The Growth Mindset

I am not sure there is anything more rewarding than walking out of a class after teaching an introductory course. Teaching first year students isn’t for everyone, and not many can do it well. It requires a balancing act between being rigorous and entertaining. Being explicit in your methods so that you build a strong foundation for students moving on to upper division courses, and making the content relevant for those never taking another course in the topic. If you are good at it what you do you might attract new majors.

I have the privilege of teaching first year students. I meet students during one of the most exciting times of their lives. Over the next four years they will experience so much, they will grow in ways they would have never imagined, and they will learn from positive and negative experiences. I have seen this play out for years, and I know they will do well. Sadly, for some students, this is also the most difficult time of their lives. The transition from high school to college is plagued with uncertainty and fear.

Before I ever meet my students, I have them complete a survey. I ask them what their concerns are in an open ended question. The majority of my students tell me that their biggest concern is that they have never taken an economics course and they are worried that they will fail.

They are walking into the semester expecting that they SHOULD know this material, and won’t do well because they don’t know it! Developing the growth mindset is the first and most important challenge educators teaching first year students must face. Educators should challenge students, and also provide them with their time and resources to help students work through the problems. As an educator, your enthusiasm for finding answers is contagious.

It has been my experience that students want to know that you are there with them through the learning process. Finding solutions and learning new things is a team effort. I love watching students transitioning from thinking that they “can’t” to seeing them seek new opportunities to challenge themselves.

Because of that first semester experience I often continue working with students throughout their undergraduate degree. Recently, that connection has continued to students pursuing graduate degrees and beyond.

To help with the transition from high school to college I developed the First Year Fellow (FYF) program. The program is designed to provide students with a faculty mentor, and a peer mentor (Jolee Schuehler). I am hoping that it helps make the transition easier, and develop a sense of community. As a group we are reading Mind and Matter: A Life in Math and Football by John Urshel and Louisa Thomas. I just finished it and love the book.

My five- star Good Reads review reads

Recommended reading for every student

I will be assigning this book to all my first year students and advisees! A great book detailing the effort required outside of the classroom and a good example of the growth mindset.

I wonder what the FYF thought about the book?

Do you teach? What is your biggest challenge as an educator?

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