcast? The podcast contained good background information on Mr. Pausch. However, it was primarily just a synopsis of the lecture. April and Jeremy did not discuss their personal opinions about the lecture until the very end and very briefly. Having already watched the lecture, I did not really learn anything new from the podcast. I would have loved to hear some back-and-forth conversation. I also thought the segways between speakers were awkward and the podcast suffered from microphone volume issues.
I was a bit leery to listen to my podcast again. I am a perfectionist and quite a bit critical of myself. I really think it turned out well though. Jessica, Christie, and I were a bit nervous at first, probably because we were the first group to go. I think we found a nice groove and were able to have an effective conversation. The fact that our podcast was unscripted made it flow a lot better. I deliberately tried to UNDER-prepare my group to achieve this end, but we would have definitely benefited from a run-through or two. I also think that I should have found a smoother way to end the podcast. All in all, it was an interesting experience and not nearly as painful as I thought it would be.
The next podcast I listened to was Nikki Hunter, Christi Turner, and Tiffany Blocker discussing Burp Back education. The first thing I noticed about this podcast is that the girls talked extremely fast. I thought it was cool that they did some research and found a pertinent outside quote. I also enjoyed the suggestions of activities for elementary school kids. However, there was still quite a bit of obvious reading from notes. The unrehearsed parts were better and far more interesting. I also thought the recommendation to take breaks after two or three MINUTES of teaching was a bit drastic. I would have also like to seen a discussion on whether or not there are any benefits to Burp Back education.
I then listened to April Griffin and Jeremy Harvey discuss the last lecture of Randy Pausch. I was a bit distracted by the background noise. Were there other students talking during their podcast? The podcast contained good background information on Mr. Pausch. However, it was primarily just a synopsis of the lecture. April and Jeremy did not discuss their personal opinions about the lecture until the very end and very briefly. Having already watched the lecture, I did not really learn anything new from the podcast. I would have loved to hear some back-and-forth conversation. I also thought the segways between speakers were awkward and the podcast suffered from microphone volume issues.
I was a bit leery to listen to my podcast again. I am a perfectionist and quite a bit critical of myself. I really think it turned out well though. Jessica, Christie, and I were a bit nervous at first, probably because we were the first group to go. I think we found a nice groove and were able to have an effective conversation. The fact that our podcast was unscripted made it flow a lot better. I deliberately tried to UNDER-prepare my group to achieve this end, but we would have definitely benefited from a run-through or two. I also think that I should have found a smoother way to end the podcast. All in all, it was an interesting experience and not nearly as painful as I thought it would be.
Thursday, April 9, 2009
The Plusses and Minuses of Blogs in the Classroom
Ever since the semester began, I have been maintaining this very EDM 310 blog. I also read Christie Love's blog to see how her experiences were both similar and different to mine. Let me begin by saying that I believe blogs can be a very valuable educational tool. Students are able to complete a variety of tasks on their own time and expose themselves to a great deal of media. Not only does a blog stimulate learning in the subject being taught, it also encourages a student's overall computer literacy.
Many of my favorite tasks on the blog were those in which we had to read an article and post our reaction. It is interesting to look at both Christie's blog and mine and see how our opinions have differed. In response to Karl Fisch's claim that there is nothing worse than being a technologically illiterate teacher, Christie wholeheartedly agrees. She writes, "I can really say that I agree 100% with Karl Fisch about teachers that are illiterate to technology." On the other hand, I thought his statement was a bit too harsh. Christie also has a much more unforgiving view regarding the use of Wikipedia. She says, "I will never use wikipedia for any of my classes or personal use," while I feel that there are some situations where Wikipedia could be helpful.
Another potential benefit of the blog is that it provides a place where multimedia can be displayed. I enjoyed the "About me" presentations done in class and they can now be viewed directly on the blog. Students can also create audio or video clips and post them in the same way. I am a huge proponent of interactive classroom projects and think this would be an interesting way to display them to the world. Many of the classroom blogs I researched for my previous post took a concept or required reading from class and encouraged the students to make a creative endeavor out of it, whether through drawings, poetry, or even photography.
The biggest drawback I see to using blogs in the classroom is access to computers. In college, it is easy to make access to a personal computer mandatory. Each department has its own computer lab and students can easily access any program they need. I am actually sitting in the student center at the moment completing this assignment. Public schools are different. There are still families who can't afford personal computers and devoting class time is often difficult as many students are vying for limited resources. I would possibly have to offer an alternative project for students who were unable to complete the blog because of limited home computer access. However, as computers become even cheaper and increase in popularity, I could totally see myself incorporating a blog into my future classroom.
Many of my favorite tasks on the blog were those in which we had to read an article and post our reaction. It is interesting to look at both Christie's blog and mine and see how our opinions have differed. In response to Karl Fisch's claim that there is nothing worse than being a technologically illiterate teacher, Christie wholeheartedly agrees. She writes, "I can really say that I agree 100% with Karl Fisch about teachers that are illiterate to technology." On the other hand, I thought his statement was a bit too harsh. Christie also has a much more unforgiving view regarding the use of Wikipedia. She says, "I will never use wikipedia for any of my classes or personal use," while I feel that there are some situations where Wikipedia could be helpful.
Another potential benefit of the blog is that it provides a place where multimedia can be displayed. I enjoyed the "About me" presentations done in class and they can now be viewed directly on the blog. Students can also create audio or video clips and post them in the same way. I am a huge proponent of interactive classroom projects and think this would be an interesting way to display them to the world. Many of the classroom blogs I researched for my previous post took a concept or required reading from class and encouraged the students to make a creative endeavor out of it, whether through drawings, poetry, or even photography.
The biggest drawback I see to using blogs in the classroom is access to computers. In college, it is easy to make access to a personal computer mandatory. Each department has its own computer lab and students can easily access any program they need. I am actually sitting in the student center at the moment completing this assignment. Public schools are different. There are still families who can't afford personal computers and devoting class time is often difficult as many students are vying for limited resources. I would possibly have to offer an alternative project for students who were unable to complete the blog because of limited home computer access. However, as computers become even cheaper and increase in popularity, I could totally see myself incorporating a blog into my future classroom.
Sunday, April 5, 2009
"Growth" vs "Fixed" Mindsets
Carol Dweck, a professor of psychology at Standford, feels there is a disparity in motivation pertaining to how students perceive their own intellectual abilities. Some students believe their intelligence is fixed and they cannot change it. Dweck believes these children are more concerned with looking smart than actually learning. On the other hand, there are students who believe their intelligence can grow if used and nourished.
Students were sent to a workshop where they were taught study skills. However, half of the students were placed in a group where they also received seminars in how to develop a brain growth mindset. The difference in academic success between the two groups was startling. The group with a growth mindset significantly outperformed the control group. Dweck has also applied her concept to racecar drivers and businesspeople.
This certainly affects me as a teacher, particularly a psychology teacher. This would be a very good topic to cover in my class and could possibly also improve the results of my students as well. A lot of students do not have proper motivation to want to learn and achieve. If they see that their intelligence is not immutable, it can open up the natural curiosity that they have. I have always felt that an understanding of psychology and how the brain works is an important thing for people to be educated about.
Students were sent to a workshop where they were taught study skills. However, half of the students were placed in a group where they also received seminars in how to develop a brain growth mindset. The difference in academic success between the two groups was startling. The group with a growth mindset significantly outperformed the control group. Dweck has also applied her concept to racecar drivers and businesspeople.
This certainly affects me as a teacher, particularly a psychology teacher. This would be a very good topic to cover in my class and could possibly also improve the results of my students as well. A lot of students do not have proper motivation to want to learn and achieve. If they see that their intelligence is not immutable, it can open up the natural curiosity that they have. I have always felt that an understanding of psychology and how the brain works is an important thing for people to be educated about.
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