What does it take to get students to “own” their learning experience in school? That question has been driving a large part of the focus of the Vision Network this year, and it is informing Georgetown Middle School’s work to build a sense of efficacy among their students.
Mike Williams, Principal at Georgetown Middle, said they “began focusing on improving student efficacy after learning about the positive impact it could have at a Vision Network workshop last year. At one of our faculty meetings the Vision team shared the growth mindset philosophy and was very pleased at the staff’s willingness to try something new. Our staff has worked hard at increasing student motivation and confidence levels.”
Georgetown Middle, in the Indian River School District, has undertaken a number of efforts to help instill a Growth Mindset in their students, the idea that all students have the ability to grow and achieve if they set goals, identify actions to meet those goals, and work hard. The teachers and administration have created a set of school-wide Growth Mindset statements that they are using in every classroom, and have instituted a system of Growth Mindset walkthroughs to help all teachers integrate this work into their everyday actions. Teachers also have begun a student goal setting process where each student examines their achievement data and sets a goal for the next state test that they will work to achieve. “Goals create a kind of personal motivation and responsibility that they didn’t have before. Setting goals is an important life lesson. Once students see how setting a goal helped them achieve, they want to set goals in other aspects of their lives” says Karen Coty, 6th Grade Math teacher. They follow this up by publicly honoring the students that make the most growth, and focusing their planning time on finding ways to deepen this work wherever possible.
For more information about the work of the Vision Network, please contact Michael Rasmussen at michael.rasmussen@vision2015delaware.org, and to learn more about the work that Georgetown Middle is leading please contact Principal Mike Williams at mwilliams@irsd.k12.de.us.