Growth Mindset TIPR Content Area: Theatre
If growth mindset was a religion, I would be a true follower. If it was a YouTube channel, I would subscribe. If it was a food, it would be a big beautiful cake with frosting on every side and 100 candles on top and I would eat it by myself! I lean toward being an optimist but must admit, I have had habits of a fixed mindset for most of my life. Recognizing those tendencies in myself has opened my eyes to the true power of being positive and being optimistic.
On a general level, the theatre class I observe has a teacher who infuses growth mindset into everything I have seen her teach. The main topics she has covered this year are acting using the "view points" method, acting with an internal purpose, and student presentations on musicals. In every unit they have studied I never once heard a students express a fixed mindset toward the task at hand. I never heard the teacher use fixed mindset language such as, "some of you may not be able to do this", or "not everyone is a good actor". Growth mindset is the standard in her classroom. All students are expected to participate because it is a learning process.
A great example of this is the formative assessment process for the "acting with purpose" scenes the students created. The students were given instruction and practice on having internal purpose when in a scene. The main project for this unit was to create a scene that was 2-4 minutes long, have no dialogue, and be a solo act. The student "scored" their scene, meaning they wrote down each action to be performed and the motivation behind it. After the students had guided practice in their scenes, they began the formative assessment stage. In this case the teacher started the class with a warm up and then five minutes for each student to review their scene individually. Next she asked for volunteers and wrote names down in the order hands went up. To run the assessment all students were the audience and she had two people perform one right after the other. Then she would stop and the audience would give feedback on the two scenes. She informed me that she does two scenes at a time to manage time but also to ease in the critique portion of the assessment. This way the whole class isn't focused on just one scene. The over all result is an assessment that takes place in a safe environment.
The main purpose of the assessment and what the class is watching for is a performance that they can relate to. A feeling the audience identifies with, a moment that rang true, an action the audience member has done. The audience gave feedback with a growth mindset perspective. They mostly pointed out parts of the performances that they related to but when they had a comment that was geared towards improvement it was always framed in a "you can do it" light. After the audience gave feedback, the teacher gave her feedback and then they moved on to the next two scenes and repeated the process until everyone had a formal formative assessment.
Once everyone was assessed, the students were given more class time to adjust and modify their scenes according to the feedback they received. Some students felt they needed to start from scratch. This was acceptable to the teacher because the formative assessment made them realize their action or motivation wasn't clear enough, or the student was inspired to go a different direction. Other students worked on refining their scene and repeating the parts of the assessment performance that went well. This was all done in small groups while the teacher spent time working one on one with each student.
How beautifully does this formative assessment fit with Self-Determination Theory?! The students are given autonomy by having complete creative freedom for their scene. Most were funny, but a few were more serious or sad. Belonging to the group was promoted during the small group rehearsal process and during the critique period of the formative assessment. Competence overshadowed the whole unit because every time the student tried they were rewarded with success or helpful and kind feedback. All of this becomes relevant in a theatre class as they progress through the year, but the students also feel the relevance of their growing self confidence. It is also safe to say they had fun!
One thing I would love to see the teacher do to continue to promote a growth mindset is to use growth mindset language during the formative assessment feedback. She tended toward giving feedback about what the students had mastered, instead of balancing the feedback with specifics about what they could work towards. If she could use growth mindset language in front of the whole class with every student, I think it would really solidify the student's already budding knowledge that they are capable of anything.
On a general level, the theatre class I observe has a teacher who infuses growth mindset into everything I have seen her teach. The main topics she has covered this year are acting using the "view points" method, acting with an internal purpose, and student presentations on musicals. In every unit they have studied I never once heard a students express a fixed mindset toward the task at hand. I never heard the teacher use fixed mindset language such as, "some of you may not be able to do this", or "not everyone is a good actor". Growth mindset is the standard in her classroom. All students are expected to participate because it is a learning process.
A great example of this is the formative assessment process for the "acting with purpose" scenes the students created. The students were given instruction and practice on having internal purpose when in a scene. The main project for this unit was to create a scene that was 2-4 minutes long, have no dialogue, and be a solo act. The student "scored" their scene, meaning they wrote down each action to be performed and the motivation behind it. After the students had guided practice in their scenes, they began the formative assessment stage. In this case the teacher started the class with a warm up and then five minutes for each student to review their scene individually. Next she asked for volunteers and wrote names down in the order hands went up. To run the assessment all students were the audience and she had two people perform one right after the other. Then she would stop and the audience would give feedback on the two scenes. She informed me that she does two scenes at a time to manage time but also to ease in the critique portion of the assessment. This way the whole class isn't focused on just one scene. The over all result is an assessment that takes place in a safe environment.
The main purpose of the assessment and what the class is watching for is a performance that they can relate to. A feeling the audience identifies with, a moment that rang true, an action the audience member has done. The audience gave feedback with a growth mindset perspective. They mostly pointed out parts of the performances that they related to but when they had a comment that was geared towards improvement it was always framed in a "you can do it" light. After the audience gave feedback, the teacher gave her feedback and then they moved on to the next two scenes and repeated the process until everyone had a formal formative assessment.
Once everyone was assessed, the students were given more class time to adjust and modify their scenes according to the feedback they received. Some students felt they needed to start from scratch. This was acceptable to the teacher because the formative assessment made them realize their action or motivation wasn't clear enough, or the student was inspired to go a different direction. Other students worked on refining their scene and repeating the parts of the assessment performance that went well. This was all done in small groups while the teacher spent time working one on one with each student.
How beautifully does this formative assessment fit with Self-Determination Theory?! The students are given autonomy by having complete creative freedom for their scene. Most were funny, but a few were more serious or sad. Belonging to the group was promoted during the small group rehearsal process and during the critique period of the formative assessment. Competence overshadowed the whole unit because every time the student tried they were rewarded with success or helpful and kind feedback. All of this becomes relevant in a theatre class as they progress through the year, but the students also feel the relevance of their growing self confidence. It is also safe to say they had fun!
One thing I would love to see the teacher do to continue to promote a growth mindset is to use growth mindset language during the formative assessment feedback. She tended toward giving feedback about what the students had mastered, instead of balancing the feedback with specifics about what they could work towards. If she could use growth mindset language in front of the whole class with every student, I think it would really solidify the student's already budding knowledge that they are capable of anything.
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