Growth Mindset
Hey there!
Since I already took Mythology and Folklore, I completed this assignment last semester. Instead of refreshing, I decided to take some time and read Laura's blog and book chapter on growth mindset. Here is my reaction (and slight rant)...
YES YES YES
Ungrading is one of the coolest things I have heard of. I actually never heard of it until last semester. It makes complete sense for many students, but I can see where it may fail. If the student does not want to learn, they will not learn....with that said..... I want to express why this is life changing for someone like me.
I have been a perfectionist my whole life. I was diagnosed with dyslexia in third grade....the day we got our reading state wide standardized test back. In my school district, they had never seen a kid with all underlying conditions for dyslexia so severely (aka me). My school district didn't really accept dyslexia as a learning disability until I was probably in high school. So, when my reading score came back as a 100%, the district refused to believe I had dyslexia.
Well why is this important to ungrading?
Here is the deal, I did not understand why I struggled with school.
I worked 50x harder than anyone else in my class I still couldn't pass a spelling test. I would come home in tears and my mom would rip up the test and tell me that the grade didn't define me.....but I believed it did. I genuinely thought I was dumb until I was in college. My first semester at OU my advisor told me not to take multiple science classes because I wouldn't be able to succeed. My mom on the other hand really believed in me and pushed me to do them. I ended my first semester at OU as a neuroscience major with a 4.0 and with one of the highest grades in all of my classes. Then I did it again the next semester and the one after that and so on.
So cool? Back to ungrading?
I have put so much pressure on myself to be perfect that I have almost killed myself in this education process. I never believed I was smart enough because I didn't make an A in high school. I thought that I was never enough because every year 7 different teachers for 7 years of middle school and high school said I was a B student and I wouldn't be intelligent enough to be in more advanced courses. I worked longer and harder than anyone above me in class rank in high school, but I was never smart enough to be a top-notch student.
Ungrading probably would have added 5 years to my life that stress took off. In college I am still stressed to the max because if you want to go to medical school you have to be an A student in classes YOU WILL HAVE TO RETAKE IN MEDICAL SCHOOL ANYWAYS. Side note, probably not going to medical school because being a doctor isn't my jam (shout out to shadowing). But....this system is so screwed up. We spend 16 years stressed about school. School that doesn't teach us how to do anything except how to take a test and how to solve a quantum mechanics problem....and we are stressed over it. We are not learning how to save a life, how to build a company, how to teach a class, how to build a building, how to communicate, how to build relationships, or how to even write a check. We are stressed about things that only help us get to the next stressful class.
So, let's ungrade. Let's focus on building determination, dedication, and drive. Let's build character and personality. Let's prepare people to succeed outside the classroom instead of suggesting they won't succeed IN LIFE because they get a C instead of an A in high school chemistry.
Since I already took Mythology and Folklore, I completed this assignment last semester. Instead of refreshing, I decided to take some time and read Laura's blog and book chapter on growth mindset. Here is my reaction (and slight rant)...
YES YES YES
My Reaction to Ungrading, made with Cheezburger
Ungrading is one of the coolest things I have heard of. I actually never heard of it until last semester. It makes complete sense for many students, but I can see where it may fail. If the student does not want to learn, they will not learn....with that said..... I want to express why this is life changing for someone like me.
I have been a perfectionist my whole life. I was diagnosed with dyslexia in third grade....the day we got our reading state wide standardized test back. In my school district, they had never seen a kid with all underlying conditions for dyslexia so severely (aka me). My school district didn't really accept dyslexia as a learning disability until I was probably in high school. So, when my reading score came back as a 100%, the district refused to believe I had dyslexia.
Well why is this important to ungrading?
Here is the deal, I did not understand why I struggled with school.
I worked 50x harder than anyone else in my class I still couldn't pass a spelling test. I would come home in tears and my mom would rip up the test and tell me that the grade didn't define me.....but I believed it did. I genuinely thought I was dumb until I was in college. My first semester at OU my advisor told me not to take multiple science classes because I wouldn't be able to succeed. My mom on the other hand really believed in me and pushed me to do them. I ended my first semester at OU as a neuroscience major with a 4.0 and with one of the highest grades in all of my classes. Then I did it again the next semester and the one after that and so on.
So cool? Back to ungrading?
I have put so much pressure on myself to be perfect that I have almost killed myself in this education process. I never believed I was smart enough because I didn't make an A in high school. I thought that I was never enough because every year 7 different teachers for 7 years of middle school and high school said I was a B student and I wouldn't be intelligent enough to be in more advanced courses. I worked longer and harder than anyone above me in class rank in high school, but I was never smart enough to be a top-notch student.
Ungrading probably would have added 5 years to my life that stress took off. In college I am still stressed to the max because if you want to go to medical school you have to be an A student in classes YOU WILL HAVE TO RETAKE IN MEDICAL SCHOOL ANYWAYS. Side note, probably not going to medical school because being a doctor isn't my jam (shout out to shadowing). But....this system is so screwed up. We spend 16 years stressed about school. School that doesn't teach us how to do anything except how to take a test and how to solve a quantum mechanics problem....and we are stressed over it. We are not learning how to save a life, how to build a company, how to teach a class, how to build a building, how to communicate, how to build relationships, or how to even write a check. We are stressed about things that only help us get to the next stressful class.
So, let's ungrade. Let's focus on building determination, dedication, and drive. Let's build character and personality. Let's prepare people to succeed outside the classroom instead of suggesting they won't succeed IN LIFE because they get a C instead of an A in high school chemistry.
Oh my gosh, Camille, I just want to say THANK YOU for this blog post. I am so glad you have found your own way (with such good help from your mom: yay for moms!) ... I am so curious what career path you will decide to pursue, and WHATEVER it is, you are going to do great things because you are not letting anybody else define you. You are going to find your own way, and we will all get to benefit from whatever it is that you discover on that path.
ReplyDeleteAnd, of course, you will be making all the fun memes along the way too!
And now....... go go go go GO! :-)