Grades in and of themselves seem final; a stamp is placed upon the work and it is the end evaluative response to what has been submitted by a student for review. This is the traditional system that has been used and it's no wonder that students of all ages are preoccupied with grades and what they represent.
I appreciate when grades are used but when they are done so in conjunction with a growth mindset that offers malleability through the representation of growth in the task at hand. Through experience as a classroom teacher, I know too, that my students have also appreciated times when a grade was representative of a stage of learning and what was yet to be learned; when students have had the opportunity to continue their efforts and increase their knowledge and skills.
In order for students to let go of traditional grades and focus on growth mindset, educators need to teach the difference between the fixed and the growth mindset, the research that Carol Dweck has completed, her findings, and the implications her findings have for individual fulfillment, happiness, brain growth, and success.
Educating students about their potential for brain growth is life changing. We have students who feel labeled and like they are stuck and can't change. It's essential for students to understand that every time they push themselves and work really hard, that their brain is growing through neurons making new connections literally making them smarter. Changing students' perception of failure to mean that it's an opportunity to learn and for growth to take place is only part of what needs to be done for students to move away from focusing on the end result of a grade. The classroom needs to be a place in which the environment celebrates "not yet" and where individuals can bring their abilities to a new level through deliberate practice to reach one's goal.
So, it's not that grades in and of themselves are bad a thing for a student to focus on; It's the way in which grades are used. A shift where grades are aligned with stages of "yet", where the grade isn't static but instead in flux, where individuals have the power to evaluate themselves and create the necessary steps to achieve the "yet" is when a grade becomes a worthy and meaningful tool in an educational setting.
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