Alternate Route Teacher Adopts Fail Forward Policy to Foster Growth Mindsets

Throughout my career as a high school math teacher, I’ve observed that the vast majority of my students have what Carol Dweck calls a fixed mindset.  Because of this, it has been a struggle for me to motivate those students to even try, in class. Fortunately, at the beginning of this school year,  I was introduced to Carol Dweck’s growth mindset research during staff development and again while completing the Rutgers Alternate Route Teacher Training Program. One thing that stood out to me was how praising a young child for their results can have adverse effects on their learning.

In my all-girl class that I teach in Newark Public Schools, I had a student who, in the beginning, was very reluctant to try the work because she believed that her struggle with the work meant that she couldn’t do it.  It was very frustrating at first to watch her give up.  However, after learning about growth mindset research I realized that I needed to take the focus off of her results.  I began to point out the strengths that I noticed in her work.  I started asking her thought-provoking questions that deepened her  understanding of the work. After a while, she became more confident in her abilities which enabled her to try harder.  

She would still get frustrated at times and try to give up.  At those times, I would encourage her to fail.  I know that sounds crazy, but this “fail forward” policy I’ve adopted has really been working with her and my other classes.  I’ve noticed that students are so afraid to be wrong that it hinders them from taking risks.  But, without risks, there are no gains. Because I have worked hard to instill this in her, she has become a much stronger math student along with many of my other students.

In all of my classes, I have begun to praise my students’ effort and process, rather than their results.  I tell them constantly that it’s not about having the correct answer; it’s about their thought process.  Praising their efforts encourages them to invest even more effort into their work, which results in a deeper conceptual understanding. I have my students discuss problem-solving strategies and give each other feedback.  I have even moved away from saying their answer is “wrong”.  Instead, I have them defend their reasoning and the other students, and myself, ask probing questions to help them achieve that “AHA!” moment.  I constantly have them write and communicate their understanding of their process to help them further grasp concepts that I teach.  On assessments, I don’t give them their grades when I initially return their work.  Instead, I give them feedback and have them revise their work by identifying their errors and then correcting them in order to receive a grade.  All these strategies have proven successful so far, and I am hoping to have more success stories now that I am aware of what it takes to grow a student’s mindset.

Submitted & Written by Tamara Easterling, a Newark, NJ high school math teacher who is currently participating in Rutgers CESP's Alternate Route teacher training program.