from the September, 2012 issue of Kiai!

The Art and Craft of Teaching: 
Nurturing a Growth Mindset

 

By Jun Shihan Sarah Ludden
Co-Executive Director

Our teaching training class this month was taught by a guest instructor, Erica Eichleay, field coach with the Inner-City Teaching Corps of the Alain Locke Initiative, which supports beginning teachers who are working hard to close the achievement gap in urban schools.  Erica is also the mom and wife of TW students Jake and Mark Hubert!  We were honored to be taught by a professional in the field of teacher education and to learn some cutting edge teaching techniques.  It was a rich and stimulating 90 minutes, and the good news is we are on the right track! 

Erica began by asking us to share our passion for martial arts and why we are open to learning from our teachers. She encouraged us to teach from this heartfelt place.  Then she introduced us to the pioneering work of Dr. Carol Dweck who advocates nurturing what she calls a “growth mindset” rather than a “fixed mindset” in learners.  She emphasizes that individuals are capable of growth and change, that our intellectual and physical potentials are not fixed or pre-determined, and that learning is enhanced when this is believed by both students and teachers. 

Dweck’s work shows that one key to success is for students to enjoy the process of learning, to take on challenges, believe in effort, and understand that mistakes are inevitable and a critical part of the learning process.  To nurture a growth mindset, Dweck says teachers should praise students for their perseverance and hard work, rather than for being smart or talented, which is something they might feel the need to defend, thus prompting them to avoid risks and new challenges. 

Studies show that when educators believe in a growth mindset academic performance improves, the conflict resolution process in class is made easier and violence in schools decreases.   Students engage in less retaliatory violence when they believe in people’s capacity to change.

In our session, Erica outlined three steps to nurturing a growth mindset:  inspiring and encouraging students (ignition), facilitating deep and deliberate practice, and providing master coaching.  She reminded us to give specific instructions and clear demonstrations of technique (the correct way, the incorrect way, the correct way again).  We even learned the biological underpinnings of this teaching model. Apparently, when learners go through the process of building and refining knowledge through mindful, repetitious practice, the myelin sheaths in their brain are thickened, which produces stronger and faster neural pathways.

We learned why positive narration of student performance rather than vague praise is more effective and efficient. “Johnny is bending his knees in horse stance”  rather than “Good job, Johnny” compliments the child who is attending to the exercise and attracts the attention of a child who is distracted without drawing negative attention to the non-attending child, while simultaneously reinforcing the instruction (to be in horse stance) to the class.

Erika encouraged us to express our enthusiasm for teaching, our joy at seeing the child in the dojo, to show happiness when we see progress in the child’s karate, stressing that these all build the foundation for a strong teacher / student relationship and contribute significantly to learning.

So how are we doing in nurturing a growth mindset in our students, and how can we improve?  In my opinion, we are on the right path.  The founder of our system, Kaicho Tadashi Nakamura, created Seido as a “challenging practice” to “balance our mind/body/spirit so as to better serve others.”  Thousand Waves promotional materials describe the only requirement for training as “a desire to grow and change and a willingness to show up for class.”  We teach students to say “osu” (meaning, “I’m trying my best, and I’m patient with the process of learning”) to help them concentrate and give 100 percent effort. Talent and athletic ability are not important in our program. Effort and disciplined attendance are what matters.

Erica emphasized that struggle in the learning process actually aids learning, that challenges improve performance.  We’ve got that covered because karate is hard!  But “fun hard” as we say to the kids.  “Spirit challenges” are what we call our fitness exercises, such as push-ups and sit ups.   Promotion exams continue until everyone gets to the point where they feel challenged and make mistakes. The goal is to see how students cope with those difficult moments when they are frustrated, confused and tired.  That is when they discover more about themselves, learn to pull up their inner strength, and grow.

Where can we improve?  We can always improve our ability to make the drilling of basic techniques fun and exciting, especially for our youngest members. We can find new ways to communicate our love of teaching and how happy we are that each child has come to class. We can refine our verbal skills so our instructions are clear and compelling. And we can take the time to model correct and dynamic technique. 

We can use praise to compliment effort, dedication and progress.  Rather than say “I’m proud of you,” we can say to the student, “Aren’t you proud of yourself?” We can substitute specific praise, “that’s a really tight fist,” for general feedback, “good punch”. We can use “chunking” -- breaking things down into smaller pieces to help young learners learn complicated sequences -- a technique we were already familiar with, but learned more about from Erica.

We are so grateful to Erica Eichleay for volunteering her time and sharing her professional skills with the Thousand Waves teacher corps. She reminded us of what we are already doing well in our classes and gave us many new tools to improve our teaching.