The Mindset of the Maker Educator

Here are some graphics, Thinglinks, and the slideshow I created for my Mindset of the Maker Educator Workshop:

https://www.thinglink.com/scene/575147870160683008

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http://www.thinglink.com/scene/529031635128025090

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How Educators Can Assist Learners in Developing a Growth Mindset

I have written, described, and presented about the growth mindset in education settings, see

• The Educator and the Growth Mindset
• The Educator with a Growth Mindset: A Staff Workshop
• Growth Mindset: Personal Accountability and Reflection

This post delves a little deeper, and hopefully provides some additional ideas for how educators can assist their learners in developing a growth mindset.

Part of facilitating a growth mindset within learners involves changing some preconceptions of the role of teacher.  One such change is in viewing one of the roles as being that of a coach.  As Kirsten Olson discusses in Teacher As Coach: Transforming Teaching With the A Coaching Mindset:

Coaches operate with an underlying assumption that giving advice to others undermines the confidence and self-worth of others.  Others don’t need to be fixed.  In teaching we need to move to exactly this stance in order to foster creativity in our students–to allow our students the choice, control, novelty and challenge that builds their creativity.  Without the assumption that our students are already competent, imaginative, and ready to burst forth with regular exhibitions of novel and valuable ideas and products, we are limiting their creative capacities before they’ve even had a chance to discover them.

The educator, as a growth mindset facilitator and coach, has a different, often unique, set of beliefs about students learning and growth. The following infographic shows (1) the common beliefs of an educator who promotes a growth mindset, and (2) some reflection questions about instructional practices that reinforce the growth mindset:

Growth Mindset: Personal Accountability and Reflection

I am an adjunct faculty for several teacher education and educational technology programs.  I have been so for a few decades.  During that time I have noticed the changing nature of student behaviors and expectations regarding their class projects and assignments.  Students seem to expect perfect grades for not so perfect work.  I can predict that when I “mark down” a student, I will receive a complaint about that mark down (it happened just this evening) even with clear cut and concrete grading criteria like uses references to support ideas in blog posts, includes copyright available images.

I have been studying, blogging and presenting about the growth mindset (see The Educator with a Growth Mindset: A Staff Workshop).  When speaking of a growth mindset, a fixed mindset also needs to be discussed and described.  Fixed mindsets are associated with avoiding failure at all costs.  What I don’t see mentioned as part of a fixed, or maybe they be called toxic mindsets, are characteristics or attitudes like:

• Mediocre is often good enough for me as long as I get the work done.
• I expect my teachers to give me full credit for completion and submission of my work.  Quality is not a variable.
• It is okay to just do “enough” work to minimally fulfill the requirements.
• Good grades are what really matter to me.  I am not really interested in receiving qualitative feedback.

In response to these experiences, I developed a Personal Accountability and Reflection series of questions.  I will suggest that students use this “checklist” in order to develop and enhance their growth mindsets through personal accountability and reflection.

• Did I work as hard as I could have?
• Did I set and maintain high standards for myself?
• Did I spend enough time to do quality work?
• Did I regulate my procrastination, distractions, and temptations in order to complete my work?
• Did I make good use of available resources?
• Did I ask questions if I needed help?
• Did I review and re-review my work for possible errors?
• Did I consider best practices for similar work?
• Is my work something for which I am proud – that I would proudly show to a large, global audience?

The Intersection of Growth Mindsets and Maker Education

I have a recent interest in both Growth Mindsets and Maker Education; and have blogged and presented on both of these topics.  As such and because of my passion for both of these area, I have been thinking about the intersection between the two.  This intersection, I found, is strong and powerful.

A growth mindset tolerates more risk and failure, while a fixed mindset tends to avoid risk and its accompanying frustration. It is obvious which mindset helps someone adapt to and contribute to a world that is constantly changing. Dweck points out that many who excel academically have a fixed mindset, which limits them to exploring only the areas they were told they were good at. Such mindsets are often found within the teaching profession itself, and presents a true challenge in adopting Maker principles to the classroom of the near future. Conversely, many who do poorly in school have taken too seriously the judgment of others about their abilities in subjects such as math or science. In both cases, such limiting views of oneself are self-defeating and can hold people back from exploring new areas and developing unknown capabilities. Making is about developing one’s full potential. (Ed Tech and the Maker Movement)

This is further discussed by Maggie Hos-McGrane in her blog post, Directed -v- Self-Directed: Developing a Maker Mindset:

A maker mindset involves having a can-do attitude and a growth mindset – a belief that your capabilities can be developed, improved and expanded.  It’s not just a matter of what you know, it’s a matter of taking risks and perhaps failing and learning from those failures.  It’s a matter of being open to exploring new possibilities and developing your full potential.

Craig Lambert notes the connections between a growth mindset and maker movement in a blog post he wrote for the Maker Faire Atlanta.

I’m aware that many, if not all, Makers seem to hold the growth mindset. They relish challenges, they want to stretch themselves, they want to try and do things that they have never done before.  In fact, it seems that what we really need as a human race is a whole lot more people with the growth mindset in order to tackle and overcome the many challenges we face. (A Growth Mindset)

Some of the characteristics of the intersection of a Growth Mindset and Making include:

• Effort is valued.
• Hard work leads to positive results.
• Growth & development are at the forefront.
• Everyone can do.
• Focus is on the process of learning.
• One’s personal strengths, creativity, curiosity breed results.
• Challenges are seen as opportunities.
• Capabilities and skills can be developed, improved, and expanded.
• Failure is approached as iterative.
• Feedback, positive and constructive, is openly accepted and used for growth.

The Educator and the Growth Mindset

I am facilitating an in-service on Growth Mindsets for Educators.  I created an infographic, Thinglink, and Slide Presentation of resources that I am sharing below:

Thinglink that contains links to Growth Mindset Resources http://www.thinglink.com/scene/549674394805338114

Google Presentation