Keefe Mindset Symposium

How to Transition Students From
a "Fixed" Mindset to a "Growth"

Mindset
Dr. Tom Keefe, Participant, IUS Facet Leadership Group
April 8, 2024
2015 FACET/ILTE Spring Teaching Symposium

April 8, 2024
Main Content Areas

• My Students
• My Story
• Mindsets
• The Power of Belief
• Teach a Growth Mindset
• Group Exercises
2015 FACET/ILTE Spring Teaching Symposium April 8, 2024
My Students
• Most are non-traditional
• Many lack learning skills of traditional
students
• Many tend to be passive learners
• Many don’t feel like they belong
• Suffer from poor performance outcomes. Only
about 8% of our students graduate in 4 years.
Only about 32% after 8 years
• Wanted to do something!
My Story
• Sabbatical: Self-regulated Learning, (theory focused on
goal orientation), masters of their own learning
• Encouraged: metacognitive strategies
• Skills: time management, planning & organizing,
active reading, deliberate practice,
use of goals like learning & performance goals
• With a growth mindset: students believe they can
grow and develop their talents. Goal oriented,
motivated to learn skills, engaged
@
Customize header: View menu/Header and Footer April 8, 2024
Mindsets
• Stanford Professor Carol Dweck defines
mindsets this way,
“Mindsets are beliefs—beliefs about
yourself and your most basic qualities.
Think about your intelligence, your
talents, your personality. Are these
qualities simply fixed traits, carved in
stone and that’s that? Or are they things
you can cultivate throughout your life?”
http://www.mindsetonline.com/abouttheauthor/index.html
Fixed Mindset
• The belief a person has that their basic qualities,
such as: ability, intelligence or talent, are fixed
traits
• Success and failure in performance is seen as
an attribute of intelligence or talent that is fixed
• Performance on a test or assignment proves
they are smart or dumb at something
• Thoughts, feelings, and speech about
performance is focused on evaluating personal
qualities/traits
Examples of Fixed Mindset Statements

• I’m smart. For me school is easy. It’s just
common sense.
• Nice! Looks I got the spelling gene!
• Some people are just math brains and
others aren’t! I guess I’m not!
• Why disappoint myself and even try. I can’t
write!
The Brain that Changes Itself

• Science indicates that the qualities of the
brain may not be as fixed once thought
• Neuroplasticity: throughout life the brain
reorganizes itself by forming new neural
pathways, helps overcome injuries, learn
new information and adapt to changes.
• Dr. Norman Doidge
Growth mindset
• A person Believes/Knows that their most basic talents
can be developed through dedicated hard work,
learning skills, & good choices
• IQ, brains, talent & innate abilities are just the starting
point
• Performance, ability & intelligence are things that can
be improved & developed
• Success: hard work, learning skills & good choices
• Tests validate a strategy, choice, or effort
• Thoughts, feelings & speech focus on the process of
learning @
Examples of Growth Mindset Statements

• I love a challenge – its how I get better!
• I messed up the last test. I will have to think
about what I did and regroup.
• Mistakes are okay. I learn from mistakes.
• I had a good semester. It took me a while to
figure it out, but I came on strong at the end.
• Hey, that study session really worked. I put
in the time and I got the grade.
The Power of Belief – Mindset & Success: Eduardo Briceno at TED

To Teach a Growth Mindset
• First, listen to how students are saying

things
• Remember to speak back with a growth
mindset voice
When a student says, “I can’t

________!” Respond by saying ...
“yet!”
What we say belies what we think and
teach our students!
Speak with a Growth Mindset:

• Communicate a growth mindset attitude
• Communicate positive expectations about
effort. Winning happens because of work
hard, learning the right way to do things,
and thorough practice.
• Focus feedback on the process of learning
• Recognize student use of a growth
mindset
Practice a Growth Mindset in Class

• Tell students: mistakes & failure are natural, golden
opportunities! Signals for change
• Change to Win. When one way does not work, adapt
and innovate
• Winning is not about “I/Q”, it’s about “your” use of the
right strategy, “your” effort, & “your” persistence
• Expect hard work and practice to be necessary. It’s
not just for some.
• Recognize students: for their use of a growth mindset
• Teach learning skills not just content
• Challenge students to be masters of their learning
Group Exercises
• Recognizing Fixed and Growth Mindset
Statements is the first step
• Students are asked to develop three (3) growth
mindset statements:
• Business Students – coming example
• Nursing Students – speaking to a patient
• Education Majors – speaking to a student
• Arts and Letters – thinking about your own work
• Faculty – Feedback on written projects
Class Exercise for Business Students
• In groups:
• Select a management job you are familiar
with
• Come up with three (3) growth mindset
statements about a subordinate's
performance
• Are you sure they are growth mindset
statements?
• What makes them growth mindset
statements?
• Are they focused on qualities or process? @
Class Exercise for Nursing Students @
• In groups:
• Imagine you are talking with a patient
statements that you can use to counsel
patients
statements?
• What makes them growth mindset statements?
• Are they focused on qualities or process?
Class Exercise for Education Majors @
• In groups:
• Imaging you are student teaching!
statements about a student’s performance on
homework
statements?
statements?
Class Exercise for Arts & Letters @
• In groups:
• Think about how you criticize your own work.
statements about your own work
statements?
statements?
Faculty Exercise: Giving Written Feedback

• We should model a growth mindset with our
feedback
• We should Focus feedback on the process of
learning
• Good feedback: Descriptive, Objective, &
Timely
• Research indicates 38% of the time feedback
is associated with decreased performance
Why Doesn’t’ Feedback Always Work?

• Too much negative or destructive feedback
• Too infrequent
• Too ambiguous
• Too much about the person, not about the
process – praise not feedback
• Student’s aren’t ready, willing, or able to use
it
Some Feedback Statements Made to IUS Students?

(source: IUS, Writing Center)
• Awk.
• Did you read this?
• What?
• Do you really believe this?
• I have no idea what you are trying to say.
• This is a jumbled mess and makes no sense.
• Did you stay up all night writing this? It sure looks
like it.
• Where did this come from?
• Is this how you learned to write in high school?
Helpful Instructor Feedback

• Assume good intentions
• Create expectations & offer recognition of effort
• Tells students what they did wrong with respect
• Coach for success by focusing on what they did,
or need to do, to be successful . Use specific,
practical suggestions
• Offer suggestions when students are ready,
willing, and able to use the feedback
Compare these statements (What’s Implied)
1. Your opinions are not objective. Your

writing is slanted.
2. You can use your opinions, but you have to
use better evidence to support those.
We Need to Talk About the Elephant in the Room
• Good Feedback can be a lot of work, which

can take lots of your time!
• Look at the next few examples….
Compare these statements

1. Did you read this?
2. I know you work hard to write better. Here
is a strategy that may help. Put your writing
down after you have finished the first time.
Come back to it later and read it out loud to
see how it sounds.

1. This is a jumbled mess and makes no sense.
2. I appreciate your hard work. I can see you
have written and rewritten this section many
times. It still is jumbled and I have a hard time
following what you are trying to say. I would
like you to go to the writing center. Take your
paper. Ask them how you can improve the
flow of my writing. Use the word - flow. They
will know what you mean and want to help.

1. Do you really believe this?
2. I know when you write, things seem to
make sense. But here is the problem with
your statement _________. Here is a
strategy that may help. After you are
finished, ask someone else to read it to see
if everything makes sense.

1. I have no idea what you are trying to say.
2. I want to help you write better. There is a
problem here with how this statement
relates to what you are writing about. Here
is something I want you to try. After you
have written a statement, ask yourself if it
is clearly related to the subject of the
paragraph.

1. Where did this come from? Did you stay up
all night writing this? It sure looks like it.
2. I can see you are working hard and must
have been tired when you wrote this. Here
is a suggestion. Look at your schedule and
plan ahead. If there is going to be a log jam,
shift the work backward to an earlier part of
your schedule so you can get it done
without being so tired.
Suggestions to Make Good Feedback

Practical
• Use rubrics. Canvas is great!
• Scaffold your feedback. Avoid bombarding
students with too much feedback
• Ask students what feedback they want
• Cut/paste frequently used feedback statements
into electronic submissions
• Use brief written feedback statements supported
by detailed face-to-face feedback
• Use computerized testing to automate as much of
the feedback process as possible – full feedback!
In Summary, Helpful Instructor Feedback

• Assumes good intentions
• Creates expectations & offers recognition of
effort
• Tells students what they did wrong with
respect
• Coaches for success by focusing on what
they did, or need to do, to be successful .
Use specific, practical suggestions
• Offers suggestions when students are
ready, willing, and able to use the feedback
@
References
• “Mindsets” by Dr. Carol Dweck
• Self-regulated Learning, Dr. Dale Schrunk
• Neuroplasticity, Dr.Norman Doidge
• Metacognitive Strategies: Thinking about their
thinking
• Active Reading: Reading with a purpose
• Deliberate practice, Dr. Anders K Ericsson
• 1.Learning goals & 2. Performance goals
• Time management, & Planning skills @
The End
@
Scaffolding, a helpful teaching technique

• Students need many skills in place to be able to
advance and learn. Also, many subjects require
learning material in sequence
• Not every student is at the same place at the
same time
• Scaffolding means targeting feedback to bring
students to that next level
• As instructors, we need to know our material
and our students
Cautions When Using Feedback

•Desire of recipient for feedback is important.
Accurate timely cognitive processing of feedback is
much less than a given.
•Not everyone wants feedback.
•Not everyone is ready to hear feedback
•If you are unsure if a student wants feedback ask!
•You may be surprised how many times they turn
you down.
Focus on Process in a Positive Way

• Use statements that assume good intentions &
recognized effort
• Tell the truth with respect and compassion
• Coach for success
• Encourage students to visualize their success
• Help students to master thinking and speaking
growth mindset
• Self-monitor personal prejudices and negative non-
verbal cues

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Keefe Mindset Symposium

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How to Transition Students From

a "Fixed" Mindset to a "Growth"

2015 FACET/ILTE Spring Teaching Symposium

Main Content Areas

Examples of Fixed Mindset Statements

The Brain that Changes Itself

Examples of Growth Mindset Statements

The Power of Belief – Mindset & Success: Eduardo Briceno at TED

To Teach a Growth Mindset

• First, listen to how students are saying

When a student says, “I can’t

Speak with a Growth Mindset:

Practice a Growth Mindset in Class

Faculty Exercise: Giving Written Feedback

Why Doesn’t’ Feedback Always Work?

Some Feedback Statements Made to IUS Students?

Helpful Instructor Feedback

Compare these statements (What’s Implied)

1. Your opinions are not objective. Your

We Need to Talk About the Elephant in the Room

• Good Feedback can be a lot of work, which

Compare these statements

Compare these statements

Compare these statements

Compare these statements

Compare these statements

Suggestions to Make Good Feedback

In Summary, Helpful Instructor Feedback

Scaffolding, a helpful teaching technique

Cautions When Using Feedback

Focus on Process in a Positive Way

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