Backwards design is fun!
Peer Mentors are rad!
After a Growth Mindset/Habits of Mind sharing event at Gavilan College in Spring, 2018, several participants from a local Adult and Career Education consortia voiced a desire to learn more about these high-impact learning interventions and ways to apply them to their work with students. For three full days on August 14-16, 3CSN provided that unique opportunity with 3CSN coordinators Dr. Miguel Powers (Fullerton College) and Scott Sandler (Gavilan College) partnering to facilitate a Growth Mindset and Habits of Mind workshop series for staff, faculty, and students leaders. The consortia was represented by Gavilan, Cabrillo, Hartnell, Monterey Peninsula Colleges; ESL teachers from Morgan Hill Community Adult School; the Gavilan College Noncredit program; and a mighty team of student peer mentors!
The Growth Mindset and Habits of Mind communities of practice are joined by the belief that both frameworks are mutually self-supportive in providing high-impact, equity-minded learning opportunities that build motivation and a strong sense of agency in students.
During this highly interactive workshop series, 35 attendees explored such issues as neural plasticity, the “power of YET,” and intelligent practice. They learned through games, student testimonials, and a closing session where attendees collaborated on lesson plans, projects, and activities such as a student feedback protocol. Some action plans included developing ways to support and introduce Mindset interventions for second language learners.
In addition to strengthening Career Technical Education (CTE), the consortia asked 3CSN to help them in their work of building pathways from high school programs to community colleges and to things like “stackable certificates.” Additionally, the consortia wanted to explore ways to help students see bigger goals and bigger opportunities than what they might currently be seeing for themselves. To do so, one of the consortia’s inquiry questions was not so much how to build more classes, but how to offer them with more equity-minded and culturally responsive support. The Growth Mindset/Habits of Mind frameworks allowed them to do just that.
Next steps for the consortia’s collaborative inquiry includes re-convening in October to share experiences, successes, challenges, questions, and documents that reflect the ways in which participants have experimented with the new frameworks and activities that they learned about.
Participant feedback:
“Applying all that I have learned in this workshop will make me a more relaxed and effective educator.”
“I will use the activities presented today to think about changing the way we set up classroom culture and to continue to be a model and push my own edges and comfort level.”
“Habits of Mind are very important for learning, and also for improving our quality of life.”
Click here for workshop presentations
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