Hammond begins by stating, “Our job is to get students to recognize that putting forth the effort is worth the work.” I don’t know about you, but I’ve had plenty of learners who just would not put in the effort, no matter how many times I met with them or explained the positive benefits. Before they came to me, they had already fallen into learned helplessness and I struggled to get them to trust me. We have to be real here. At the same time, we can’t give up on those learners. They need people like us more than the highly motivated kiddos who will go home and make a project based on their learning during the week. These students make us feel good about our role as a teacher, but we really haven’t done much to spark them. Let’s be honest. This academic mindset is hard work. It just doesn’t pop into our minds and we tell ourselves that we will do it. But, there are tools that are available within this chapter to help you. Of course Zaretta would not let us down in our greatest moment of need! Ms. Hammond created an Academic Mindset Components on page 109 that is on fire. She has four basic components. I will unpack them with her ideas, but in my own words. I belong to this academic community: this is where learners believe they belong intellectually and not just socially. This reminds me of the story I shared about Ben Carson in my last episode where he felt intellectually below his peers, so he acted like it. Our learners will take on the roles we give them, which is why I am mostly against homogeneous groupings. I say mostly, because there are times where we need to lean into remediation of pertinent skills and ideas that a group of learners are struggling with. It actually helps in those situations to know that I’m not alone in not understanding this idea or skill. But for it to be effective, the teacher needs to establish that the area of growth does not shape the whole experience of learning, because everyone has areas that they are continuously developing. I can succeed at this: learners believe they can achieve something in particular and that they have the skill set to make it happen. When I read this for the first time, my initial response was self-efficacy. The heart of self-efficacy is the belief that I am capable and it partners with self-esteem that I am worthy enough to make it happen. In a time where learners are just understanding who they are, we need to be putting learners into self-reflective moments where they focus on their positivity, instead of their deficiency. My ability and competence grow with my effort: this is embracing a growth mindset and I am just on one portion of my learning journey. This means that we have only begun to learn and understand, so we need to be patient and kind to ourselves. As educators, we need to share with our learners our journey and the struggles that we had along the way. This helps them to see that we are not perfect and that there is a chance for them. The work has value for me: the ideas a learner is exploring has relevance to their own personal experience and knowledge. It may not connect to the lesson objectives, but it needs to be recognized as an authentic application. This will help learners to realize that all learning is connected to everyday life if we just look for it. As they grow in their understanding of the world, they will see it manifest in different ways. Personal ConnectionAs I went through this reflective practice for myself, I was instantly sent back to seventh grade. Being shy and a selective mute, I strived to be invisible, particularly in math class. To be honest, I stank at the subject and everyone knew it. I just couldn’t understand the purpose of the formulas and algorithms, so I constantly felt like I was in a state of fog. One day, a math teacher shared in front of the class, “I don’t understand why you don’t understand this, your brother had no problem.” Just like that, I grew to hate math for the rest of my schooling career. I avoided the subject as much as possible. In college, I took the least amount of credits possible, because I didn’t want to be called out for being an imposter again.
Hammond proclaims, “As culturally responsive teachers, we have to address the real root of the problem -- students’ self-doubt that leads to a negative academic mindset. This means that as culturally responsive teachers our focus has to be on shifting mindset rather than on trying to force engagement or cajole students’ motivation. Students have to become self-motivated. That’s one of the hallmarks of an independent learner.” So how do we do this exactly? Educator Self-Examination Here are some possible ways to shift the mindset.
I don’t know about you, but this has been a self-reflective practice. There are many things to consider as we are trying to reinforce a positive academic mindset. I’m open to making some changes in my practice and hope you are too. Hammond provides many ways to create positive academic mindsets, but it all begins with our self-examination as educators. What might we be unknowingly doing to support the negative academic mindset? This is where it becomes real. Microaggressions: small, seemingly innocent verbal, behavioral or environmental indignities that send a hostile or derogatory message to people of color. What I experienced in math during middle and high school was microaggression. I heard teachers say, “You are Asian. They are known for being super smart. Why aren’t you?” I internalized this as You are Asian, so why aren’t you smart? This must mean that you aren’t quite Asian enough. This reinforced the feelings I was already experiencing with the absence of my Korean mother and the remarriage of my father to a white woman. The sad part, I believed the message for far too long in my life, because of simple comments that were made to me in passing. How do microaggressions show themselves? There are three possibilities that Hammond outlines on page 113. Microassaults: this is the misuse of power and privilege in subtle ways to create different outcomes of children of color.
Microinsults: this is being insensitive to culturally or linguistically diverse students and trivializing their racial or cultural identity.
Microinvalidations: these are actions that negate or nullify a person of color’s experiences or realities. This can also be expressed when we don’t want to recognize that structural racialization or implicit bias exists.
How do we change the narrative?
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