Savannah Griffith - Blog Post 3

Student Agency-

I believe that student agency is so crucial in our classrooms today. Students agency can be shown in several forms but comes down to students, "taking ownership and responsibility for their learning." I teach students daily that refuse to do more than expected. I wanted to change this in my classroom. I introduced a mixed media project that focused around student choice and direction. I gave the students a list of possible themes to get them thinking in hopes that they would create their own theme. Many of the students realized quickly that they would have to use their class time wisely. Some student caught onto this better than others. I never interfered with students projects. I pushed them to achieve their best and to make sure they had depth to their project. They are finishing these projects up this week. It has been so rewarding for the students to see their progress from the first week to now. Several made the comment that they loved how different everyone's project turned out. I explained to them that they have created student agency and how that they have achieved this by taking ownership over their project. I cannot wait for the final gallery walk, I know that students are going to shine!

Comments on the TED Talk-

"The Power of Yet."  I love this title! It stood out to me because I use the wording, "not yet," in several rubrics that I use with students. I adopted this idea from Dawn. I think this helps students understand that they haven't failed but that they aren't quite there, "yet." I want my students to have the, "growth mindset," that Dwek spoke about rather than having a, "fixed mindset." I fear that too many of my students have a fixed mindset due to never being pushed to think beyond the text book or the worksheet that they have placed in front of them. As Dwek stated, "we can grow our minds capacity to learn and to solve problems." I challenge my students daily with thought provoking drawing topics. They may be challenging because of the concept, such as, "draw what you would change in the world." They may also be artistically challenging, such as draw yourself in your favorite setting. So many times I hear, "but I can't draw myself." I want my young artist to adopt a growth mindset where they will be fearless to just try. I explain to them even if they fail miserably they have tried and that they are going to get better every day with practice.