“Mindset” isn’t a curriculum. But if it isn’t a package that can be bought, studied, and implemented, then what is it? There are a couple of ways to answer that question. It is a theory about achievement motivation. But when you see the word “theory” that can be a cue to tune out, right? […]
“Mindset” is solid. The straw-man-arguments against it, are, well, flimsy. I don’t know about you, but I’ve been bothered by the backlash against the “growth Mindset” perspective in education. I admit that I found Dweck’s book Mindset a little lackluster, but for my own practice of teaching and writing, I haven’t been concerned because I’ve […]
It all started at Portland, OR’s first mini Maker-Faire. At the time, I was looking for ways to grow, professionally, though not necessarily while at the faire. My husband and I were tag-teaming with our five-year-old, trying to cover as much ground as possible before running out of steam. It was my turn to oversee […]
The spring 2013 semester ended on quite the high note for me, when the University President honored me with the President’s Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching. When you work at a place like I do where all your colleagues not only love to teach but are also quite good at it, this kind of […]
What’s “Struggling” got to do with Achievement? It depends on your perspective On Morning Edition today (11.12.12; the National Public Radio morning news program), correspondent Alix Spiegel presented the word “struggle” in a positive light, that is, she reported that in educational contexts, struggle isn’t necessarily a bad thing. The “take away” of the report […]
Labels on the Brain, Part 2, By Erica Kleinknecht, PhD (2012) The Learning Styles Conundrum My position: curricular plans based on “Learning Styles” are nothing more than socially sanctioned systems of student-labeling, promoted in the name of progress. Though couched in positive, reformation terms, educational practices and policies reflective of learning styles are both costly […]
We love labels: they make things easy. We love labels for what they do well — they make things easy for us. Labels are a product of the way our minds work – in fact, this process may be one of our brains greatest feats. Our brain circuitry pattern-matches like nobody’s business; doing so affords […]
