Trust the Process (EDLD 5313)

The growth mindset has been an initiative in my school district since I started here 4 years, with our school slogan last year even being “Not Yet.” We have watched TED Talks and had guest speakers based around the growth mindset at professional developments on numerous occasions over the years. One of the biggest things to come from this was my school’s implementation of Second Chance Learning (SCL). SCL allows student to retake minor assessments if they displayed that the did not have a true understanding of a concept the first time around.

One of the biggest problems with the policy is the lack of consistently from course to course which has caused SCL, at times, to simply become a way for students to “bring up their grade” rather than being about the learning. I handle SCL a bit more formally than some, where I require the student to fill out a form addressing and identifying their shortcoming, fixing their mistakes, arranging a time to sit down and go over the content with a teacher who must sign off, but also reflecting on the actual learning, what went wrong and why?

I believe this idea of reflection is the most meaningful part of the SCL process and students must think about their learning processes, metacognition in a way. It removes the focus on the skills/concept and makes it more about the learning in general.

In honors level courses, there is an immense pressure/focus on grades both by students themselves and from parents. This focus takes away from students gaining a true understanding of the meaning behind concepts and often causing them to be “memorizers” instead of learning to learn. Learning how to battle through adversity as a high school student will quickly become one of the most meaningful part of these students’ journeys, which circles back to the idea of productive struggle.