Setting the Expectation for a Growth Mindset in KINETIC3’s Excellence in Teaching Track

From the 3/5/2021 newsletter

Perspective/Opinion

Setting the Expectation for a Growth Mindset in KINETIC3’s Excellence in Teaching Track

 

by Alexandra Harrington, MD

 

Dr. Harrington shares that character development in adults seems dependent on having a growth mindset, a frame of mind adopted by the Kern Institute's KINETIC3 Teaching Academy...

As I reviewed the results of my Values in Action (VIA) character strengths survey, I noted the ‘top 5’ of honesty, judgement, love, perseverance and fairness, but was naturally drawn to those strengths ranked at the bottom, self-regulation, social intelligence, and spirituality. For those unfamiliar with this survey, it is a free survey (available at viacharacter.org)- that all KINETIC3 learners take prior to our first course- that ranks your character strengths based on your answers to a series of questions. Can I better control my emotions and reactivity? How do I improve my interpersonal relationships? These questions and other related ones had me reflecting on my mindset. With a growth mindset, I certainly could practice better self-control, but not with a non-acknowledging, resistant fixed mindset. Character development in adults seems dependent on having this growth mindset.  

A growth mindset is defined by Dr. Carol Dweck as the belief that talents and skills can be developed in oneself and/or others. We have adopted this frame of mind in the KINETIC3 program and have set the expectation for having a growth mindset with respect to teaching in the Excellence in Teaching Track. Our learners are asked early in the program to reflect on previous teaching evaluations. We ask learners to share their positive evaluations and reflect on growth opportunities. Then, we ask learners to share any negative feedback on their teaching and again reflect on growth opportunities. We try to explore those opportunities, even if the negativity of the evaluation seems like Jimmy Kimmel’s mean tweets! KINETIC3 learners are given time to reflect substantively on their teaching and character strengths and opportunities for improvement and commit to working on those growth fronts during their coached teaching observations. 

“We’re all a mixture . . . it’s true that you can have a fixed mindset in one area and a growth mindset in another and that it’s a spectrum, not a dichotomy,” Dr. Dweck tells us in a videoed interview that we watch in KINETIC3 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-71zdXCMU6A&feature=youtu.be). 

Learners are asked to reflect and share stories wherein they had a fixed mindset and then situations in which they have had growth mindsets. And as Dr. Dweck advises, we ask learners to reflect on the triggers of the fixed mindset. What puts you in the fixed mindset in that moment? The goal in this exercise is to identify the trigger in hopes of avoiding the rigidity in the future. We stretch our learners to mentor themselves hypothetically then towards a growth-minded belief if they encounter similar scenarios in the future. Lastly, we share examples of fixed and growth mindsets related to our previous educational experiences, such as disregarding student evaluative feedback (fixed) and trying a new active learning exercise (growth). It is imperative we recognize that in the teacher-student relationship, our mindset may influence our learners’ mindsets (and vice versa!).

Alexandra Harrington, MD, MT (ASCP), is a Professor of Pathology and Director of Hematopathology in the MCW Department of Pathology. She serves as Director of the Faculty Pillar and the KINETIC3 Teaching Academy within the Robert D. and Patricia E. Kern Institute for the Transformation of Medical Education.

Setting the Expectation for a Growth Mindset in KINETIC3’s Excellence in Teaching Track

From the 3/5/2021 newsletter 

Perspective/Opinion 

Setting the Expectation for a Growth Mindset in KINETIC3’s Excellence in Teaching Track

Alexandra Harrington, MD

Dr. Harrington shares that character development in adults seems dependent on having a growth mindset, a frame of mind adopted by the Kern Institute's KINETIC3 Teaching Academy...

As I reviewed the results of my Values in Action (VIA) character strengths survey, I noted the ‘top 5’ of honesty, judgement, love, perseverance and fairness, but was naturally drawn to those strengths ranked at the bottom, self-regulation, social intelligence, and spirituality. For those unfamiliar with this survey, it is a free survey (available at https://www.viacharacter.org/)- that all KINETIC3 learners take prior to our first course- that ranks your character strengths based on your answers to a series of questions. Can I better control my emotions and reactivity? How do I improve my interpersonal relationships? These questions and other related ones had me reflecting on my mindset. With a growth mindset, I certainly could practice better self-control, but not with a non-acknowledging, resistant fixed mindset. Character development in adults seems dependent on having this growth mindset.

 A growth mindset is defined by Dr. Carol Dweck as the belief that talents and skills can be developed in oneself and/or others. We have adopted this frame of mind in the KINETIC3 program and have set the expectation for having a growth mindset with respect to teaching in the Excellence in Teaching Track. Our learners are asked early in the program to reflect on previous teaching evaluations. We ask learners to share their positive evaluations and reflect on growth opportunities. Then, we ask learners to share any negative feedback on their teaching and again reflect on growth opportunities. We try to explore those opportunities, even if the negativity of the evaluation seems like Jimmy Kimmel’s mean tweets! KINETIC3 learners are given time to reflect substantively on their teaching and character strengths and opportunities for improvement and commit to working on those growth fronts during their coached teaching observations.

“We’re all a mixture . . . it’s true that you can have a fixed mindset in one area and a growth mindset in another and that it’s a spectrum, not a dichotomy,” Dr. Dweck tells us in a videoed interview that we watch in KINETIC3 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-71zdXCMU6A&feature=youtu.be). 

Learners are asked to reflect and share stories wherein they had a fixed mindset and then situations in which they have had growth mindsets. And as Dr. Dweck advises, we ask learners to reflect on the triggers of the fixed mindset. What puts you in the fixed mindset in that moment? The goal in this exercise is to identify the trigger in hopes of avoiding the rigidity in the future. We stretch our learners to mentor themselves hypothetically then towards a growth-minded belief if they encounter similar scenarios in the future. Lastly, we share examples of fixed and growth mindsets related to our previous educational experiences, such as disregarding student evaluative feedback (fixed) and trying a new active learning exercise (growth). It is imperative we recognize that in the teacher-student relationship, our mindset may influence our learners’ mindsets (and vice versa!).

Alexandra Harrington, MD, MT (ASCP), is a Professor of Pathology and Director of Hematopathology in the MCW Department of Pathology. She serves as Director of the Faculty Pillar and the KINETIC3 Teaching Academy within the Robert D. and Patricia E. Kern Institute for the Transformation of Medical Education.

Learning about Growth Mindset from our Students

From the 2/5/2021 newsletter

Learning about Growth Mindset from our Students

Marty Muntz, MD

Dr. Muntz shares how to recognize trainees with fixed mindset and shares how small group coaching exercises can be game changers …

How often have you heard someone say, “I believe my intelligence, personality, or character is inherent and static. Locked-down or fixed. My potential is determined at birth and doesn’t change”? Rarely, if ever, hopefully. But have you worked with a learner or colleague who hides failures, desires to look smart, sticks to what they know, avoids challenging tasks, seems threatened by the success of others, is intensely self-critical, or seems resistant to feedback? These behaviors, which may signify a fixed mindset that can limit achievement and ongoing improvement, are not uncommonly observed in our clinical learning environments. 

To address this phenomenon, coaches in the 4C (Coaching for Character, Caring, and Competence) Program are trained to foster a growth mindset in their students. In her book Mindset, Dr. Carol Dweck suggests that learners with a growth mindset are likely to confront uncertainties, embrace challenges, learn from failures, and find lessons and inspiration in the success of others. A growth mindset helps one realize that feedback is a statement about current skills – and an opportunity to improve – rather than a personal attack.  

Ellen Arndt and Katherine Lumetta, MCW-Milwaukee medical students and near-peer coaches in the 4C program, recently developed and taught an interactive faculty development session for our coaches and created the lesson plan for the small group coaching sessions. After learning about this concept, both students and coaches brainstormed barriers to employing a growth mindset during different phases of medical school training and their careers. Unfortunately yet unsurprisingly, the list is long and includes grades, awards, the hierarchical structure of our teams, competition for research and other opportunities, and the residency match. 

In their coaching groups, students were asked to compare and contrast challenging life experiences they approached with both fixed and growth mindsets – and consider how the outcomes may have changed with reversing their approach. The coaching groups also discussed student behaviors that might signal to teachers and teammates that learners are fully invested in their personal and professional development despite barriers. Our near-peer coaches shared how their perspectives have changed during clerkship and other clinical rotations, providing concrete examples from their experiences. 

We are confident that small group sessions like these with trusted peers and faculty coaching starting early in medical school will help our students enter clerkships with the confidence and skills to set and achieve lofty goals. This, coupled with faculty development in programs like KINETIC-3 and 4C to encourage growth mindset, can help transform our learning environments to more fully support our students in their individual journeys to identify and achieve their goals.  

Martin Muntz, MD is a Professor of Medicine (General Internal Medicine) at MCW. He is Director of the Curriculum Pillar of the Robert D. and Patricia E. Kern Institute for the Transformation of Medical Education.

Growth Mindset and Wellbeing: Getting off of the Roller Coaster

 From the 2/5/2021 newsletter

Perspective

 

Growth Mindset and Wellbeing: Getting off of the Roller Coaster

 

David J. Cipriano, Ph.D.

 

 

Dr. Cipriano shares that developing a “growth mindset” can help learners smooth the bumps along the way, viewing setbacks as opportunities rather than signs of failure …

 

 

“Tell a story about you at your best.”  

 

“Now, tell a story about you at your worst.” 

 

For many, there would be a sharp decline in mood with the second part of this exercise.  But not for people with a growth mindset – for them, both outcomes would be taken in stride.  Both scenarios would be followed with, “What did I learn from this?” and the worst scenario would be followed by, “What will I do differently next time?”  Growth mindset – the belief in our capacity to change and grow our abilities, not just our skills or effort, but our supposedly innate abilities – is a natural self-esteem preserver.

 

 

Growth mindset v. fixed mindset 

 

For folks with a fixed mindset – the opposite of a growth mindset – failure is a sign that they are not up to the task; that it’s time to pack it up and move on to something else.  For these people, failure, as a New York Times article points out, has been transformed from a verb (“I failed”) to a noun (“I am a failure”) and, indeed, an identity.  But there is an almost equally dangerous attribution for success among those with a fixed mindset – that this is proof of my God-given talent and validates my awesomeness!  Here’s the problem in Dr. Carol Dweck’s words: If you’re somebody when you’ve succeeded, what are you when you’re not successful?  

 

Dr. Dweck is the originator of this concept and she’s been at it for a while now.  Back in the 1970s, she began asking third graders why they thought they were struggling in math.  This research, firmly grounded in attribution theory led to the discovery that, depending on your belief about how changeable the outcome is, you would be more likely to persevere – and even come to enjoy – math.  People with a growth mindset attribute their failures mostly to effort, but even when they attribute to ability, they have the belief that this ability can grow.  People with a fixed mindset almost always attribute to ability, and without the added benefit of believing this can change.  So their destiny is set, there’s not much reason to consider how they might develop from this.

 

I’ve been steeped in this stuff nearly as long.  Back in the 1980s, my master’s thesis was based on attribution theory and my doctoral dissertation touched on it, as well.  I never thought I’d use these concepts in psychotherapy, though.  Back then, I was going to be a social psychologist and do research like Dr. Dweck.

 

Fast forward to the new century and I find myself working with medical, pharmacy, and graduate students, a high-octane group, to be sure!  When they’re succeeding, they’re great.  But, when they’ve failed, they don’t feel so great.  For people with a fixed mindset, failure can even lead to depression.  Now, failure stings for all of us, but it doesn’t have to define us. In psychotherapy with these folks, I examine the self-talk occurring, which is almost always self-recrimination and self-demeaning.  When I challenge this, I hear, “Being so hard on myself is how I’ve gotten where I am today!”  To which I say, “Your ‘self’ can only take so much of this beating, before it freezes and stops trying.”  

 

 

The fixed mindset leads to a “roller coaster” of self-esteem

 

Imagine the roller-coaster that their self-esteem is on.  If you have a fixed mindset, you’re more concerned about the judgment of others and more worried about making mistakes.  When you’re succeeding, it is confirmation that you are the superstar you’ve always been told that you are.  Feels great – especially if you don’t have to try – because having to try negates the notion of having a ‘gift.’  But, when you’ve had a setback or a failure, it is confirmation of your worst fears.

 

 

Getting from roller coaster to journey

 

A good therapeutic outcome with people stuck in this cycle is for them to separate out their identity from their performance – to rid them of that notion that “I am my grade,” or “My worth can be measured in my performance.”  

 

Imagine, instead of being stuck on a roller coaster, they are enjoying the journey.  Learning is savored, and not a threat.  Mood is stabilized in the knowledge that mistakes are to be expected and will make one even better.  Self-worth is preserved in the belief that there is value in getting knocked down and getting up and trying again.

 

 

For further reading:

Dweck, C.S. (2016). Mindset:  The New Psychology of Success.  Ballentine Books:  New York.

 

 

 

David J. Cipriano, Ph.D. is an Associate Professor in the MCW Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Health and Director of Student and Resident Behavioral Health. He is a member of the Community Engagement Pillar of the Robert D. and Patricia E. Kern Institute for the Transformation of Medical Education. 

 

The Power of Yet

 Invited Perspective

 

From the 2/5/2021 newsletter

 

The Power of Yet

 

 

Katie Dercks

 

 

 

In this essay, Katie Dercks, a fourth grade teacher, describes a thoughtful approach to fostering growth mindset that she and her teaching partner implemented in their classrooms …

 

 

 

“I can’t do this!” “I’m not good at this.” “I don’t get it!” These words have unfortunately found a common place within classrooms. They are a reflection of a child’s frustration and go deeper into the child’s own self-beliefs. I have been a teacher at St. Robert for nine years now, and I have watched as more students come into my fourth grade classroom with anxieties wrapped around tests, assignments and self-worth. Instead of putting the focus on learning and growing, these students are focused on “the grade” and looking “dumb” in front of peers. 

 

In an attempt to teach students their own worth and what they are truly capable of, my colleague and I decided to dig deeper into the idea of growth mindset. According to Carol Dweck, author of Mindset, people with a growth mindset believe that skills and qualities can be cultivated through effort and perseverance. Their goal is to grow their minds, embrace challenges and learn from feedback, a mindset we wanted for our students.

 

We decided to start with “The Power of Yet.” When we heard a child say, “I’m not good at math!” “I don’t know how to do that,” we would respond by reminding them that they haven’t mastered those things “yet.” For example, “You’re not good at this math yet; you just need more time practicing, thinking, and figuring it out!” We wanted students to understand that skills are acquired over time through practice and perseverance. We all have our strengths and weaknesses, and it is important we identify both in order to truly grow. 

 

Little did we know how much one phrase would change the culture of our classrooms and ourselves as educators. What seemed cheesy at first, commenting to students’ negative remarks with, “Remember the power of yet!” soon became echoed by students to themselves and their peers. It was a powerful realization that even if kids didn’t understand the deeper meaning of yet, they were beginning to play with the idea.

 

From then on, we decided to introduce more projects, activities and literature that highlighted each child’s strengths and weaknesses, using these as tools to help them grow. My colleague and I would model how to work through problems in front of the students, showing them that struggle is normal and working through challenges grows one’s brain and creates a feeling of success. As educators, we had to fight our instincts to jump in and help when a child was feeling challenged. We needed to allow them to struggle. When a child said, “This is hard!” our response would be, “Good. That means your brain is working. It is going to push you to find a new way of thinking.” When a child succeeded, we had to change our words of affirmation from, “I am so proud of you,” to “You should be so proud of yourself.” After all, validation has to come from within.

 

When a child really felt stuck, we would take a moment to stop and ask the class to come up with strategies their peer could use. It became normal practice to help one another and appreciate small victories. We had students explain how they felt when they improved and succeeded. We discussed the importance of positive self-talk; the idea of what we tell ourselves is critical to how we produce and succeed. 

 

By the end of the year, we saw that our efforts had changed the environment of our classroom. Students began to understand that every person faces his/her own struggle. One might struggle with math, while another student with behavioral issues may struggle with social interactions. Bullying decreased and the level of praise for one another was heightened. 

 

Do we think all students will walk out of fourth grade with total confidence ready to take on the challenges of the world? No, it’s a life process, but we have given them the skills and strategies of a growth mindset. One student, who has taken this to heart, writes at the beginning on top of her tests, “I’ve got this” and has encouraged others to do the same. That makes me smile…because they do. 

 

There are students who will always struggle with their inner anxieties and fixed mindsets, but we want our classrooms to be a start. We want students to remember as they move on in their education and life that the little things add up. The goal each day isn’t to win or lose, pass or fail, but just be a little better than they were yesterday. I, myself, still struggle with self-confidence at times, having to stop negative self-talk and the temptation to give up. And it’s important that students know this -- that even the teacher doesn’t have it completely figured out… yet.

 

 

 

Katie Dercks teaches fourth grade at St. Robert School in Shorewood WI.