Today’s Wise Wednesday’s post comes from Amy Conley, a high school English teacher in California. Even though she teaches high school students, her thoughts and ideas on building intrinsic motivation and a growth mindset can be applicable to any classroom. Her article focuses on building intrinsic motivation and a growth mindset in writing for students – something that I find relevant to my classroom since many of my students do not enjoy writing.
Conley says that in order to help build intrinsic motivation, teachers should give as much autonomy to students as possible by allowing them to choose what they want to write about. In my own practicum classroom, students get to write in their journals once a week about anything that they want to write about. The class first brainstorms topics that they can write about, in order to give some ideas to students who need some inspiration. I looked through some of the students’ journals and some students wrote an entire page! This emphasizes the need to give students the power to choose what to write about. It does not have to happen all of the time, but students should be given that autonomy in order to gain that motivation to write.
Also, I wanted to add on here that the article contains some phrases that a teacher can say to make their comments more specific to a student’s writing. I thought that this was worth a mention because as teachers, we can always try to make our feedback and comments to our students more meaningful to them, which will help to further build student self-confidence with respect to their skills as writers.
| You say . . . | You could say . . . | Why? | ||
| Good job! | I can really see your effort in revision. | Praising effort and process encourages writers to keep trying. (Dweck) | ||
| You’re a good writer. | Those drafts paid off in sentence variety and imagery. | Encouraging growth instead of fixed mindset makes for happier people in charge of their progress. (Dweck) | ||
| You don’t know how to use semi-colons. | You haven’t mastered semi-colons yet. | The power of yet suggests growth and mastery. (Dweck and Pink) | ||
| Please revise. | Improved topic sentences and transitions between paragraphs would improve your paper’s structure and readability. | Specific reader-focused feedback might seem nitpicky, but helps writers feel purpose of revision. | ||
| Write a persuasive essay. | Persuade your principal/Congressman/parents to do a specific action. | Writers need a real purpose and real audience to write their best work. (Pink) | ||
| Read Heart of Darkness. Discuss the importance of the Congo River to this narrative. | Choose a work from the list of college-bound reading. How does geography inform the symbolic meaning of the work? | People prefer autonomy and choice. (Pink) |
Reference:
Conley, A. (July 14, 2014). Nurturing intrinsic motivation and growth mindset in writing. Retrieved from http://www.edutopia.org/blog/intrinsic-motivation-growth-mindset-writing-amy-conley