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Improving Your Child’s Confidence and Perseverance: Building Self-Efficacy [Intermediate]

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Improving Your Child’s Confidence and Perseverance: Building Self-Efficacy [Primary]

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Improving Your Child’s Confidence and Perseverance: Building Self-Efficacy [Secondary]

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Teaching Self-Efficacy in Secondary Classrooms

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Teaching Self-Efficacy in Secondary Classrooms

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Lesson sets containing 25 instructional activities with companion student workbooks.

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Each of our lesson sets outlines more than 20 instructional activities for a specific grade-level cluster ( primary, intermediate, and secondary). The lessons include explicit instructions and applications that teachers can modify based on students' experiences and needs. Each lesson set is accompanied by a PDF student workbook that can be reproduced to facilitate learning.

Assertiveness

Do your students need help expressing their wants, needs, and thoughts while respecting others? Students who receive instruction in assertiveness improve their ability to communicate respectfully.

Purchase our Assertiveness Lessons for primary, intermediate, and secondary students. A fillable student workbook is included with each lesson set.

Self-Efficacy

Do your students give up easily when they meet obstacles? Students with strong self-efficacy engage more, work harder, and persist longer when they encounter difficulties.

Purchase our Self-Efficacy Lessons for primary, intermediate, and secondary students. A fillable student workbook is included with each lesson set.

Self-Regulation

Do your students have a hard time staying on task? Students who use self-regulation recognize ways to sustain their attention, allowing them to resist distractions.

Purchase our Self-Regulation Lessons for primary, intermediate, and secondary students. A fillable student workbook is included with each lesson set.

Printed Posters

Purchase printed posters of the College and Career Competency Wheel and the strategies for Assertiveness, Self-Efficacy, and Self-Regulation.

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Each of our lesson sets outlines more than 20 instructional activities for a specific grade-level cluster ( primary, intermediate, and secondary). The lessons include explicit instructions and applications that teachers can modify based on students' experiences and needs. Each lesson set is accompanied by a PDF student workbook that can be reproduced to facilitate learning.

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Teaching Self-Efficacy in Primary & Intermediate Classrooms

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Teaching Self-Efficacy in Primary & Intermediate Classrooms

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Lesson sets contain 25 instructional activities with companion student workbooks.

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Growth Mindset Maths

'Motivation is the most important factor in determining whether you succeed in the long run. What I mean by motivation is not only the desire to achieve, but also the love of learning, the love of challenge, and the ability to thrive on obstacles. These are the greatest gifts we can give our students.' (Dweck 2006)

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Welcome to my site. My name is Helen Hindle, I am the Head of a Maths department in Rainham, East London. This website is a work in progress, follow me on twitter @HelenHindle1 for information on...

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College and Career Developmental Sequence: Self-Efficacy

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College and Career Developmental Sequence: Self-Efficacy

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Secondary Self-Efficacy Videos This series of short videos was created to help explain self-efficacy concepts to students in grades 7-12. The videos work in conjunction with the secondary curriculum available here. After watching each 2-3-minute video, discuss the concepts with your students.

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The College and Career Competency Framework, developed by Drs. Gaumer Erickson and Noonan, supports educators in systematically embedding intrapersonal, interpersonal, and cognitive competencies into course content.

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Self-Efficacy Assessment Suite: Technical Report

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Self-Efficacy Assessment Suite: Technical Report

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Elementary Self-Efficacy Videos

This series of short videos was created to help explain self-efficacy concepts to students in grades K-6. The videos work in conjunction with the elementary curriculum available here. After watching each 2-3-minute video, discuss the concepts with your students.

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Elementary Self-Efficacy Videos This series of short videos was created to help explain self-efficacy concepts to students in grades K-6. The videos work in conjunction with the elementary curriculum available here. After watching each 2-3-minute video, discuss the concepts with your students.

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Box Breathing Technique: How to Calm Feelings of Stress and Anxiety

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Box Breathing Technique: How to Calm Feelings of Stress and Anxiety

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Box breathing relaxation technique: how to calm feelings of stress or anxiety

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Engaging Students in Mathematics Using Feedback

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Engaging Students in Mathematics Using Feedback

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Engaging Students in Mathematics Using Feedback

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Fear of Failure? Here's Why Making Mistakes Is Good For Your Brain!

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Fear of Failure? Here's Why Making Mistakes Is Good For Your Brain!

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Fear Of Failure? Here's Why Making Mistakes Is Good For Your Brain!

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Strengths & Weaknesses | Self-Awareness | Social Emotional Learning Videos for Elementary Students

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Choosing a Tool to Stay Calm at School Video Social Story

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Short stories | Moral stories | Hard Work is the key to Success | #shortmoralstories

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Bubble Bounce! Mindfulness for Children (Mindful Looking)

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Bubble Bounce! Mindfulness for Children (Mindful Looking)

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Bubble Bounce! Mindfulness for Children (Mindful Looking)

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📖🔍 A Little Spot of Feelings - Emotion Detective By Diane Alber READ ALOUD

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LearnStorm Growth Mindset: The Truth About Your Brain

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The Mindset of a Champion | Carson Byblow | TEDxYouth@AASSofia

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📚READ ALOUD: I Can Do Hard Things By: Gabi Garcia

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Kindness 101 With Steve Hartman: How to Find Courage

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Kindness 101 With Steve Hartman: How to Find Courage

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Kindness 101 with Steve Hartman: How to find courage

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The 4 Sources for Unlocking Self-Efficacy

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The 4 Sources for Unlocking Self-Efficacy

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Story Time: When Sophie Thinks She Can't

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Austin's Butterfly: Building Excellence in Student Work

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Austin's Butterfly: Building Excellence in Student Work

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Austin's Butterfly: Building Excellence in Student Work

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Ron Berger from EL Education demonstrates the transformational power of models, critique, and descriptive feedback to improve student work. Here he tells the story of Austin's Butterfly. First-grade students at ANSER Charter School in Boise, ID, helped Austin take a scientific illustration of a butterfly through multiple drafts toward a high-quality final product.

This video accompanies the book Leaders of Their Own Learning: Transforming Schools through Student-Engaged Assessment.

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Deshauna Barber: One Question Changed Her Life Forever

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Deshauna Barber: One Question Changed Her Life Forever

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Deshauna Barber: One Question Changed Her Life Forever | Motivational Speech | Goalcast

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Things I Can Control and Those I Can't Control

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Things I Can Control and Those I Can't Control

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Things I can control and those I can't control

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Research Guide (Grades PreK–6): Self-Efficacy

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Research Guide (Grades PreK–6): Self-Efficacy

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Research Guide (Grades 7–12): Self-Efficacy

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Research Guide (Grades 7–12): Self-Efficacy

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Study Skills—Learning From Mistakes (Boaler, Math)

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Study Skills—Learning From Mistakes (Boaler, Math)

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Study Skills - Learning From Mistakes (Jo Boaler)

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21 Famous Failures Who Refused to Give Up

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21 Famous Failures Who Refused to Give Up

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"It is impossible to live without failing at something, unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all, in which case you have failed by default." - J.K. Rowling

One of the most devastating circumstances in life revolves around failure. When you pour your heart and soul into an endeavor, whatever it might be, and it fails, it results in a catastrophic upheaval in our lives. When we fail, life turns upside down. Everything we once thought we wanted, seems to disappear into thin air.

However, what most people don't realize is that failure acts as a stepping-stone towards success. It's through our greatest failures that we learn more about life, love, goals, happiness and all the things that make us into who we are today. Plus, some of the most famous people in the world have failed the most times.

If you've recently experienced the gut-wrenching effects of failure, or you're going through it right now, understand that failure will make you stronger. It will make you wiser - more attuned to the things you want out of life, and more knowledgable on just how to go about getting there.

To put things into perspective, here's a list of 21 of some of the most famous failures in our time that have succeeded. They've been through failure but were able to bounce back. When you truly know their stories, you'll realize that achieving greatness isn't something that comes easy whatsoever. But it does eventually come as long as you don't give up.

#1 - Albert Einstein

Albert Einstein, one of the greatest thinkers of our time, didn't speak until he was four-years old. He also failed his entrance exam to the Swiss Federal Polytechnic school located in Zurich at sixteen-years old. And, even his father, up until the time of his death, considered his son to be a major failure. After eventually graduating from college, Einstein actually worked as an insurance salesman, but quit after some time because he failed at that as well.

#2 - Beyonce Knowles

With a net worth of nearly $500 million, Beyonce is one of the most successful recording artists in history. She's sold over 17 million albums as a solo artist and another 17 million albums while a member of Destiny's Child. When she was 9-years old, her group, Girl's Tyme, appeared on Star Search and lost. In 1996, after signing to Columbia Records, the group had huge internal drama, forcing the departure of two members.

#3 - Bill Gates

Bill Gates has amassed a mind-boggling net worth of close to $80 billion, and is known as the infamous father of modern personal-computing software. He brought us operating systems such as Microsoft DOS and Windows, along with wildly-popular titles such as Microsoft Office's Word, Excel and PowerPoint. However, at the age of seventeen-years old, his first software company called, Traf-O-Data, which analyzed raw traffic logs, failed.

#4 - Charlie Chaplin

Charlie Chaplin was one of the greatest comedic minds of all time. However, he grew up in sheer poverty in the UK. His father abandoned his mother when he was just two-years old, and he was forced to live in a workhouse at the age of seven-years old. When he was nine-years old, his mother was permanently committed to an insane asylum. Throughout his adult life, he failed numerous times, yet he's still one of the most famous comics ever.

#5 - Colonel Harland Sanders

Colonel Harland Sanders was the late founder of Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) restaurants. Throughout his entire life, he failed in just about every endeavor he was involved in. However, at the age of sixty-five-years old, he set out with his famous chicken recipe and only a $105 social security check to his name, in an attempt to sell his franchise chicken model. 1,009 restaurants rejected him before one accepted his offer.

One of the most celebrated children's authors of all time is also one of the most famous failures. Dr. Seuss intended to earn his PhD in literature Lincoln College, Oxford, but failed and subsequently dropped out of school. After he wrote his first book, And to Think I Saw it on Mulberry Street, it was rejected 28 separate times. But he didn't give up. By 1991, at the time of his death, he had sold over 600 million copies of his books in 20 different languages.

#7 - Fred Astaire

Fred Astaire's career in the entertainment industry lasted for seventy-six years. Grace Kelly once said, when speaking about him that, "the history of dance on film begins with Astaire." However, it didn't quite start out so famously for Astaire. According to legend, he was rejected during an early Hollywood screen test when the producer stated, "Can't act. Slighty bald. Dances a little."

#8 - Henry Ford

Henry Ford is the father of the automobile, and quite possibly one of the most famous industrialists to have ever lived. He helped bring transportation to the masses in America, and subsequently throughout the world. But his start was far from noteworthy. Ford's first company went bankrupt. His second company also went south when, after a dispute with partners, he was forced to walk away with only the rights to his name.

#9 - Howard Schultz

Howard Schultz is the American pioneer and business magnate that brought Starbucks to the international stage. However, the early years were anything but easy for this famous failure. While still an employee for Starbucks, Schultz envisioned bringing the Italian coffee shop to the masses. However, the owners were not so convinced. So, Schultz bought out the name. However, 217 of the 242 investors that he approached had turned him down.

#10 - Jim Carrey

Jim Carrey is a comedic legend, and also a firm believer in the power of the Law of Attraction. But Carrey, who grew up extremely poor as a child, didn't have his fame handed to him. At the age of fifteen-years old, Carrey actually worked as a janitor to help his family pay the bills. And, during his first performance at Yuk Yuk's, a comedy club in Toronto, he was booed off stage.

#11 - J.K. Rowling

One of the most successful authors in history is J.K. Rowling. However, unlike what some might believe, Rowling's fame didn't come easy. While she didn't grow up poor as a child, as an adult, she struggled. She was a single mother living on welfare, trying to support her daughter. It took her seven years to write the story of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, and when she finished, all twelves major publishing houses rejected the book.

#12 - Katy Perry

Katy Perry is a wildly-successful singer and songwriter who had a long journey filled with consecutive failures before she reached stardom. In fact, her first album sold only two-hundred copies before the record label went out of business. She was subsequently dropped from two other labels. It took her nearly ten years of failure and hard work before she released the critically-acclaimed hit song, I Kissed a Girl, in 2008.

#13 - Keanu Reeves

What most people don't know about Keanu Reeves is that he suffered through tremendous hardships growing up. At the age of three-years old, his father abandoned his family. His mother married and divorced four separate times, moving him from Australia to Canada, and he eventually ended up in Los Angeles. In 1998, he fathered a child with his then-wife, who died as a stillborn at 8 months. 18 months after their relationship ended, his ex-wife was killed in a car accident.

#14 - Oprah Winfrey

Oprah Winfrey, one of the most successful individuals of our time, grew up in sheer poverty. Born to a single-mother living on welfare, her upbringing was wrought with pain and anguish. She was physically, mentally and sexually abused during her childhood. She ran away at thirteen-years old, and got pregnant at fourteen-years old. But she later lost the baby shortly after birth. She was also fired from her first job for being unfit for television.

#15 - Robert T. Kiyosaki

Robert T. Kyosaki is best known for penning the Rich Dad Poor Dad book. But that didn't happen until he was fifty-years old. Prior to that, Kiyosaki endured massive amounts of failure. At the age of thirty-years old, his first company went bankrupt. His next company, three years later, also went bankrupt. However, Kiyosaki never gave up. He kept trying and trying until he succeeded.

#16 - Soichiro Honda

Soichiro Honda, the late founder of the Honda Motor Company, dealt with an enormous amount of failure. In 1937, at the time of the Great Depression, Honda founded a company in an attempt to create piston rings for Toyota. He failed, having to pawn his wife's wedding ring just to stay afloat. His first factory was bombed during WWII. The second factory was destroyed a short time after by an earthquake. But he didn't give up.

#17 - Stephen King

Possibly one of the most famous and well-known horror authors of all time, Stephen King's work has been lauded and celebrated for decades and he has sold over 350 million copies of his books, not to mention the royalties for movies and television series based on his books. However, he threw his first book, Carrie, into the trash, only later to be retrieved by his wife. It was rejected by 30 publishers until it was finally accepted by DoubleDay.

#18 - Sylvester Stallone

Stallone's young-adult life was incredibly tough. At one point, he was homeless for three weeks, living in the New Jersey Port Authority bus station. He was also so broke that while writing the script for Rocky, his electricity was turned off and he was forced to sell his dog for $25 just to turn the lights back on. He was also rejected by talent scouts over 1,500 times.

#19 - The Beatles

The Beatles are quite possibly one of the most famed bands to have ever walked the earth. They've sold over 1.6 billion albums and counting. However, on New Year's Eve, in 1961, when they drove in a snowstorm to audition at Decca Recording Studios, Dick Rowe, an A&R said that "guitar groups were on their way out." Five months later, the band got a huge break with George Martine of Parlophone, and the rest is history.

#20 - Thomas Edison

Thomas Edison is by far one of the most famous inventors in history. He holds 1,093 patents to his name. However, when attempting to invent a commercially-viable electric lightbulb, he failed over 10,000 times. When asked by a reporter how it felt to fail so many times, he merely stated, "I have not failed 10,000 times. I have not failed once. I have succeeded in proving that those 10,000 ways will not work. When I have eliminated the ways that will not work, I will find the way that will work."

#21 - Walt Disney

Walt Disney is the creative genius who brought us the likes of Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck and Snow White. He created the Walt Disney Company after his own namesake. Yet, he faced many failures. His first company, Laugh-O-Gram went bankrupt. It wasn't until 5 years later and plenty of heartache, after he created Mickey Mouse, did he begin to experience a small amount of success and fame.

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21 Famous Failures Who Refused to Give Up

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"It is impossible to live without failing at something, unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all, in which case you have failed by default." - J.K. Rowling One of the most devastating circumstances in life revolves around failure.

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Mindset Boosting Videos Archives - YouCubed

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Inspire ALL Students with Open, Creative Mindset Mathematics

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Growth Mindset Reflecting on Teaching Practices

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Growth Mindset Reflecting on Teaching Practices

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WIDA has a can-do philosophy which accentuates the positive qualities and assets of our ELLs... We believe that ELLs are individuals who bring knowledge, skills, and strengths their education. We also believe that educators possess the key to unleashing their students' potential." - WIDA Can-Do Philosophy, wisc.wceps.org

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This page includes evidence of 3 key ideas:

1) Anyone can learn to high levels
2) Mistakes and struggle are good for brain growth and brain strengthening
3) Visual mathematics helps brain connections and is really important for students' learning of mathematics - more evidence and ideas on this, including evidence of the importance of finger use, is provided on the visual mathematics page.

The first idea - that everyone can learn to high levels is described in the paper with this name, and the second idea - concerning the importance of mistakes and struggle is in the paper on mistakes. We include a few papers on the importance of visual connections, including the research paper co-authored with neuroscientist Lang Chen, and our teacher paper: Seeing as Understanding.

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This page includes evidence of 3 key ideas: 1) Anyone can learn to high levels 2) Mistakes and struggle are good for brain growth and brain strengthening 3) Visual mathematics helps brain connections and is really important for students' learning of mathematics - more evidence and ideas on this, including evidence of the importance of finger use, is provided on the visual mathematics page.

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The term "growth mindset" comes from the groundbreaking work of Carol Dweck. She identified everyone holds ideas about their own potential. Some people believe that their intelligence is more or less fixed and in math - that you can do math or you can't. About 40% of students have these damaging "fixed mindset" ideas. Another 40% have a "growth mindset" - they believe that they can learn anything and that their intelligence can grow. The other 20% waver between the two mindsets.

Students with a fixed mindset are those who are more likely to give up easily, whereas students with a growth mindset are those who keep going even when work is hard, and who are persistent. The two mindsets are associated with different achievement pathways as the papers on this page show. It is possible to change mindsets - my student online class which can be accessed under courses - has been shown to shift students' mindsets from fixed to growth and cause higher mathematics achievement. There are a range of resources on this page - a poster of math norms, a strategizer card with lots of teaching ideas, a short video to boost students' mindset, and some interesting short papers.

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The term "growth mindset" comes from the groundbreaking work of Carol Dweck. She identified everyone holds ideas about their own potential. Some people believe that their intelligence is more or less fixed and in math - that you can do math or you can't. About 40% of students have these damaging "fixed mindset" ideas.

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TED-ED: Why Do People Get So Anxious About Math?

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TED-ED: Why Do People Get So Anxious About Math?

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Why do people get so anxious about math? - Orly Rubinsten

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The Most Magnificent Thing by Ashley Spires

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The term "fight or flight" is also known as the stress response. It's what the body does as it prepares to confront or avoid danger. When appropriately invoked, the stress response helps us rise to many challenges. But trouble starts when this response is constantly provoked by less momentous, day-to-day events, such as money woes, traffic jams, job worries, or relationship problems.

Health problems are one result. A prime example is high blood pressure, a major risk factor for heart disease. The stress response also suppresses the immune system, increasing susceptibility to colds and other illnesses. Moreover, the buildup of stress can contribute to anxiety and depression. We can't avoid all sources of stress in our lives, nor would we want to. But we can develop healthier ways of responding to them. One way is to invoke the relaxation response, through a technique first developed in the 1970s at Harvard Medical School by cardiologist Dr. Herbert Benson. The relaxation response is a state of profound rest that can be elicited in many ways, including meditation, yoga, and progressive muscle relaxation.

Breath focus is a common feature of several techniques that evoke the relaxation response. The first step is learning to breathe deeply.

Deep breathing benefits

Deep breathing also goes by the names of diaphragmatic breathing, abdominal breathing, belly breathing, and paced respiration. When you breathe deeply, the air coming in through your nose fully fills your lungs, and the lower belly rises.

For many of us, deep breathing seems unnatural. There are several reasons for this. For one, body image has a negative impact on respiration in our culture. A flat stomach is considered attractive, so women (and men) tend to hold in their stomach muscles. This interferes with deep breathing and gradually makes shallow "chest breathing" seem normal, which increases tension and anxiety.

Shallow breathing limits the diaphragm's range of motion. The lowest part of the lungs doesn't get a full share of oxygenated air. That can make you feel short of breath and anxious.

Deep abdominal breathing encourages full oxygen exchange - that is, the beneficial trade of incoming oxygen for outgoing carbon dioxide. Not surprisingly, it can slow the heartbeat and lower or stabilize blood pressure.

Practicing breath focus

Breath focus helps you concentrate on slow, deep breathing and aids you in disengaging from distracting thoughts and sensations. It's especially helpful if you tend to hold in your stomach.

First steps. Find a quiet, comfortable place to sit or lie down. First, take a normal breath. Then try a deep breath: Breathe in slowly through your nose, allowing your chest and lower belly to rise as you fill your lungs. Let your abdomen expand fully. Now breathe out slowly through your mouth (or your nose, if that feels more natural).

Breath focus in practice. Once you've taken the steps above, you can move on to regular practice of controlled breathing. As you sit comfortably with your eyes closed, blend deep breathing with helpful imagery and perhaps a focus word or phrase that helps you relax.

Ways to elicit the relaxation response

Several techniques can help you turn down your response to stress. Breath focus helps with nearly all of them:

Creating a routine

You may want to try several different relaxation techniques to see which one works best for you. And if your favorite approach fails to engage you, or you want some variety, you'll have alternatives. You may also find the following tips helpful:

Choose a special place where you can sit (or lie down) comfortably and quietly.

Don't try too hard. That may just cause you to tense up.

Don't be too passive, either. The key to eliciting the relaxation response lies in shifting your focus from stressors to deeper, calmer rhythms - and having a focal point is essential.

Try to practice once or twice a day, always at the same time, in order to enhance the sense of ritual and establish a habit.

Try to practice at least 10-20 minutes each day.

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Relaxation techniques: Breath control helps quell errant stress response - Harvard Health

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Relaxation techniques - such as deep breathing - can help control stress and the "fight or flight" response that can interfere with everyday life....

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Theory Into Practice: Growth Mindset and Assessment

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Theory Into Practice: Growth Mindset and Assessment

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Several years ago, I took up running. At first, I wasn't particularly good at it, but I persisted: about two or three times each week, I would go for a jog, increasing my pace or distance in small increments. This measurable growth in my running ability and physical fitness was a great motivator for me, and I increased the frequency of my workouts. After about a year, I was able to complete a local 5K race; this remains among the proudest achievements of my life to date. This was the most authentic experience I've had of putting sustained effort into a domain in which I had little natural ability, observing my own growth, and working toward a specific, achievable goal. I attribute my success to two factors:

1. I didn't measure my own performance against others'. I knew that many people were more accomplished at running than I was when I got started. I set this thought aside and enjoyed the fresh air and the feel of the pavement under my feet.

2. I took notice of any growth in my distance or speed, no matter how small. I took pleasure in being able to observe so many improvements in such a short time.

I have often wondered how I can create a similar experience for students in my mathematics classes, especially for those students who lack confidence in their mathematical knowledge and skills. These are the students who are in danger of developing the mindset that the sustained effort they need to master challenging topics indicates that they are not qualified for advanced study in mathematics. Therefore, one goal of every class I teach is to help students let go of concerns about how they are performing relative to their peers, and enjoy observing their own growth and learning. In his September 2015 article in this blog, Benjamin Braun described some of the mindset interventions he uses to help focus students' attention on their mathematical growth. In this article, I'll describe how the recent work on growth mindset has influenced assessment practices in my own courses.
Mathematical mindsets
In her research, Carol Dweck describes implicit theories of intellectual and social traits that influence how and whether people choose to invest effort in developing skills (see, for example, Dweck, 2008). Dweck uses the term entity theory to refer to the idea that traits such as mathematical skill are innate, and that adversity and failure are indications that one does not possess these traits. She uses the term incremental theory to refer to the idea that traits such as mathematical skill are malleable and can be developed through sustained effort. Students who have an entity theory of mathematical intelligence often demonstrate a "fixed mindset" in mathematics classes, interpreting challenges as opportunities to display their innate abilities in mathematics, or as threats to their mathematical identity. On the other hand, students who have an incremental theory often demonstrate a "growth mindset," embracing challenging and open-ended tasks as opportunities to discover and develop new ideas.

These mindsets are consequential for achievement in mathematics. In one study, seventh graders with both mindsets began the year with comparable grades, but students with growth mindsets outperformed those with fixed mindsets by the end of the year; however, growth mindset interventions were shown to mitigate this effect (Blackwell, Trzesniewski, & Dweck, 2007). In higher education, disciplines where fixed mindsets are prevalent among faculty tend to see underrepresentation of women among Ph.D. recipients (Leslie et al., 2015). On the other hand, orienting students toward incremental theories of mathematical ability and creating learning environments consistent with growth mindsets can reduce students' vulnerability to stereotype threat (Aronson, Fried, & Good, 2002; Good, Rattan, & Dweck, 2012).

Jo Boaler's recent book Mathematical Mindsets (2015) provides a wealth of advice on how to structure mathematics instruction to promote the development of growth mindsets. She recommends practices that recent research has proven successful, such as the use of low-threshold-high-ceiling problems that are accessible to all students but require extended effort to solve completely, and strategies for managing groupwork that are consistent with Complex Instruction (Cohen et al., 1999).
Integrating the growth mindset into assessment and grading
I have taken some steps to reframe assessment and grading in my courses as a way of stimulating growth and providing guidance for learning, rather than rewarding success or punishing failure.

Specifications grading. Specifications (specs) grading (Nilson, 2015) is a system in which students earn course grades by meeting a set of clearly defined criteria rather than by achieving a certain weighted average across exams, homework, and other assignments. I now use specs grading in all of my courses; in most cases, to earn a grade of A, students must pass exams with specified scores, give a successful presentation in class, and earn a passing score on homework problem sets. I also include class attendance and participation in my specs grading scheme; since I started doing this, I have had over 90% attendance in my classes. I have an "exception clause" in which students who fall short of a standard in one category can compensate by exceeding standards in another category. This provides flexibility and sets the tone that there are many ways to demonstrate mastery. In November 2015, Kate Owens wrote about a similar system called standards-based grading (SBG); while SBG is generally organized around learning goals rather than assignment types, both systems have the essential feature of providing opportunities for students to deepen their own mastery of course content.

I've found that specs grading provides greater clarity for students; at the end of the semester, there is little mystery about what students must do in order to earn a desired grade. The grading scheme also allows me to be serious about things that matter: since I've adopted this system, I've never had to award a course grade of B to a student who did extremely well on homework (by getting external assistance) but did not demonstrate any mastery of the course material on exams.

Revision policy. I knew that if I implemented a specifications grading scheme and did nothing else, I would only end up being stingier with grades. I wanted to reshape my course policy into one that embraces mistakes as opportunities for growth and learning. Therefore, I have the policy that any written homework assignment in my course can be revised. Students get constructive feedback on problem sets; if they read the feedback and submit revisions, I replace the old grade with a better one. I used to impose a nominal penalty (say, one point out of ten) on revisions, but I stopped doing this because I could no longer defend a practice that punished students for making mistakes. The revision policy allows me to be much more consistent in holding students accountable for producing high-quality work. This does not cause too great an increase in my overall grading load, because students' revised work is usually of higher quality and therefore easier to grade.

Exam scores as "work in progress." Exams have a way of bringing students' sense of non-belonging in mathematics into sharp relief. I try to manage exams in my classes in ways that encourage growth and do not position students as competing with one another. First, I set cut scores for each exam based on the difficulty of the test itself, not based on a "curve" nor in response to student performance on the test. I don't use a 90-80-70-60 scale to interpret exam scores; there is nothing mathematically natural about this scale (Reeves, 2006), and it offers little hope for students who earn a score in the 20s or 30s on a test.

I make it clear that exam scores are "in progress" until the end of the semester, as each student earns a number of "extra lives" that can be used to retry exam questions at the end of the course. Students earn "extra lives" by doing things that will help them succeed in the course, such as completing the homework, doing practice problems, and completing short "Lesson Launch" assignments in which they watch video examples prior to class and write summaries (as in some "flipped" instruction models). On the last day of class, students take a customized test with questions covering topics on which they didn't demonstrate mastery during the midterm exams. Their scores on these questions replace their old midterm question scores.

Finally, I try to make sure my own messaging about exams is consistent. After each exam, I send a brief e-mail summarizing a few places on the exam where I thought the class as a whole did well, and reinforcing the "growth mindset" message. My most recent e-mail contained the following:

I don't make it a practice to give class-wide statistics from the exam ... My purpose in giving exams (as with all the other work) is to give you opportunities to discover where your knowledge is already strong, and where you still have room to grow. I'd sooner see you spend your energy and effort on learning the material you haven't mastered yet, rather than positioning yourself with respect to your classmates. My view is that this class has 19 terrific mathematical thinkers, and your current score on this exam is an indicator of your current level of mastery of this material, not of how smart you are in mathematics. I say "current score" because as you know, under the Extra Life system your score on this exam may well improve at the end of the semester if you do a good job of learning the material you haven't mastered yet.

Impact on students
Students in my courses seem to appreciate the various opportunities to revisit and improve their work. In a typical semester, I will receive homework revisions from about 75% of my students, with some students submitting revisions for as many as 50% of the problems. The revised solutions that students submit are usually substantial improvements; the majority of revisions earn at least two additional points on a five-point scale.

I asked students in my Fall 2016 capstone course for preservice secondary teachers for feedback on how the course policy influenced their learning and their identity as mathematics learners. One student responded,

A huge benefit was that we could correct our assessments after being graded. It made us go back and actually think about every problem and how we could correct it. You gave great feedback and showed that you were willing to help us.

Another student commented not only on the revision policy, but on the overall tone of collaboration and personal growth it set:

Feedback - Fantastic. No other course has allowed me to continuously correct my work. Although grading must be time consuming, it's greatly appreciated.

Engagement/Involvement/Interpersonal Connection - I felt a unique atmosphere of collaboration in MAT 4303. The trichotomy of student, instructor, and group motivated me to consistently work to the best of my ability. This is especially true in homework. In most courses, if I have an imperfect solution to a problem that I can't resolve, it remains imperfect. This was not true for MAT 4303.

Above all else, MAT 4303 helped me to mature as a student and take a collaborative, selfless approach to courses. I enjoyed helping other students learn just as much as I enjoyed learning.

What's next?
In the future, I also hope to research the use of growth mindset assessment practices and investigate their effects on students' learning and mathematical identity. Every program in which I have taught has wanted students to be more confident in their potential to solve challenging problems and more motivated to pursue learning opportunities on their own. I believe that an indispensable step in this direction is to help students develop the mindset that even when initial efforts fail, their hard work will result in powerful and long-lasting intellectual growth.

Acknowledgement: I would like to thank my colleague Dr. Priya V. Prasad, who uses a similar system in her courses at UTSA and whose feedback led to improvements in my own implementation.
References
Aronson, J., Fried, C. B., & Good, C. (2002). Reducing the effects of stereotype threat on African American college students by shaping theories of intelligence. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 38(2), 113-125.

Blackwell, L. S., Trzesniewski, K. H., & Dweck, C. S. (2007). Implicit theories of intelligence predict achievement across an adolescent transition: A longitudinal study and an intervention. Child development, 78(1), 246-263.

Boaler, J. (2015). Mathematical mindsets: Unleashing students' potential through creative math, inspiring messages and innovative teaching. John Wiley & Sons.

Butler, R. (1987). Task-involving and ego-involving properties of evaluation: Effects of different feedback conditions on motivational perceptions, interest, and performance. Journal of educational psychology, 79(4), 474.

Cohen, E. G., Lotan, R. A., Scarloss, B. A., & Arellano, A. R. (1999). Complex instruction: Equity in cooperative learning classrooms. Theory into practice, 38(2), 80-86.

Dweck, C. S. (2008). Mindset: The new psychology of success. Random House Digital, Inc.

Good, C., Rattan, A., & Dweck, C. S. (2012). Why do women opt out? Sense of belonging and women's representation in mathematics. Journal of personality and social psychology, 102(4), 700.

Leslie, S. J., Cimpian, A., Meyer, M., & Freeland, E. (2015). Expectations of brilliance underlie gender distributions across academic disciplines. Science, 347(6219), 262-265.

Nilson, L. (2015). Specifications grading: Restoring rigor, motivating students, and saving faculty time. Stylus Publishing, LLC.

Reeves, D. B. (2006). The learning leader: How to focus school improvement for better results. ASCD.

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