The topic of my Professional Learning Circle for my EDUC 4350 class was Classroom Culture. This blog post will provide a brief summary as well as my thoughts.

• The three factors to a success psychology are
  • Growth vs fixed ability orientation as related to one’s self-efficacy
  • A sense of belonging and acceptance vs isolation & worthlessness
  • Internal vs external locus of control
• Fixed Ability Orientation is when students view themselves as smart or not smart, whereas Growth Ability Orientation is when students see intelligence and skill as something which can be developed
• Focusing on the process rather than the products helps create a growth mindset
• Fostering collaboration and positive self-talk helps promote a sense of belonging
• Thinking about “failures” as not being successful “yet” is a growth mindset point of view
• Teachers should praise process, focus, strategies, and perseverance, and not intelligence or talent

• Classroom culture is something which takes time and effort to build.
• Teachers are responsible for creating the culture in the classroom.
  • Students contribute to it but the teacher sets it up.
• I was interested to learn about Growth Ability Orientation and I feel this is very important. Too often we see some people’s intelligence as being static, but this is not accurate.
• I feel fostering positive self-talk is vital because we see too much negativity nowadays, especially when it comes to our own internal monologue.
• It was good to see the list of what we should praise moving away from praising things like talent which students did not work for, and towards effort.

References

Shindler, J. (2010). Transformative classroom management: positive strategies to engage all students and promote a psychology of success. Jossey-Bass. https://books.scholarsportal.info/uri/ebooks/ebooks2/pda/2011-12-01/1/14691.9780470565506

Stanford Alumni. (2014, October 9). Developing a Growth Mindset with Carol Dweck. [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hiiEeMN7vbQ