Where to Start When Cultivating Growth Mindsets in the Art Studio:

Section I: Identifying What Each Mindset Looks Like in the Studio Section II: Helping Students Understand the Idea of Mindsets Section III: Its Not What You Do, Its About Perspective

Section I Identifying What Each Mindset Looks Like in The Studio

I always get this feeling of dj-vu when I am working around the studio with students. There is a typical conversation that reveals the different mindsets present in the art room, where I hear the same statements and remarks being made. I also observe similar behaviors and actions from students showing me how a students feel about themselves as artists and the artwork they create. When I began this research, I noticed that the comments and actions I have heard and saw could be organized into three different mindsets: growth mindset, fixed mindset and mixed mindsets. I hoped that learning more about these mindsets would help me understand the perspectives of each student, and how I could best support him or her. I also realized that mindsets are connected to perspectives how we see ourselves, how 1

we see art, and how we see the work we create. These perspectives affect our confidence and our actions. For me a perspective is how you perceive what is going on in the rest of the world, it is the way you see what others have done, it is your viewpoint and where you stand when observing others. A mindset is how one approaches their own work, and how they view their own capabilities and actions. In other words, your perspective relates to things you consume from others (i.e. how you perceive or react to things other people do, say or create) while mindset relates to the things you produce (i.e.- how you perceive or relate to things you do, say or create). If you perceive someone making amazing art with little effort or hard work, your perspective on them is that they have talent. Here is a story of an 8th grade student from this semester, Lisa, who felt talent trumped her hard work and dedication: Lisa always had sharpened pencils with those cap erasers in her Hello Kitty pencil bag. Lisa was always prepared for art class. On average she was always the first one in the art room, and the last one out. She would walk in, take a seat, open her sketchbook and lay out her pencils. I always thought Lisa was hardcore in that she took this art class very seriously and wasnt afraid to give it all she had. Throughout the duration of our first project she did copious amounts of drafts for her drawing that would be used for her linoleum block print project. From the beginning of class to the end, I watched and heard her work very hard at improving her pictures. She would ask me for help, she would seek and utilize critique and feedback. I truly believe she must have had double the amounts of drafts then any other students in the class. When I went through her sketchbook, I noticed that she was doing work at home as well. She had collected references to help her draw the characters in her drawing, and was doing extra practice. She was practicing very hard, until she noticed Joe. Good ol Joe was in Lisas class. Joe was notorious for taking multiple long bathroom breaks, strolling around class, talking with others and being an incredibly competent and advanced artist for his age. Lisa worked hard in class, but she watched Joe dowell not much. Lisa signed in frustration How can I have ten drafts, and he have two. How is he so good if he does nothing? Lisas perspective of Joe was that he did not work hard or put in much effort and still created advanced art. Lisas perspective of Joe was that he had talent. Lisa concluded in a survey that she was not an artist, and that her art was very poor. She replied that she did not accomplish anything, and had not grown as an artist. Others were better then her. Others are artists, but not me she shared. Her mindset was that she could not perform well in art, and that she could never be as good as Joe. Even with the pages of drafts that showed drastic improvements, she shared that she did not feel she was any good, and couldnt get as good as Joe. Lisa says she has a fixed mindset. I wish I had shared this quote from Dweck with her earlier: just because some people can do something with little to no training, it doesnt mean that others cant do it (and sometimes do it even better) with training (2006, p.70). This scenario illustrates the difference between perspective and mindset, and how the two are connected. Lisa perceives Joes lack of work and effort as talent, and her mindset tells her that she cannot ever get as good as Joe. If Lisa had thought anyone could make art, if she perceived everyone had different art styles, and everyone started learning art in different places, I do not think she would rate herself as a poor artist. I will discuss more about perspective later on, but first I describe what each mindset looks like in an art studio. Different mindsets are present in any classroom, but below I have listed typical comments and the observable actions of what each of the three mindsets tends to look like in an art studio. I have pulled out the comments and observable actions from my own journals, and even had students share what they heard and saw. It is important to be able to spot different mindsets in the classroom because it helps you know as a teacher how best to support each student. As a teacher you can learn from your growth mindset students by having them share their way of thinking, how they encourage themselves to persevere, and how they think when working through the classroom. It is important to identify what each mindset looks like in the classroom because each mindset needs different types of praise and support. A fixed mindset student may need more concrete evidence that they can improve their abilities, whereas a growth mindset student may just need reminders.

The Growth-Minded Student in the Studio 2

The Comments What can I practice to help my project look more like what I want it to look like? Yeah, it didnt come out the way I expected, but this is the first time I used these materials. Next time I do this project I know it will come out better because I am more experienced. It may not be pretty, but I know I can do it. Just let me practice this a bit, then Ill work on the project. That way I feel better. Oh man, thats tough. Its okay. Ill figure it out. What can I do differently to make this look better? Do you have any feedback for our groups sculpture? Whoa, that looks cool. How long did it take you to get good? This still doesnt look great, but it is way better then my first terrible drawing

The Observable Actions Student may get frustrated and keep walking away from project or sighing and running hands through hair, but always continues to work with determination and effort. Student jumps right into the project, and does not procrastinate. Student supports other classmates by giving advice, or encouraging others that they can do it. Student feels satisfaction with the work they did. Student accepts mistakes as a learning challenge, and does not see mistakes as a sure sign that they cannot do something. Student does not use comparison of their artwork to other students as a way to place judgment Student accepts feedback and critique, and knows that it will help them get better. Student may feel like giving up, but instead seeks out advice and new methods or new perspectives to improve. Student acknowledges progress and identifies future goals and challenges for themselves. Student practices art outside of the classroom in order to get better.

Reflections on Growth Mindset Here is an excerpt from my teacher journal on a growth mindset moment: Today, Mark was working on the face of his character. He was having a difficult time getting the face to look serious but not like the character was evil or something. I see him erasing a lot and working on the eyebrows and mouth. I think he is getting a hole in his paper from all the erasing. Man, he looks determined but on the verge of giving up. I walked over to Mark and asked him Whatcha doin? This guy looks like an evil Disney villain, I want him to look serious, and not like this. So we worked together and he was happy with the end results. I asked him if he felt like he was getting better at drawing faces. Yeah, for sure. Im not great, but Im totally way better since I have been practicing, and used those tips you showed us. This is cool. I like this. A growth mindset artist is a powerful thing. When you look at the list of observable actions for this type of mindset you can see in your mind a student pushing through challenges, and even when you see frustrations (sighs, pacing, hand on face or hair, etc) this growth mindset artist will always follow through to the end. A growth mindset artist sees art as a learnable ability and a trait that can be improved with practice. I have always loved this quote from Bayles and Orland from their book, Art and Fear: if youre an artist, youre also a 3

student (1993, p. 85). This is such a growth minded statement. This statement says that art is a cultivated ability, not an intrinsic talent. I had lunch with my student Mark and he expressed I think that art is something you can get good at. It isnt any different from math or soccer. If you want to be good at something, and you like it a lot, just practice; cause youre going to get better. If you, like, give up and stuff, then youre gonna suck. Naturally, right? I have always admired Marks perspective on his classmates as well. I dont care that Joe is awesome at art. I mean thats cool for him and everything. But, Im not Joe. I practice and I get better when you teach me stuff. And, I think that Joe practices a lot at home, too. Marks perspective on others is that he sees people as individuals with different capabilities, and his growth mindset helps him believe that he is learning and growing at his own pace. Having the perspective that others are different from you, and that others are all learning art in different ways and different levels, can help students believe that they, too, are learning, thus fostering a growth mindset.

The Fixed-Minded Student in the Studio The Comments Ugh I cant do this! I suck at art. I cant do things like that. Im not creative or artistic. What can I do that would be easier and quicker? Can I just say this is done? Whats the point in doing this if Im not going to be an artist? Ive done this before last year, so why do I have to do this again? Im already good at this, so I dont need to practice Let me tell you why I cant do this- cause I cant

The Observable Actions Student gives up and checks out before project is even started. This looks like procrastination via frequent bathroom breaks, strolling around the room, staring at the walls and doing this to waste time until class ends. Student gets frustrated when facing artistic challenges, and gives up. Student responds to encouragement from teacher and classmates by statements that express they do not posses ability (e.g.- I know, but I cant) Student does not want their art to be viewed by others. Student takes feedback and critique as a sure sign that they are not good at art. Student sees mistakes in their art not as a learning experience, but as reinforcement that they cannot make quality art. Student consistently produces negative statements of their self worth in art. Student believes others have a natural talent with art, and that practice has nothing to do with it. Student is embarrassed to show their mistakes, preliminary drafts and practice sheets because they find it signifies their failure at art. Student gives poor or no feedback to others during critiques sessions because they dont see the point or value (perhaps cant identify growth opportunities). 4

Reflections on Fixed Mindset Here is an excerpt from my teacher journal on a fixed mindset scenario: I looked throughout the stack of second drafts to see the changes that my students made after our critique session. I came up to Lenas and was disappointed. Her second draft was an exact replica of her first even though there were post-its with feedback on concrete things she could do to edit her image. What is going on? Did she not think I would notice? Did she even try? Does she not like my class? Why didnt she take the feedback and make edits, especially when the feedback was so clear? I need to check-in with her tomorrow. Lena came into the art room today, and I asked her to come check-in with me. She walked over like she was shy and not wanting to speak with me. I could tell she knew that I caught on to her traced second draft. How come you didnt make any edits with your second draft? I asked. And, this is where the tears started rolling. I cant do this. Im not an artist. Whats the point? Dont make me do it. I cant fix my crappy drawings, cause I cant. She continued to tell me how hard drawing was, and how she didnt want to draw because it sucked. Oh Lena, I dont want you to feel this way. I dont want this anxiety and stress that you and other students have with art ruin their experiences and relationships to the arts. I need to stick with my plan to cultivate growth mindset students so things like this arent so devastating. I wish Lena could see the process of learning in art. I can show her this. I can. Lena, being a fixed mindset student, was afraid to push herself through challenges. Dweck comments, as soon as children become able to evaluate themselves, some of them become afraid of challenges. They become afraid of not being smart. (2006, p. 16). You can cut out the word smart and insert artistic, or skilled, or able, etc. She didnt want to take the feedback from the critique session because her mind was already made up that she couldnt improve or get better. She didnt want the challenge of pushing her drawing skills because she was afraid that it would just be another sign that she wasnt good at drawing. I wonder if professional artists, or artists that we perceive of as advanced and well skilled, all have growth mindsets. To overcome challenges and difficulties, and to push your level at a craft, I feel that you would have to believe that you are learning. And, imagine the stress if you felt that everything you made and created had to be successful and amazing; to think otherwise would be like a tally mark on the list of why you are not capable. I think back to the Bayles and Orland quote that says if youre an artist, then you must be a student as well, since art is a learned ability, not just a gift given to you like a born talent. An artist with a fixed mindset is a tricky thing. Imagine Lena and how she felt about her work, now imagine how she must feel during art class. On a reflection sheet, Lena explained how she feels about art class: Im scared everyone will know that I am bad at art. I just can do it. I know that Im going to make bad art. At the beginning of the semester, Lena reveled that she believe that art class was so that some students who are artists can get a class to show off their skills. To Lena my class was a time to show everyone how some people were artists, and others were not. It wasnt about learning and growing. Mark (a growth mindset student), on the other hand, saw art class as a place to learn and grow. Here Dweck explains what it feels like to be in a class, first with a fixed mindset then with a growth mindset: Put yourself in a fixed mindset. Your ability is on the line. Can you feel everyones eyes on you? Can you see the instructors face evaluating you? Feel the tension, feel your ego bristle and waver. Now put yourself in a growth mindset. Youre a novice- thats why you are here. Youre here to learn. The teacher is a resource for learning. (2006, p, 14) Being in art class with a fixed mindset must be scary and difficult. Everything we do is presented not only to our peers, but also exhibited in places where the public and the whole school can see. When I hang up 5

my students artwork I feel pride in the effort and growth of my students, but thinking about Lena and other fixed mindset students I wonder if they see it as me displaying their shame.

The Mixed-Minded Student in the Studio The Comments I can learn to do this particular activity, but Ill never be able to do that activity This is hard. I cant do this, but I dont want to give up. I will get better if I practice, but I still wont be great at this I cant do this. I want to work on getting better at math I know how to get better at drawing, but I cant learn how to do good watercolor paintings Is this good enough? Its better then the last version, and it aint getting better in the next If I had parents that were artists then I could inherit their artistic talent. But, I dont, so I may be good now, but Im not ever going to be a pro. I can work hard at improving my art, but no one will ever like it Dang, she has gotten good at drawing. Lucky for me I was always good at it. Ill practice this when I get home, but not here where people can see it The Observable Actions Student encourages other classmates to improve, but do not believe that they can. This is like believing others can grow, but not yourself. Student feels that if their ability to improve in art is dependent upon the project or materials used. Student shares their pride in the progress they have made throughout a project, only to feel embarrassment at the end product. Student diligently works to improve their product by setting goals and getting feedback, but when asked about their progress they deny they have learned anything, or made any progress. (This is performing like a growth mindset student, but thinking like a fixed mind set student.) Student tries really hard, then plateaus. This is where I normally see that students believe they can get better and grow, but only to a certain level. Student studies other subjects before and after art class, only to come into the studio and not want to practice art. The recognize effort matters in other subjects, but in art, they dont feel it will help them get better. (i.e.- The student has a growth mindset for certain subjects, but not all of them.) Student only practices during art class, but not at home. Student is excited to practice the skills that come easily, but when other skills are challenging, they feel they cannot improve. Practicing (when it gets easy, but not when it is hard.) Student is willing to give others feedback for their growth, but not willing to accept critical feedback for their own work. Student only accepts feedback from those that they deem talented in the arts, and not those who they see as learners.

Reflection on Mixed Mindset Here is an except from my teacher journal about a mixed mindset scenario:

Franky is a really positive leader in my class. Today, I watched him help others construct their kinetic linear sculptures. He was so kind to help groups hold the structure, tie things together and mix glue. But, he isnt really working on his sculpture. Is this a form of procrastinating? What is weird is that he isnt avoiding the project, since he is working with others around the room, but he isnt really working on his own components. Today I asked Franky if he enjoyed this project. Yeah, its so weird and different. People have cool stuff. People do have cool stuff, I totally am stoked. But, what do you think of yours? I asked. Huh he laughed and walked away. What?! I didnt know how to respond to that comment/gesture. Later that day, I walked over to Franky when he was hanging out in the halls waiting to get picked up after school. I asked him again what he thought about his sculpture, and why he kinda laughed off his answer. Oh my sculpture sucks. I tried for awhile, but I cant do things like that. I told him I really appreciated and valued his positive influence in the class, and how it was cool that he was helping others. I showed him my observation journal where I documented his positive actions, but also how he seemed to be avoiding his work. And this is the intriguing comment he shared I help others cause I like to teach them what I know, and it is cool when my friends are learning stuff cause they are happy, you know? Sohuh. I walked away pondering what he said. (Later that night) It just popped in my head what I think Franky was feeling! It seems to me that he feels others can learn how to do this sculpture project, but he cannot. Ask him about this tomorrow!!! (Next Day) I shared with Franky what I thought he might be feeling. His response Oh, yeah. I cant do this, but I know my friends can learn Frankys case was just one student observation that made me think that I had to have a separate category besides just growth and fixed mindsets. I did not think that my students were always going to be strictly a fixed mindset or strictly growth mindset throughout the whole semester. I think that mindsets can fluctuate, and what is unique about art is that projects and materials change. I think this can greatly affect how some people feel, and also affect their mindsets. In this study, a mixed mindset student to me is someone who seems to always flip-flop between a fixed mindset and a growth mindset over short periods of time, or someone who believes in others growth (growth mindset) but not in their own growth (fixed mindset, and vice versa. Mark was predominantly a growth mindset student. He saw that everyone, including himself could learn. Lena was predominantly a fixed mindset student. She thought about her, and others, abilities as stagnant. She felt that people were either artists, or not. They either had talent, or didnt. In Frankys case he believed others could learn art (growth mindset), but he could not (fixed mindset). Isnt this intriguing? A mixed mindset idea is that others can grow and improve ability/skill, but you cant (or vice versa). I caught myself having a mixed mindset with one of my friends who studied the art of Teppanyaki. This is that cool style of cooking where you look like a ninja/art performer while chopping and throwing your knives around and doing amazing creative performance. Well, my friend Tommy did training for this. He did an apprenticeship and practiced all the time. He was such a creative artist, and always added his own ideas. When I watched him, I always thought, There is no way in hell I could ever do that. I wish I could flip knives around. Somehow, I knew he trained and practiced. He learned, but I felt I couldnt. I was like Franky. Something that I seem to always notice, and drives me crazy with confusion is when I see people studying other subjects, but not studying art. It seems that people assume that artistic capabilities are either something you have or dont have, so Whats the point? they ask. In my list of comments list from mixed 7

minded students there was a quote that said, I cant do this. I want to work at getting better at math. Many of my students seem to find the value and purpose of practice (to improve skills and raise knowledge) but only when it has to do with non-art related subjects such as math, reading, writing or sports. Many of my students see art as something special, almost like a gift. I notice that adults think this way often too: that practice will help in many other subjects but not art. This is a hallmark thought pattern of a person with a mixed mindset. If one thinks like this, then I consider them to have a mixed-mindset. Many peoples mindsets depend on the context, and art seems to be this special unattainable ability for many. A mixed mindset idea is that ability/skill can be improved, but only depending on the context. Once I had identified this third category of mindsets, the mixed mindset, I felt that I wanted to hear what my students thought about practice. Why is it that some feel practice benefits certain things, but not others? Why does art seem to stand-alone? As my students were working on a project in my class I walked around and asked them to tell me what practice was and why people practiced. Here is what they had to say: Practice is when you do something over and over until you memorize it. It is so you can remember how to do stuff, like how something is spelled or how to play piano. Practice is what you do what you need to get better at something. Like when youre learning and stuff, you practice to get better. Practice is what teachers make us do to learn stuff and take tests, and so that we know what we are doing when making projects. Practice is so that you get stronger, like in sports or writing. Practice is so that when we grow up we are smart and know how to do stuff well. Practice is something people do to make the things they learn stronger. Its like when you want to make sure you understand something and to make sure you can do things well. Practice is what makes people good, and I can always tell when people didnt practice something because they are not good, and, like get all sad. I practice. My students clearly understood what practice was, and understood why people practiced. I found their responses to be powerful and I really felt that my students valued the idea of practice, and that it was something they could do to improve themselves, and to feel more confident. I got a sense that my students knew practice was something they could trust in. If they practiced something, it would make them better. Here are some comments I got when I asked, Did you ever regret practicing something? I dont like to take the time to practice, but when I do I always feel better. Like I know more things. If I dont practice something, then have to do, like, a test or perform in front of people I get really scared. When my mom and coach make me practice, even when I just want to hang out with my friends, I am always glad cause I feel good and like I can do stuff. Practice makes perfect, right? Or close to it, right? So, no I never regretted practicing, though I hate it sometimes. But, thats cause I know I have to do it, so it makes me not want to do it. When I practice sometimes it is really hard. But, I always feel proud of myself, and I like to help my friends with what I learned when I practiced. It makes me feel smart. How can you regret something that makes you better at things? 8

Students understand practice: to get good at something, practice it. And, the whole class had commented that they never regretted practicing something. Yet, practicing in art for some felt pointless for themselves, but not for others. This is strange to me. If Franky thought that Mark could get better at art with practice, then why couldnt Franky? How come some students see growth capabilities in others but not themselves? Why did they see practice benefitting some subjects, but not others? I wanted to know why practicing art for many students seemed pointless. I wanted to know why students have a difficult time seeing growth in their own art abilities, but not in others. Here is a journal excerpt of what had been going on in my mind after I received these answer from my students: Reflections on Mixed Mindset Here is an excerpt from my teacher journal on a mixed mindset scenario: The semester is still early, but after talking to students about practice, I have created this list of why I think students think art is a gift, and practice will not get them this gift. Students who feel practicing art is useless (because art is a gift/talent), may be because: -Students have not practiced enough art to see any progress. This may be because art classes are not always taught at schools, and when they are they are not given enough classes (usually once a week in elementary school for less then an hour). -Students see others who create advanced art with little to no effort. Students perspectives of other advanced artists may not see that those artists had practiced hard for years. -Students have not seen a professional or advanced artists process. Students have not seen how even a professional or advanced artist struggles, faces challenges, makes mistakes, creates multiple drafts, etc. They only see the final product, and not the process. The process becomes non-existent, and the product is this magical thing. -Students have unrealistic expectations. Students want to be able to create advanced art like professionals, and compare their art to someone who is more advanced. (This connects to not understanding the art process) For example: An 8th grade student compares his/her work of a portrait, which she has just learned how to do, to Rembrandts portraitures. Where does this idea that art is a talent that is un-learnable sprout in ones mind? I am starting to think this has to do with art being non-existent, or barely existing in my students lives previous to my class. Reading, writing, math and sometimes music and sports are practiced almost daily, but art was just a playtime activity. The mixed mindset student is one who is teetering on a scale where one side is a growth mindset, and the other is a fixed mindset. I hope I can convince them and put more weight on to growth mindset side of the scale by the end of the semester. I hope that by driving home the idea of practice, and by showing students their growth in art through multiple drafts and practice sheets, I may be able to prove to them that everyone can get better at art. Section II 9

Helping Students Understand the Idea of Mindsets I see three categories of mindsets in the art studio: a growth mindset, a fixed mindset and a mixed mindset. One can have a predominantly growth or fixed mindset or be a mixture of both, a mixed mindset. Introducing the idea of mindsets to my students needed to come at the beginning of the semester, so we could spend the whole semester trying to cultivate a growth mindset. I wanted to share my overall goal with my students: to have students who felt confident and successful when creating art in my class. First there are some things I felt I needed my students to think about before learning about mindsets. I needed to create a safe environment in my class by setting norms for the class to uphold. Norms (agreements to keep a safe and strong environment for learning) would allow for students to feel safe learning, sharing and reflecting. Students then needed to think about how they felt about themselves and their relationship to the arts: How much art have they done in their lives? Do they consider themselves capable artists? How would they rate their art? How would they define good and bad art? How do they feel about art class? Do they feel confident in art class, or do they feel a little anxiety and fear? And so on. Once I had those things set and students clearly understood how they felt and thought about the arts, I felt that I could then introduce mindsets to them, and talk about the value of a growth mindset. Phase I Setting the Tone & Finding Your Connection to Art What does a growth mindset Vibe feels like in an Art Studio? To be creative, to explore and experiment freely in an art studio, it requires one to feel safe and supported. With a white canvas staring back at you, a number of nagging questions run through a beginning artists head: Am I going to be judged? Are people going to laugh at my mistakes? Can I explore without ridicule? Can I share ideas without being put down? Can I do my thing? Where can I sit with my easel where no one can see what I am doing? Can I turn down the lights so people cant see my work clearly? Is she laughing at me?! In my personal art studio I am alone, which means I can construct my environment to my own liking. I can do what I need to do to have the best space and energy to do my art. A middle school art studio with 28 students working at the same time means we need to compromise and come to an agreement for how our space should be so that everyone can do their best, and feel comfortable being creative and exploring. After years of making art myself, and collaborating with students and other artists I have come to the conclusion (and this applies to any subject) that in order to produce good artwork (or just good work), artists need to have a safe place to: Open themselves up and be creative Explore Experiment Make mistakes Not be judged Be encouraged and supported Practice and learn

During the first week of art class, I set classroom norms with my students in order to make sure we had the most supportive and safe environment for everyone. I started this topic on the first day. I asked them to think back to when they had art with me two years earlier. I asked them to think about the work that was done in the room and to come up with a list together as a whole class of what type of place the art studio should be to 10

support our best work. I felt this would remind them of the work that would be done in this room, and the things we do in the time we have allotted together. Below is the list we generated together. THE ART STUDIO IS A place to learn A place to explore A place to be messy A place to share A place to make mistakes A place to be creative A place to face challenges A place where everyone can be successful A place to feel comfortable A place I have to be A place where art is made, understood and appreciated You will see in the list a student had shared that the art studio is a place I have to be. This is true for everyone. We all had to be there, whether we wanted to or not. Though this may seem like a somewhat negative response from a student, it underscored exactly why we have norms. If we all have to be here, lets make it as wonderful as we can. Once we had all agreed on the type of space we wanted our studio to be, we came up with a list of norms that we all agreed to uphold in order for our classroom to be a place of respect, community and learning. Below are the questions I had written on the white board, and on a handout that I passed out to each student. QUESTION ASKED TO HELP BUILD NORMS What could I do as your art teacher to help you have the best experience in this art class this semester? What could you do as a student to help support your classmates and the teacher to have the best learning experiences in art class this semester? What would you like your classmates to do, or be careful not to do, in order for you to feel safe and supported in this studio? What qualities does an artist, or good craftsman, have? And, what type of environment helps supports their creativity and their learning?

I asked them to read the handout, and take a few minutes to think about their responses. I then asked them to turn to the person next to them to share their responses. This allowed them to first think on their own, then to hear and share some responses to see if it generated any other ideas before sharing out in front of everyone. Often, hearing other peoples opinions allowed students to generate new ideas. We then shared, as a class, what we found important to uphold in an art room for everyone to feel safe and supported in the art room. I also asked them to write down anything they felt they wanted to add later on the back of the handout if they thought of something. This is great to do, because remember this is the first day of class and sometimes students are shy, afraid to share (the culture is still not set, and students may not know each other), or maybe they just remembered something later on in the class and want to add their input. This was my first step in creating a supportive classroom culture. My action research topic required students to feel comfortable enough to share how they feel about themselves and their work, and I needed there to be a classroom culture where all students felt comfortable and supportive of one another. I also had students come up with agreed upon ways of supporting each other and promoting hard work. I had the class come to an understanding that we were all learning, and we should all be open to suggestions. All of this was my first step before introducing mindsets because students needed to have a safe environment to talk about personal subjects 11

without fear of judgment, shame or shyness. To get honest responses, or just responses at all, there first needs to be a safe set culture in the classroom. Setting classroom norms helped set a classroom culture that I felt allowed for my data collection to be rich with honest information, and helped students feel safe sharing and expressing themselves. STUDIO NORMS FOR THE SEMESTER Be Supportive Try Hard Be Open Respect I will support my fellow classmates to do their best. This means no teasing, joking or judging other peoples artwork. I will push myself to do my best and try hard, which will allow me to learn the most I can and help make me a better artist. I will be open minded to try new things, and hear new ideas. Respect myself, respect others and respect the studio.

After creating these norms with my students I learned a lot about my students. It seemed that many students felt apprehensive about their art and feared judgment above all else. Most seemed confident that they would work hard, and would respect the studio and art materials. That was almost understood before they even came to my class. But, a lot of students were concerned about others. I dont want people making fun of my art replied one student. The rest of the class echoed their sentiment: Yeah, totally, For sure, and Yep. All agreed that they didnt want people to make fun of them or their art. Im scared that Im gonna work hard, and people will think its stupid which will just make me even more afraid of art, shared another student. There is this idea that middle school students are very focused on what their peers think of them, and thats true. But, from what I have seen working with adults. I see this issue loom over them as well. Art in a middle school art class is a public thing. You cant really hide what you are doing, especially since we do critiques and exhibitions of our work. It is only natural for people to feel worried about what others think and say about the work we create. Placing Judgment A part of me also couldnt help but connect this issue on judgment to student confidence and insecurity. My opinion is that people with lower confidence and insecurity tend to strive for the assurance of other people. Their confidence tends to rise and fall according to peer feedback. Does a growth mindset student have more confidence then a fixed mindset student? Thinking about this lead me to more questions: Does a growth mindset person care if someone makes fun of his or her artwork? Or, do they just brush it off and know the hard work they did and feel proud anyway? Are fixed mindset people more fearful of judgment? Do they see others comments as a reflection of their capabilities and potential?

Dweck explains how different mindsets are affected by judgment as she describes how a fixed mindset friend responded to critical feedback: She had been judged- the work was flawed and, by extensions, so was 12

she. Time passed, but she couldnt bring herself to go near the reviews again or work on the paper (2006, p.218). A fixed mindset student takes judgment of their work as a personal attack on who they are as a person. They may feel I made this painting, therefore, if you judge and critique this painting, you are attacking who I am as a person. When students feel that their artwork is being judged, confidence can waiver because of the fear of the work not being adequate, and because it is insult to their character. This is like thinking my art piece did not get bought at the auction, therefore I must be a failure as an artist. You can see here the person does not separate the work from who they are as a person. Judging the work is judging the person. FIXED MINDSET STUDENTS RESPONSES ABOUT JUDGMENT (Based on one-on-one conversations) Question asked to students: How do you feel when you think your artwork is being judged? When people say my artwork is bad, I feel that it is me being a bad artist. I cant do art well if people always think it looks bad. No one has ever said anything about my art. But they always say good stuff about hers. I think people think my art sucks so I know I suck at art, otherwise people would say I am good. If I know someone is looking at my drawings, I know they are judging me. You cant look at art and not judge. It makes me feel scared to make mistakes, cause they will see I am a bad artist. When people talk about my art, I know they just think I suck at art. They see I dont have talent, otherwise they would just say good stuff. If people are watching me, and talking about me and my art Im not going to do anything because Im scared and feel stupid. I hate that. I feel like I have to make amazing stuff to prevent people from talking about me. So annoying. A student, who feels like they are being judged, and takes it as a personal attack on their abilities, will develop anxiety and lower confidence. Students must feel like they are in a judgment free zone in order to make great art. It is therefore important to establish norms for behavior in class as well as when critiquing one another. Also, while students with different mindsets may perceive judgment differently. I would rather not have any student feel negatively judged while learning. On the flip-side, students who recognize judgment as criticism of their work and not as a judgment of their character, seem to experience greater confidence and less anxiety. A growth mindset student will not be set back by judgment, or feel that they are incapable of art. They will feel as though their artwork just needs more improvement. GROWTH MINDSET STUDENTS RESPONSES ABOUT JUDGMENT (Based on 1-on-1 conversations) Question asked to students: How do you feel when you think your artwork is being judged? I dont care if people judge my art. If they like it great! If not, oh well. Sure it sucks to hear people judging my art, but if they dont like it that is their opinion of my artwork, its not like they are talkin bad about me, just my art piece.

13

If I always listened and cared to how people judge my artwork, then I would have given up a long time ago. When they say I am bad and suck and stuff, it only pushes me to prove them wrong the next time I make something. People judge art. That is what makes it fun. When people judge my art, Im like whatever dude, Im learning its going to look bad for awhile so I just ignore it. When I doodle and do play, and people judge that stuff it hurts. But, that stuff can get better, and whatever, you know, its not like they like know me as a person anyways. Thats a drawing I did, that is not me, it is what I did, not me as a girl. A growth mindset person in an art room is going to push through the judgment and not see the judgment as a commentary on whether they are a good artist or not. Judgment is about the work, not about the person. Let me quickly define judgment and show you how students with different mindsets have reacted to it. Judgment is developing an opinion about something and making a conclusion based of that opinion. Below, I have listed four comments that show judgment of an art piece. I asked two students who classify themselves as fixed mindset and two students who identify as growth mindset to pretend these are the judgments they heard about the artwork they made. Look at how they responded to the judgments differently: That painting is bad. Fixed Mindset: I suck at painting. Growth Mindset: I need to learn how to paint. This drawing is awesome. Fixed Mindset: I am a good artist. Growth Mindset: I did a good job. Yay! That sculpture looks weird. Fixed Mindset: I cant do sculpture, so yeah, its gonna look weird. Growth Mindset: That sucks someone said that. Guess I need to fix it. Wow, this photograph is wonderful. Fixed Mindset: Ive always been good at this. Growth Mindset: What made it good to them, I wonder? I want to make more. You can see how different mindsets, and students, react differently to judgment. Whether it is good judgment or bad, and whether people react in a more positive way or not, eliminating judgment and the feelings surrounding judgment will allow students to feel more comfortable all around. Setting norms helps students exist in a supportive and safe classroom where they can learn as best they can, and perform as best they can. The norms about Being supportive and Respect were created to prevent as much judgment as possible. Being supportive is not judging, and not judging is respecting each others learning. The norms we created as a class would become a whole class agreement a document all of us were bound to uphold. Hopefully, this would create a culture that would ease student fears and apprehension. Throughout the semester it was key for the class and I to reconnect with the norms, either by reviewing them as a class or having certain students go back and explain the purpose of the norms. As a teacher, you cannot just create and set norms at the beginning of the semester, and then just post them on the wall, never to talk about them again. Most will find that norms have to be reviewed and students need to be reminded of what they are, and the importance of upholding them, especially at the beginning of the year. Later in the semester, and towards the end of the year, a culture begins to develop in the classroom and norms will not need to be reviewed as much since the students are used to acting on them and upholding them. For example, a student who may not 14

be cleaning his or her paintbrush may need to be reminded to respect the studio, and eventually he/she will follow through on the norm. I realized midway through the semester that the two norms we struggled with, as a class, were: I will push myself to do my best and try hard, which will allow me to learn the most I can and help make me a better artist. I will be open-minded to try new things and hear new ideas. These seem to be the art rooms most challenging norms. What is fascinating to me is that these two norms are created by students every semester at every grade I have ever worked with. I think these are difficult to uphold because these two norms are connected with the way people think about art (their mindsets). To uphold these norms you have to have a growth mindset. To push oneself to learn and to be open-minded are things a growth mindset student can do more easily then a fixed mindset student. A growth mindset student will understand the connection between being open-minded about new things and trying hard in order to learn and grow. A fixed mindset student will struggle with this. These two norms are needed to achieve my goal of confident and successful artists. I will expand more on this in my conclusions, and hopefully will find the answers to fixing this struggle. With norms set on the first day, then reviewed throughout the week to help solidify them, we were ready to start thinking about our relationship with art. Now it was time to find out how my students felt as artists and about the artwork they created. Students Relationships with the Arts: Explained through Similes & Metaphors After setting a safe and supportive vibe in the classroom using norms, I next wanted my students to reflect on their relationship with the arts. I wanted them to think about how they felt as artists, and how they felt about the artwork they created over their lifetime. Why? Because this would reveal the type of mindsets my students have about themselves. I am an artist, I could be an artist, I am not an artist, and I could never be an artist these are some typical responses that could help show how someone thinks and what type of mindset they might have. Words and phrases like: can, can learn, cannot, never can, not capable, can t learn, etc. are revealing. With words like this you get a sense of someones viewpoint on whether they believe they can grow and learn (growth mindset) or if they believe their abilities are set and cannot grow (fixed mindset). I wanted to pull out these phrases and words before my students learned about mindsets, to establish a baseline sense of their mindsets in relation to art. I did this by asking students to develop a simile or metaphor that represented how they felt as an artist and/or how they felt about the art they have created (Appendix A: Copy of Student Handout of Assignment). I also had students reflect on four questions to get them started: 1. Do you think you are an artist? Why or why not? Explain 2. Do you think you can be a good artist? Why or why not? Explain 3. Do you feel that you are good at art? Explain 4. How would you rate your artistic skills? Why would you rate them this way? The students had a ton of fun helping each other come up with creative similes and metaphors. I was excited that students who needed help seemed to feel comfortable asking other classmates to help them develop a unique smile/metaphor. Everyone was asking things like: tell me how you feel about art, do you think you are an artist? Why or why not? Do you think you could get better etc. They kept asking probing questions that got each other to really think deeply about their connection and relationship to the arts. Then they would connect this all with a descriptive simile or metaphor. I was hearing tons of fixed-minded and growth minded statements. I even heard some mixed-minded statements as well. I felt that this was a great assignment to do 15

before the introduction of mindsets. This way, they already had their personal reflective statements created, and this helped them later connect the statements they made to a particular mindset. I organized the students answers to the above questions into three categories: 1. Those who feel confident in their art skills, and as an artist (above average) 2. Those who feel somewhat confident in their art skills or as an artist (average) 3. Those who do not feel confident in their art skills or as an artist (below average) I developed these three categories from the way students rated themselves when answering question #3: Do you feel that you are good at art, and #4: How would you rate your artistic skills? Why would you rate them this way? I was glad that I had these prompt questions for my students, and had asked them to staple their responses to their final similes/metaphor sheets. I didnt have to figure how to organize students because they just shared with me via their ratings how they felt. A couple mistakes I made though, when assigning this task was on question #4. I didnt put what type of rating system to use, or that they needed to rate their confidence with art skills and making art. The students requested a scale of one to ten. Ten represented very confident and above average, five was okay and normal to average and one was way below average, and not confident at all. The idea of average also had to be clarified. The students stated that average should just be among 8th grade students, not the average of artists in the world. I wrote this out on the board so we could reference, but you will not see it listed on the handout in Appendix A. Here are samples organized into the three categories of student similes and metaphors with the description of the students explanation: 1. Those who feel confident in their art skills, and as an artist (above average): I am a seed waiting to be planted. My metaphor is saying that once I start drawing, my art grows and it comes out good. I am like a spray-paint can that cant wait to spray color. This means I cant wait to make beautiful art. I am pencil to paper. I love art, and I am pretty good at it. I am like a flowerpot, always getting ideas and letting them bloom like flowers. I feel like a flowerpot, because there is always a new flower (art idea) for me to grow (create). I am like an old car that needs a jumpstart, but when started the car can go a long way. I am like an old car because I still have great potential and great ideas, but sometimes need a jumpstart to take my art to the next level. These students had rated themselves as above average artists. They felt confident in their skills, and felt that they had the capabilities to become even stronger artists. What I found to be interesting is that these five students out of 28 are the only ones that rated themselves as confident artists. I wondered if this was typical, among all 8th grade students, so even though I was just going to do action research with one of my classes of 28 students, I did this assignment using all four of my classes. And, this was typical. Only a small amount of students, 12 out of 112 (10.7%) students, rated themselves as confident and above average artists. This made me feel even more secure and passionate about my goal. Having a growth mindset is a start to getting more students to feel more confident in an art class. 16

2. Those who feel somewhat confident in their art skills or as an artist (average) I am like a balancing scale. This simile means that I am okay at art, but I could also go either way, meaning that I can be really good or really bad at times. My artwork is like a soccer team that knows how to get up to the field, but cant score. The reason for this is because I know what I want to draw or paint, but I dont have the skills to do it. My art is like a rollercoaster with ups and downs. My artwork is like a rollercoaster because sometimes it is great and sometimes it is not. I am lyrics ready to be written into a song. I compared myself to lyrics that are ready to be written because I feel like my art is in my mind and all it needs is to be created physically, though sometimes is not great, but also not horrible. I am like a train with no tracks to follow. I chose this because I am like an artist without skills. I think I have good artistic ideas I just cant make the art look as good as my ideas. The students who felt they were average overall (8 students out of 28) were optimistic and believed that they had great ideas and were creative and just needed more training to refine their skills. I wondered if this meant that these 8 had growth mindsets. 3. Those who do not feel confident in their art skills or as an artist (below average) Im like a desert when it comes to art. When I have to come up with an art idea, I have no ideas like there is nothing in a desert. I am like a ninja lurking in the dark not wanting to be seen. I am very shy about my art, especially drawing and I often cover what I am drawing with my art. I am a gun that always backfires. I always aim to make a masterpiece, but at the end I never get what I want. I am a bomb because I am all over the place. I am a bomb because my drawings are all over the place. I cant draw good and when I try it is like an explosion. I am a penguin with flight envy. I feel I always wanted to be a good artist (to fly) but it never was meant to be (flight/artistic envy) I couldnt help but think about when I had these students a year and a half ago when they were in 6th grade. 15 out of my 28 students in this class rated themselves below average. These are the same students who I felt did amazing things in 6th grade, and who wanted to take their artwork home and keep it forever. These are the students who I saw push through tough challenges, who worked hard in my class, and who seemed to enjoy my class. I really wonder if they were comparing themselves to advanced artists or professional artists (or maybe even who they believe to be the top artists in the class) even though they were supposed to be comparing themselves to only 8th grade students. I wished I could sit and interview each and every student to talk about these questions. 17

The similes and metaphors assignment helped me get a great understanding of how my students were feeling about themselves as artists and how they felt about the artwork they created. Reading the similes was a lot of fun for the students and for me. They were creative yet very deep and reflective. I felt that I had a better sense of how my students were feeling about art, and they also liked to know how others felt. But, I still wanted to dive deeper with my students. I wanted to ask more. Why did they feel this way? Tell me more. Share more. What happened in 6th grade art class? What can I do to help you? I had these questions, but had to remember that this was still the very beginning of the semester. Instead, I decided to have the whole class share so that students could hear each others similes/metaphors and feelings about art. I had students get into groups of four, and read their sentences to each other. I then had them prop up our desks in a vertical direction (vertical made it easier for everyone to see in standing position) and gave them whiteboard markers. They were to hear each others smiles/metaphors and the descriptions, and see if they found any commonalties. They were then to write these on the desk. After this we shared the commonalities from the groups and also other feelings that perhaps werent shared by others in the their group. I asked students to then find the main commonalities out of the whole class, which we then listed on a whiteboard. LIST OF THINGS WE HAVE IN COMMON WHEN IT COMES TO ART Feels creative minded, but does not have any good skills to implement ideas. Confident and enjoys art. Confidence depends on art materials being used. Wants to be an artist, but just cannot make good art. Worried about judgment of others, because the art created is not good. Battling with harsh self-judgment; being too critical of oneself makes it hard to accept mistakes and explore without judgment. Likes to draw even if it is bad. Making this list was exciting to me because it helped us transition to the idea of mindsets, and how growth mindset thinking can help alleviative some of the issues on the list. Norms were established to make sure that judgment would be left out of the classroom, but the fear that some students had truly reflected and showed the disadvantages of a fixed mindset versus the advantages of a growth mindset in an art studio. In my journal, I took each component of the list and asked questions. I did this to see if I could develop good follow up questions to ask students. Charlies Journal Excerpt Feels creative minded, but does not have any good skills to implement ideas Questions: If I teach them art skills and techniques, will that be enough to convince them? They would have to practice those skills (via deliberate practice) for a long time to develop them... Confident and enjoys art Questions: It is this confidence and enjoyment in art that I want to have all students experience, how can I do this? I think a growth mindset can really make this happen. Confidence depends on art materials being used Questions: Why is this? If you learn to use one art material, cant you learn to use another? Oh, this one is intriguing! Why is this? I know some art materials are trickier then others - oil painting versus acrylic. But, you can learn. Wants to be an artist, but just cannot make good art 18

Questions: It is this word cannot that I wonder about. Cannot because the student truly believes they are incapable, or cannot because they need more practice? I like the wants to be an artist, but I have seen all their artwork, and I have seen them go through the art process so arent they artists when they are in my studio? Worried about judgment of others, because the art created is not good Questions: If the art was seen as good, would the worry of judgment go away? If the perception of good art changed to something like this is good art because it shows my learning would students feel better? How could I make it cool to show mistakes and learning instead of having a polished good piece of artwork? Could I change what is seen as good in the class? Ohhh! I like it! This is like celebrating the art process, isnt it? Instead of just celebrating the product? Battling with harsh self-judgment; being too critical of oneself makes it hard to accept mistakes and explore without judgment Questions: Oh, I totally understand this. I go through this at times too. Self-criticism can be a confidence builder or breaker. How can I tackle this and help my student accept mistakes and explore without judgment? MINDSETS! Likes to draw, even if it is bad Questions: I like this one, in a weird way. I like that the student(s) still like to draw even if they feel it is bad. I see this as liking to draw for practice, and being open to making mistakes and experimenting/exploring (which sometimes can make the art look bad, until you work out the kinks). This sounds like fearless drawing to me. This is confidence. Why do students think this way? How can I get others to feel this way? Not that I want them to think their art is bad, but to not be afraid if it were perceived as bad.

Fears and Apprehensions with Art The list made from our discussions above about judgment led into another discussion about student fears and apprehensions with art. The conversation was led by the students who had rated themselves below average, a majority of the students in the class. The students started to speak up more when they heard that other kids also had a fear of art. I just get frustrated when I see other kids making good art and mine looks terrible even when I practiced. Its not inspiring to see good art, its frustrating. Maybe if we all sucked at art, I would feel better that I am not an artist. I dont like that everyone can see my mistakes, and that I cant do art. Art is always easy to see, and in writing or math no one sees what I do. I dont want to show anything to anyone until it is good, and it never will be good. I really want to do amazing art. But Im scared that Im going to try hard, and it will always look like crap. Like it always does, and Im sure always will. I kinda am scared of art class because people can see that Im not good, and Im not an artist. Im not a good reader type person either, but I can hide it. Art is always so easy for people to see, and I dont want to make any cause Im scared. It sucks to have to do something and show everyone what you can never get good at. 19

These are some of the comments my students shared with me about their fears and apprehensions with art. You could see from some of the comments that many of them once again have a fear of judgment, and that they feel that their art is not good. There is a fear of trying, but not seeing results, and the idea that mistakes are signs that one does not have the skill, or the talent. These fears reflect fixed-mindset thinking; especially the ones that conclude that they cannot get better or can never attain artistic ability. The always does, and always will is just a way of saying one cannot get better. The never will look good is a way of saying I cant do it. If my students could believe that they will learn and get better at art, these fears would go away. They would not label themselves as never being able to produce quality art, or feel that they cant learn or grow. Here a student Alex shared his fear towards making art: I dont understand how some people make art look so good, and others suck. In math we all suck, then get better. Even the kids that are ahead and stuff, suck sometimes. But, like when I see Jean she never sucks. She is just good. When you taught us how to shade, she had never done it before and of course she could do it all pro-style right away. I sucked. I didnt really try hard after seeing Jeans paper. I cant do that. Im scared Im gonna make crappy art all semester. Actually I know Im gonna make bad art. Im scared people are gonna think I am a bad student, but Im scared to try if I know I just cant do art. She is talented, man. Lucky. Alex hits on some key points I had heard from others students: Art comes easier to others, because some have talent and others dont have talent Trying doesnt always get you the results you want to see and may just prove that you cant get that ability/skill Judgment can be debilitating Fear of failure keeps one from trying too hard

When I looked back on these key points I couldnt help but think about Bayles and Orlands explanation of fear and art: Fears about art-making fall into two families: fears about yourself, and fears about your reception by others. In a general way, fears about yourself prevent your from doing your best work, while fears about your reception by others prevent you from doing your own work. (1996, p.93) When people fear something they tend to hold back. When a student fears art, they hold back. And, in art this is not good. Art should be exploration, letting go and making mistakes and experimenting especially when learning. For me personally when Im learning and experimenting while I produce creative artwork when I dont have any fear - I invent new ideas and novel things. If a student fears something, they tend to do what makes them comfortable, which is usually reverting to the safety of the known and avoiding challenges that push them beyond their comfort level. For example, here is a situation that I face with students in the art room. I call it the Art & Media Comfort Zone. Often, students will want to use the same materials to create art because they feel experienced and well practiced in the material. Usually this comes in the form of markers and color pencils. Students have a fear of trying something new, and settle for what they are comfortable in. When students rely on materials they already feel comfortable with even when they would like to use other materials I see that they fear making mistakes, or worry they cannot learn the new mediums. The fear and apprehension towards the unknown makes them hold back. But, what if they knew they could learn the new materials like they had the old materials? What if their growth mindset told them yeah you will learn but accept the mistakes, and trust that you will get better? Then I think students would brave into more daring materials. 20

How much art do students do (outside of the art studio)? My students now had a clear understanding of how they felt about themselves as artists and the art work that they create, as well as how those around them feel. It was great to see how everyone opened up, and this was a strong sign that the norms and culture in the class allowed students to feel safe sharing how they are feeling. I just hoped to continue to make it safe when they created art, since they seemed very concerned about the fear of judgment and failure. I also wondered if I could encourage a growth mindset in the class, would this fear of judgment and failure melt away? After the similes/metaphor assignment I had students (n= 28) take a short survey to gauge how much art was being made and practiced outside of school. I kept the questions focused on drawing, not only because drawing is the basis for visual arts but because students always referred to art as drawing and vice versa. Through our discussions it was never really about photography, painting, sculpting it was always about drawing. I think this was because all students could relate to drawing, they always described art as drawing. Some students had never done photography, sculpture, painting or other forms of art. And, for other art forms and projects they may have done in school, drawings were always made to help sketch out their ideas, for planning out projects designs, etc. I wanted students to experiment and try all types of art, but drawing is the heart of visual arts. And, whether the drawings are advanced or not, I wanted my students to feel comfortable and confident that their drawings were great in their own ways. Survey given to all 28 students: The 3 Question Survey 1. Do you draw outside of art class? Never

Rarely

Sometimes

A lot

2. How would you rate your drawing skills? Bad Okay 3. Please explain why you rate your drawing this way?

Good

Advanced

The results:

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Do you draw outside of art class?

A Lot 25% Sometimes 22% Never 14%

Rarely 39%

I was not surprised that 53.6% of the class never or rarely drew outside of class. That is more then half my class. Add sometimes at 21.4% and it seemed that 75% of the students in my class do not practice drawing much outside of class. I was not surprised to see this because of how my students felt about their own artwork. Earlier I mentioned that 10.7% of my students rated themselves as a confident artist. I think this makes sense now why there is such a large amount of students who dont feel confident in art they dont practice. Looking at the next graph it makes sense to me that this many students rate their art to not be very good. But, what popped out is that no one rated his or her skills as advanced. I wondered why, knowing that I had at least five students who felt really confident and rated themselves highly when we did the similes and metaphor assignment.

Advanced 0%

How would you rate your drawing skills?

Bad 14% Good 47% Okay 39%

22

8 7 Number of Students 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 Never Rarely Sometimes A Lot How Many Times Student Draw Outside of Art Class Bad Okay Good Advanced

Looking at the results of this survey of 28 students, I truly feel that the amount of time spent on art affects confidence levels, which then affects their mindset. The more they draw the more confident they felt in art class. There are students who rarely drew, and have rated themselves as okay. This was the majority of students. Okay was used as the class average (compared to other students). Lanna shared that she marked okay under drawing skills since [she] doesnt draw much and [her] drawings look like a lot of other peoples who dont draw much. I am going to take a crack at explaining this with a small theory. Possible Theory About Why People Think They Cant Learn Art If you dont practice drawing, youre not going to get better at drawing. To feel great about your drawing skills you have to practice this learnable skill (and believe it is a learnable skill). After years of non-practicing, youre going to start concluding that you are not great at art. As you grow up, you forget and push aside the fact that you didnt practice drawing. Some people around you get better, and you dont. More years go by. This is where the illusion that art is a talent or a gift arises. You see others doing great drawings, and you cant. These are the same people you grew up with and went to school with why can they draw buy you cant? Talent. You are incapable of drawing. They have talent. You have low confidence when it comes to art, and now believe even more firmly that it cant be learned. I am sure there are several other factors that play into why students have low confidence in art, and why students develop fixed and growth mindset statements. But, I really wonder: Where does the idea practice to get better change into I cant do this at all, even with practice? Does it really change from practice makes better to practice will get you nowhere? Or, is art just a unique subject where many feel practice wont help much at all? If so, how does this point of view develop and when does it become so ingrained? Along with this survey I asked students to share a little more with me. I wanted to make sure that I learned how much they drew, and how they would rate their artwork, and I wanted to know why. Here are the student responses from question #3 where students had to explain why they rated their drawing skills the way they did: 23

A) Student responses for those who draw a lot, and that rate themselves as good or okay: I think if I really care about what Im drawing, Ill focus on it. Ill do good, and thats just my opinion. I probably look at my art and see what I draw a little different then someone else. It sometimes doesnt come out quite how I wanted it to. It mostly comes out how I expected it to, which is good though. I like what I draw, but compared to others I could probably improve a lot. Im not the best artist, but I think its okay Because Im not confident in my art skills I rate okay but I still love to draw

I was surprised to read these responses, because I felt that I would have had more students rate themselves higher, or feel more proud of their artwork since they drew a lot. These students are more confident then others in the class, but still they seem not very secure or strong in their skills. Though they are more confident the others in the class, when reading their responses, I get the sense that they are not that much more confident. What I do see is the how some are comparing their artwork, and I wonder: if they didnt compare themselves to others, would they rate themselves higher? B) Student responses for those who draw sometimes that rate themselves as good or okay: Because I feel that I am very creative when I draw. I take my time when I draw different figures. I rated myself an okay because sometimes I could draw good and sometimes bad, actually mostly bad. Im not an artist. Because I dont feel the urge to draw a lot and I think if I had more practice I would be better. Because I only sometimes draw and I dont really practice so its okay Because I dont push myself a lot on art. Sometimes I try very hard but it doesnt come out well so whats the point.

C) Student responses for those who draw rarely that rate themselves as good or okay: Because theyre usually not the way I picture it in my head. They usually come out, less-better, if that even makes sense. Im so not an artist. I dont draw very much because I know I cannot learn art. Because I hardly take time drawing unless I take time to edit a little, even then I think my ability to draw without references is not too great. I never had practice free drawing. That you cant learn. You just have to be good at stuff like that. It never turns out the way I want it too. I just am not capable of this.

D) Student responses for those who draw rarely that rate themselves as bad: I dont have a very steady hand, and I try hard, but I cant do anything. Because I am not proud of my art and I know that I am not the best, or even close

E) Student responses for those who never draw that rate themselves as okay: 24

I rated them that way because I never try when I draw cause I know Im not good at it Because my drawings are not neat, but creative

F) Student response for those who never draw that rate themselves as bad: Because I cant draw realistic or abstractly well Because nothing ever turns out the way I want. I suck.

Reading through these responses I could clearly see where I could make fixed and growth mindset statements about each student comment. In comments like: I dont draw very much because I know I cannot learn art, I dont have a very steady hand, and I try hard, but I cant do anything, Because nothing ever turns out the way I want. I suck. I could get a glimpse of the student mindsets and whether students may think they can learn art or not. As I said earlier, practice does have a relationship with confidence and feeling like your abilities and skill are strong. These comments and survey questions gave me a sense of how my students perceived their art, but I still wanted to know why my kids felt the way they did, and how I could best push their thinking in the art room.

Phase II Defining Mindsets & Connecting with a Mindset At this point, a week into the semester, my students clearly understood how they felt about art and were getting a clearer sense of how they felt about themselves as artists and the artwork they create. Now, I felt, was a great time to introduce the idea behind Carol Dwecks Mindsets. After the surveys, the norms we created and the things we had been saying around class, I felt the students had a good basis for understanding the idea of mindsets, and the value of having a growth mindset. First, I wanted to explain my purpose and goals for the semester, so they would understand why I was presenting them with such strange concepts (instead of just teaching and making art). I shared with my students that I was in a Graduate Program and shared my action research question: How can I cultivate a growth mindset in an art class? I explained how I, as their art teacher, had a goal for the semester. My goal was to help each student feel confident and successful in my art class. The students showed me a lot of support by saying they were excited to be part of my research, and they felt that my goal would be achieved: Yeah, we will totally help you, Thats cool cause youre like a student like us. We will help you do stuff and Ask me anything. I really would like to feel confident doing art. My students were so awesome! I then prompted them with questions before they left class that day to prepare them for the Dweck Mindset article they would be reading. I asked them to think about all of our conversations and the survey responses they made. I asked them: What if you didnt have any fear about making art? What if you could totally learn all these art skills and make insanely awesome art? How great would it feel to be confident and brave when making projects? I hoped that as they were leaving my class, going on with their day, and getting ready for school the next day that they would think about these questions. When I saw my students the next day I wrote the prompt questions on the board, and asked if anyone would be willing to share their answers and feelings towards those questions. I did this as a whole class because I wanted everyone to hear each others responses, and also to encourage my students to speak up and be involved together as one big group. Here are some of the responses students gave along with some of my observation notes: Yeah, all that stuff would be awesome. I feel like if I didnt stress so much about making art I probably would create better art. 25

Many students nodded their heads when this comment was made. I asked, If you didnt stress so much about being bad or making mistakes, do you think your performance or skill would get better faster? More then half the students nodded their head yes.

If there was a guarantee that I could learn art and make cool stuff I would totally want to do it more. I love art, I just wish I could make cool stuff like other people do. I asked kids to raise their hands if they agreed with this and almost the entire class raised their hands. Sometimes Im scared that people are going to see my messed up projects. If I was brave and confident, and didnt care that I messed up and made mistakes- I think that would be awesome. I feel like I would have more fun. One student replied But, remember we agreed not to judge each other, so you dont have to worry. Another student replied, We all make mistakes, dont worry. I feel like when I am not scared of doing something, and I am sure I am going to be able to do something I try harder. When I get scared and think stuff like what if I mess up on this song when I play guitar in front of people then I actually mess up. I think I do that when I draw, too. If I think bad stuff, then it happens. I would like to not think bad stuff about the stuff I do. This comment was followed by many students agreeing and nodding their heads, saying yeah and totally. I feel all those things. Im totally confident when I make art, and am not scared. If my friends are feeling scared then I dont want that. I want to help them feel like they do good art. I think they do good art. I asked How many feel this way, feel good about art? Four students raised their hand. I asked How many wish they felt this way and about of the class raised their hand This discussion had worked out great. The questions got students to think about how great it would be to not have any fears or apprehensions towards art. I felt that they to wanted to become confident and successful artists and to help my dream for the class come true. Their responses gave me more confidence. They seemed more energized. After the responses from the prompt questions I had students read a small article (appendix E) I found about Dweck and mindsets. This article introduced and explained what each mindset was, how it affected peoples lives differently, and was written in a concise way that I felt my students could connect with. After the reading, which they did silently for about seven minutes, I opened the floor for questions and discussion. I had two students write on the board. One student was in charge of fixed mindset notes, and the other growth mindset notes. Here is how my students explained each mindset according to the article: Fixed Mindset Some people are born better at things then you. If you have to work hard, and you make a lot of mistakes, it probably means you suck. Talented people will always be better at things then you. You give up easily. You dont persevere. You stay the same forever, and are only meant to be a certain way. Growth Mindset You can learn anything. You can be anything you want. You have to work hard and practice to get better. Making mistakes makes you learn more. 26

You can face challenges. You can change yourself, even if you are old. Looking at the list I felt that it was a little harsh, and set a negative tone when it came to fixed mindsets. This made me uncomfortable, and I didnt want them to think that having a fixed mindset was such a horrible thing to have. So, I stopped the discussion and explained a little more about mindsets and how each mindset is just different, and people are still smart, and happy and confident if they have a fixed mindset. But, I did share that someone with a growth mindset may have an easier time facing setbacks, and believes that people can continue to change and grow in their lives. I even expressed that I sometimes have a fixed mindset when it comes to certain things. I continued to explain that people are usually a little of both, though they tend to lean towards one mindset more then the others. So together, as a class, we tweaked the categories. Here are the results: A Fixed Mindset May Believe or May Feel: Some people are born better at things then you. That if you have to work hard, and you make a lot of mistakes it could mean you do not have the knack for this skill. (You may not be good at that particular skill.) Talented people will always be better at that particular trait, than those who do not possess talent in that trait. May give up easily on certain things May not persevere on certain difficult things You stay pretty much the same forever, and are only meant to be a certain way (ex. Good at this, not good at that). Growth Mindset You can learn anything you set your heart to. You can be anything you want, if you want it hard enough. You have to work hard and practice to get better if you want to be good. Making mistakes makes you learn more. You can face challenges and not give up. You can change yourself, even if you are old. I felt a lot better about the new list, and also felt that students were not seeing a fixed mindset as a negative, horrible thing to have. This was important to me, and to my students, because I had read Dwecks book and done research. My students were not going to go that in depth as I had. It was important for them to know that we were keeping things in general phrases, because I didnt want the fixed mindset kids to feel bad about themselves, which would undermine the very confidence we were trying to build. I wanted them to just understand a little about mindsets, because I felt it would help them understand how they felt and why. But, in essence it would be good enough for them to all know that they can learn, and that they are capable of learning. At this point, they understood that people think differently and that the way they think affects how they approach and handle challenges in their lives. I asked the following questions: How many of you agree more with the way a fixed mindset person thinks? 10 students agreed How many of you agree more with the way a growth mindset person thinks? 15 students agreed I was surprised that so many students felt comfortable enough to raise their hands for the fixed mindset. I think this had to do with setting norms, and also the culture at our school. This is why norms and culture are crucial to learning. I do not think so many students in the first couple weeks of school would have raised their hands, unless they felt safe and un-judged. I figured I would have a mixture of different mindsets, but to me this was not a good enough gauge. The students are still learning about mindsets, so the balance may shift as they find out more about each mindset. 27

Moving on with the class I stated: If you feel unsure, or confused that is okay. We will be taking a quiz that will help you identify which mindset you agree with more. REMEMBER: No one is better then anyone else depending on his or her mindset. Sometimes we have one mindset, and sometimes another. I kept feeling the need to state that each mindset was different, and it wasnt a competition or a prize to have a growth mindset. It was just a goal, IF the student desired to push for it. I think this feeling is because middle school can sometimes be a competition of who has what, who is cool, who has this and not that, etc. Just in case, and as much as I knew my student cared for each other I just had to emphasize that each mindset was different, and okay if someone did not want to change. Students then took a quiz (appendix F) silently and individually, that was created by Dweck to help them identify which mindset they possessed. I had them take the quiz anonymously so that they could keep the results private, because I did not want anyone to feel weird about having one mindset over another. The results were surprising to me.

Student Mindset Results

Fixed Mindset with some Growth Ideas 25% Growth Mindset with some Fixed Ideas 21%

Strong Growth Mindset 54%

Strong Fixed Mindset 0%

I was happily encouraged that so many students had connected more with a growth mindset. Did this mean that my students felt that they could learn to make or produce art? Does it mean that they already know they can learn to make or produce art? And, if 7 students had a fixed mindset with some growth ideas, does this mean I can easily show them the benefits of a growth mindset? And, since 0 students have a strong mindset, I wonder if no one will feel like they cant learn art this semester. But, what about the responses from the surveys and their simile/metaphor assignment where so many had stated they cannot learn art? These results do not represent how students felt about art, because there was a disconnect with how they felt about art versus the questions on the quiz and the other subjects in their lives. 21 students lean heavy on the growth mindset, but I knew I did not have 21 students who believed they could learn art and be an artist. Why was this? What was going on here? Context Matters: Growth Mindset Students who have Fixed Mindsets in Art

28

This strange discovery of a disconnect between mindsets and art needed to be clarified. Art seemed to lie in its own field, apart from other subjects. Most of the students in my class were growth minded, but with art it was different. Hearing students talk about having a growth mindset, and hearing how they felt about art these two were not connecting. Here are five responses from students that say they have a growth mindset: Anne: I think anyone can learn anything. We can always change and get better at things. It just takes practice. Sometimes a little practice and sometimes a lot. Lee: I dont think when I make mistakes it means I cant learn. That is how you learn and get better. You have to learn why you made mistakes and make changes next time. Jill: I do not think I was born to be a certain way. I can control how I am going to be and what I can and cant do. I just have to want to be something, and like I can make it happen. I have to work hard. Joey: People can learn anything if they put their minds to it. I agree. I do that all the time. Han: School is like growth mindset, right? We learn and get better. All of us learn and get better by the end of the year. Now here, the same five students talk about their relationship with art: Anne: I cant do art. Ive tried and its not pretty Lee: I do not have artistic talent. I wish I did, but I cant do art. I am not an artist. Jill: Art makes me feel bad cause I cant do it even if I wished and that is frustrating. Joey: Why try to make art if you know its going to suck? Han: I play guitar, and I am good. But, I try art- and Im like bad and cant ever do it, even when my friends help me. Why is it that students believe these things about growth and learning, but when it comes to art the learning and growth stop? This is the same thinking as a mixed mindset student. Remember, a mixed mindset student would believe something like this: I can get better at this, but not that. Here is a great quote from my student Lee, going more in-depth about art and learning art: I can learn to do anything: sports, music and any subject in school. I learn math everyday, and I read better now then I did when I was in 1st grade, and stuff. But, art No way. Hahaha I just cant do it. I try all the time, and it always looks so bad. Remember that comic I had to do in Humanities? Haha, that was messed up. I worked weeks on that, and used the stuff we were taught to do art -I just cant do it. Jean can do art probably because she was always good at it. Here Lee displays that he is a growth mindset student since he can learn to do anything, but he does not believe this when it relates to art; I just cant do it. There is a disconnect between believing he can learn anything, and believing he cannot learn art. He stated I worked weeks on that (comic) and used the stuff we were taught to do art but he did not say he learned it and could do it. I have a feeling this had to do with not seeing progress in the time he practiced, not having realistic expectations on what a weeks worth of drawing 29

will get you (is he comparing his comic to a professional Batman comic?), and having a fixed mindset saying he cannot learn art. In life outside of school, people tend to be predominantly one mindset or the other (growth or fixed), but within a specific context, or subject, these mindsets can switch. I now think of mindsets as a scale. Depending on the context, the scale is going to tip to either a fixed mindset or a growth mindset. What I am seeing in art, however, is that a majority of students switch to a fixed mindset. And, when I asked adults about art almost all of them had a fixed mindset when it came to art. Identifying Mindsets & Goals Our classroom was starting out with a great culture (with norms in place and amazing students) which allowed students to feel open to sharing, working together and supporting one another. Students now had a clear understanding of how they felt as artists and of the artwork they created. We talked about our fears and apprehensions, and learned about mindsets. Students connected and identified with a particular mindset (even though we now know this can shift depending on context), and now it was time to set goals about the things they wanted to happen in their art class this semester. I handed my students a slip that simply asked this question: Do you think you can learn art this semester? Yes No (16 students marked Yes, 12 students marked No) The results were almost split with 12 students saying they could not learn art, and 16 saying they could learn art. Thinking about the similes and metaphors, and after we had learned about mindsets I was wondering if more students would answer yes. But, still half the class felt that art was something you could not learn. I pulled two students aside and asked them to explain their answers. I can learn art, but I cannot make good art is what one of the students said, followed by same here from the other student. Huh. Well this was intriguing. If they know they can learn art, but feel they cant make good art then maybe their expectations or perspectives on what good art is may need to be adjusted. I then asked those two students if I could share this with the rest of the class. I passed back the slips and asked: If you marked no for the first questions can you please respond to this questions: Do you think you can learn art, but not ever make good art? Write yes or no on the bottom. 9 write yes 3 wrote no The results made me really want to focus on confirming that all students felt they could learn art through practice, and that my idea to have students focus on process not progress (by saving drafts, celebrating process and keeping portfolios) would help them feel that they are moving towards better/good art. After this I asked students to once again think about how they felt about art, with the idea of mindsets in their heads. I passed back their similes/metaphor assignment with the prompt questions for them to review and remember what they had put down. I then asked students to fill out a small form that asked these two questions: 1. What do you want to accomplish this semester in art? 2. How can you make sure you will accomplish this goal? I wanted them to establish a realistic goal in order to prove that they could get better and would learn art. I wanted them to see how a growth mindset would be needed in order to make these goals happen. Here are some student responses: 1. I want build crazy sculptures. 30

2. I will build lots of sculptures, and get help from friends. 1. I want to learn how to draw better. 2. I will learn different techniques and how to draw from class and practice a lot. 1. I want to paint good. 2. I will paint a lot, and ask Ms. Charlie how to use paintbrushes and stuff. 1. I want to learn how to get my ideas from my head down onto paper, in a cool way. 2. I will keep trying to make stuff from my head, and not copy other artists. When I get frustrated I need to keep working. 1. I want to actually make stuff that is good. 2. I will take my time and try hard. Getting these responses was a little strange. All the responses, ALL, had things that they wanted to accomplish in our class, and had said growth mindset-like actions to make these goals happen. Now, wait a second! So many students first thought they could not learn art but now they were listing actions that could make art goals happen. If you set an art goal, and an action to accomplish it, doesnt that mean that you think you can learn? That you would have to work, practice and focus on that goal? Which means you are going to get better and grow? Here is a sample of how I saw these responses: 1. I want build crazy sculptures. (Goal) 2. I will build lots of sculptures, and get help from friends. (Practice through multiples drafts, receiving feedback from others.) 1. I want to learn how to draw better. (Goal) 2. I will learn different techniques and how to draw from class and practice a lot. (Believes they can learn, and practice will help.) 1. I want paint good. (Goal) 2. I will paint a lot, and ask Ms. Charlie how to use paintbrushes and stuff. (Practice a lot, and ask for feedback from teacher in order to improve.) 1. I want to learn how to get my ideas from my head down onto paper, in a cool way. (Goal) 2. I will keep trying to make stuff from my head, and not copy other artists. When I get frustrated I need to keep working. (Trying, and practicing. Pushing though frustrations to keep going) 1. I want to actually make stuff that is good. (Goal) 2. I will take my time and try hard. (Effort and working hard to accomplish improvement) Or, students could be listing what they think their teacher, me, wants them to list, and not really believing they could accomplish these goals via the answer they put for question #2. Either way, they know the right answers for making goals happen in the art room. The Growth Mindset Statement Reminders & Cues Activity I now had a new idea based on their responses about their goals for the semester and how to accomplish them. Before we started our first project I thought it would be awesome to make motivational growth mindset posters and hand them around the room. I was envisioning that when a student had a fixed mindset moment (giving up, saying I cant do this or thinking they suck as artists, etc) we would read the posters, or look up 31

and see them and remember that, in this class, we could learn art and we would get better (growth mindset thinking). As a class we had shared our similes and metaphors, and how we all felt about art and us as artists. I passed back this assignment again, and had them look at their prompt questions. I asked students to share some of their comments so that we could organize them into either fixed mindset statements or growth. I was not sure if this was going to work, I thought students might be shy or uncomfortable with sharing out loud but I think because they had helped each other so much developing their wonderful similes and metaphors they felt comfortable and open with one another. We wrote down statements people had said about art (from their prompt questions) and came up with a few of our own. In partnerships of two, students were to transform the fixed mindset statements into growth mindset statements. We wanted to capture what we would actually see and hear in the art room during project time to make the posters really reflective of the students. Here are some examples of some fixed mindset statements and their transformed growth mindset statements: Fixed Mindset Statement: I am not an artist, because I can only make bad art. Transformed into a Growth Minded Statement: I am not an artist yet, because I have not practiced enough. Practice and hard work will get me there. Fixed Mindset Statement: I cant do this! I suck! Transformed into a Growth Mindset Statement: I can do this and I will get better. Fixed Mindset Statement: Whats the point, I am not an artist. Transformed into a Growth Mindset Statement: Everyday I try I can grow into a stronger artist. Fixed Mindset Statement: I give up! Ill never be able to do this. Transformed into a Growth Mindset Statement: I give up, for now I need a break. But, I can do this! Fixed Mindset Statement: He/She has artistic talent; I do not. Transformed into a Growth Mindset Statement: He/She must have practiced a lot to be so good. I need to practice to get good too. We then read the new growth mindset statements aloud, and made them into posters that were displayed around the room. The challenge for all of us was to catch others and ourselves when they said a fixed mindset statement, and point to the posters as a reminder that we can all grow and change. This was really fun, and the kids loved calling each other out. And, with all the fun and games aside I realized that these posters were a sure sign that my students understood the difference between fixed and growth mindset. They had switched each statement over from fixed to growth very easily and did not need any of my assistance. Also, I noticed that most of them wanted to think like a growth mindset person because they saw the value of having a growth mindset. There were some special situations which illustrated that my students valued the idea of cultivating a growth mindset, in this class. When writing out their poster, students Una and Leily were talking about making some illustrations to decorate the paper. I was sitting next to them making my own poster, and got the chance to hear this amazing conversation. Leily wanted to help Una draw, but expressed that her drawings would not look good like 32

Unas, so she would rather not draw. Una then tapped the paper and stated Hello?! Read our sentence. I peeked over and their statement was: Have fun making art, dont worry about anything else because you are learning and that is cool. Their fixed mindset statement was Im scared at making art because people will think it is ugly. Leily laughed to herself, grabbed some markers, and started making a beautifully intricate border. I was thrilled to see that not only did the poster work, but that Una and Leily found value in thinking with a growth mindset. I do not think Leily would have picked up the markers and started drawing without finding value in that particular statement. A few minutes later, students Theo and Alex came up to me and asked if they could use their growth mindset statement as the motto of our class. I wrote down his comment because I thought it was amazing: I think this would be great for people to say over and over again whenever they are in this class. It will remind them that we are in art class, so we are here to learn, and, like, we are gonna get better. Their statement was: You are learning art. Simple and sweet. I loved it. Theo and Alex had a statement that was straightforward and pure we are learning. To believe you are learning that is a growth mindset. The calling out of fixed mindset statements was a positive little game that was special to our class and, what was charming, was that this actually continued to happen outside of my class. Students were trying to catch teachers and their parents saying fixed mindset statements, and then reassuring others that they could learn. Even though it may seem to sound a little negative, it was actually extremely supportive and caring for my students to do this. It was never about pointing out that someone had a fixed mindset as a bad thing, it was about saying something supportive and caring to encourage that particular person. That they could grow, they could learn, and they are fully capable of doing anything. I also got caught saying a fixed mindset statement. I was carving a piece of wood, and was getting frustrated because my fingers just felt clumsy and my carving was distorted. I set the wood block down, and said, I cant do this. I got called out. Allie told me, Dont say that. That is fixed mindset. You can do it Ms. Charlie. Just take a break and when you come back, just slow down. You can use my extra block to practice on if you want. I felt so supported by her words, and I ran to my journal to right down her comment. Even rereading Allies comment now makes me feel great. She not only reminded me that the way I was thinking was damaging to my growth, but she acknowledged my feelings of frustration, gave me an encouraging confidence boost with You can do it, Ms. Charlie and she reminded me that slowing down and practice was something I should do. I couldnt have done it better myself. With this activity the students caught onto what I was trying to do. It was through this poster activity that they began to see the difference in both mindsets and what they could look like in the art studio. Having heard their stories from each other, and hearing different statements than are normally heard in an art room statements that they could connect with they were seeing the value of having a growth mindset. Now, they even had visual reminders on the walls, and support from one another, to help catch fixed mindset statements and transform them into growth mindset statements.

Section III Its Not About What You Do, Its About Perspective Sitting in the art studio, attempting to lay out the semesters projects was a tricky thing this year. This year, I had a new goal for my class: to help cultivate a growth mindset while students learned about the arts, and created their own art. I had started by thinking about what types of content and art projects could help achieve this goal. I thought that I could design a project where the process and end results would make students feel miraculously like they were artists. In my head, I was thinking of comments like Sha-zam, look at my art, Im SO good! or Hey, I really am an artist and this project has shown me the light! This led me to think about what art materials could be explored and would allow students to see some success in a relatively short amount of time (i.e. photography versus oil painting). I thought about content and art styles that could help illustrate the idea of a growth mindset. I followed this question with: What type of art 33

project can prove to students that they are constantly learning and growing into better artists? Its this question that sent me down the wrong path. I realized, with my years of working with students, that it wasnt just about what they were making or doing, but the frame of mind they had while making it, whether they believed they were good at something or not. This in turn affected their confidence levels. I can think of a handful of students who perform amazing things, and when I comment, You are very good at __________ (insert activity or product) I get responses similar too No. I suck. I couldnt develop an art project that would prove to someone that he or she was a great artist. Nope. I had to help them believe that they were capable of making great art, that they could grow and get better. I wanted them to start an art piece believing that they would be learning, so they wouldnt give up before trying or be discouraged by an imperfect product. In other words, I wanted them to develop a growth mindset first. As a teacher I know the types of projects I create and assign should help foster confidence and build knowledge. The content and previous experience of the students matter for each project assigned. I was interested in determining how I could help my students believe that they are capable of being great artists and continuing to grow throughout their lives. I wanted them to embrace their ability to learn, so that no matter what type of project they work on, they are capable of learning, improving and growing to be successful. Everyday they can grow into a stronger artist. It is not going to be about what types of projects I create for my students that will help me achieve my goal. It was going to be about me working with student perspectives first in order to achieve my goal. So now I am wondering, how do perceptions of others affect mindsets (and therefore confidence and feeling successful)? Prepping Students Perspectives Before, During and After the Art Project Perspective affects mindset and mindset affects perspective. They work together and sometimes against each other. Remember earlier how I had defined perspective and mindset as: Perspectives are things you consume: what you see other people doing, how we see art around us, and how we see the work others create. These perspectives affect our confidence and our actions. For me, a perspective is how you perceive what is going on in the rest of the world, it is the way you see what others have done, it is your viewpoint and where you stand when observing others. Mindset- is how we approach our own work, and how we view our own capabilities, abilities and actions. If I can tackle perspectives, I think a growth mindset will follow. If a students perspectives on other students were accurate, perhaps notions like talent would not be so strong. For example, if a student sees another student creating advance art, the students perspective should be that the other student must have practiced a lot. Therefore, they may have a growth mindset because they feel that practice is the key to getting better and growing, not that one must be born with talent. Our class was about to launch into our first art project, a linoleum block-printing project. I felt with each project that students worked through, I wanted to make sure their perspective of art, and the process of making art, was positive and accurate. I created a plan for myself, in order to make sure I worked with perspectives in my class so that they would be able to support a growth mindset way of thinking. I decided to think about my projects as three stages: Stage I: Before the Art Project- The project has been introduced and student knows what is expected, what content will be covered, expectations, and the materials that will be used. Stage II: During the Art Project The project has begun and student is working on the development of the art piece. This phase is usually the longest and is where students practice, experience and explore the most in art. This is the process of the project. 34

Stage III: After the Art Project- The project is completed, and art piece is finalized. This stage is where reflections usually are made and students can think back on the process and performance. Work is exhibited for public view. This is the product of the project. In these three stages there are specific things I, as a teacher, can do in order to make sure there are no negative or false perspectives that could affect growth mindset thinking. I came up with techniques for each stage by thinking about what needed to be done in order to: make sure students see and value practice, help students avoid unrealistic expectations and unattainable goals (for their level), and encourage students to celebrate process over product in order to see the learning and growth and not just the final outcome. Stage I: Before the Art Project Setting Realistic Expectations & Lifting Judgment It is great when people have high expectations for themselves and the things they do. Unfortunately having expectations that are too high can be more damaging than setting them too low, since high expectations are rarely attainable. Setting a high and unrealistic expectation for yourself will diminish your confidence and your determination for that particular activity when you find that your expectation is unattainable. Youre setting yourself up for failure. For instance, when I teach students how to draw the human figure, and they are learning how to draw the human body with the proper measurements many students will set unattainable and unrealistic expectations by expecting to draw the perfect human form, the very first couple tries. I see this all the time in the studio. Students want to make art like those who have been making art for years, decades or a lifetime. Many expect their work to look like someone who is experienced, versus someone who is still learning. When I saw students who had unrealistic expectations begin to show signs of frustration or thinking they couldnt do something well (especially when comparing their artwork to others who they think are better, or even professional artists) I asked questions like these: What do you want to achieve? How long have you been practicing this particular thing for? How long do you think you need to practice this for in order to get good? Looking at all that you have learned so far, adding the fact the we are still learning and just started practicing what do you think of what you have accomplished?

These questions were great at resetting expectations. They got students to understand what they were doing, how much they had learned and how much more they needed to learn and practice all in a realistic time (in a class period or over a couple days). Furthermore, they allowed students to take pride in what they had already accomplished in the set time. When we were working on our block-printing project, Jamie was showing signs of frustration. I could tell he was getting frustrated because he was erasing vigorously and kept walking away from his desk. I saw he would crumple his paper, then, he would see me watching him, knowing I would want that paper. I walked over and asked him to tell me how he was feeling. I was planning to ask those questions, checking in on his perspective of his work, and the expectations he had for himself. (Recorded conversation) I sat down and asked him, Hows it going? I cant do this. It looks so bad Jamie shared. Can I see? I asked, and added Can you also show me your first draft? Here. See. Its bad. Jamie said, his eyes starting to water. What do you want to achieve here? 35

I want the arm to look like it has muscles, not like a fat arm. I want it to look like this. It should look just like this, and Jamie shows me a Batman comic book he was using as a reference. How long have you been practicing this for? I asked. I just started yesterday. I see. How long do you think it took for this artist to do this? How long do you need to practice this for in order to get it to look like this? Longer then a day Let me see, so you have drawn the arms like five times here and you erased and made corrections. Lets just look at draft one and compare to todays paper you just did. Hey! Whoa! What you think? Haha, this looks way better. That first one is trash, haha Thats really cool how you have been pushing your self. What do you think now of this arm you are working on? Its pretty cool. I like it way better then the first. I am really glad you are aiming high, and have high expectations. Thats how people push to get better. But, Jamie sometimes you have to make smaller goals to reach those bigger ones. There is a lot of art skill and knowledge about the human form, also how to draw comic-style that went into this Batman drawing. You will get there, but take little steps first, okay? And, dude, look at what you already have created? You are learning fast and I cant wait to see how this picture develops. Jamie seemed to be more happy and confident because he started drawing again. For the rest of class, he seemed calmer and more focused. I was glad that he saw that his attempts were valuable and that he was learning. A great thing to do before you teach students how to draw, or try a particular art activity, is to have them try it first with no instruction. Keep that first attempt. After teaching them about the activity or skill, or having students explore and experiment, have them make another attempt. You will see drastic improvement, and so will they. This really helps illustrate learning and growth in art, in a very simple and quick way. It also helps students be more realistic with their expectations when they see improvement already made, they know how much improvement they can expect to make in the time allotted. There are two types of judgment I see in the class. There is judgment from others, and judgment of your self. Norms can help alleviate judgment from others, but judgment of self is a difficult thing to tackle. I did not have very creative ways of stopping students from judging themselves and their work. I chose to just remind students over and over again to not judge their work as a way of measuring themselves as artists, but to simply look at the work and critique it, in order to improve. I also found that questioning students, using questions like the ones I asked Jamie, not only lifts unrealistic expectations, but also self-judgment. If you see yourself learning, you tend to not be too judgmental and hard on yourself. Students give themselves more slack when they accept that they are learning. Accepting that you are learning shows a growth mindset, which is what we want.

Stage II: During the Art Project In Art There is Process: You Learn and Make Mistakes Learning from mistakes (seeing mistakes as learning experiences, not as a sign of failure) is crucial to getting better at anything, not just art. I remember an old friend of mine saying you learn more about art, and you learn quicker, by doing things you are not supposed to do. He encouraged mistakes and would always say See, dont do that next time. You learned something. This was a way to encourage making mistakes, and his way of showing me that this was the part of art you had to accept. For my students, I needed them to see mistakes as a natural and normal process of art. I wanted them to know that in art there is process. There is not just a mysterious product that arises out of nothing. Process is learning. I planned to illustrate this concept to my students using praise for their efforts and hard work, documenting their growth through drafts and by pointing 36

out how mistakes can benefit and increase artistic ability. I had students do a drawing of a crab where they could not erase any mistakes. They had to leave every mark, even if it was undesired and was clearly a mistake. The point was to show how artists could use their mistakes to help guide their next marks. Here is Toms explanation of how he used his mistakes to guide his drawing: I was drawing the claw of my crab and it looked totally weird because it was too round like a cartoon. I wanted to erase it so bad. But, the size of the claw was right. I just had to change a few lines to make it look spikier. I wanted to erase, but instead I used the lines like walls. The bad lines told me not to use this shape and stay inside of it. It was like guiding my other lines. So instead of having to start totally new and over again with no guides I used them to tell me where to go and not to go. Tom shares that he used his mistakes for guiding him where not to go, thus showing him where to go. He is learning from his mistakes, and getting better at art. He saw this, too and shared I see how artists get better now. Its like the more mistakes you make the better you get. It makes me feel better to know if I make a lot of mistakes, I may just get way better too. Cool idea. Heidi learned that she could learn from her mistakes when she was working on her block-printing project. She was making some test runs, trying to water down her ink so that she could get a clear image. Here is her experience: I hated the red ink. It was so thick and my picture kept coming out all thick and gross. Everyone else was getting great pictures with the red but not me. I was frustrated and wanted someone else to do it for me. But, I figured I would mix water in with the ink. This made it worse. I was really angry. I had put too much water. I made a mistake. But, I figured if that was too much water, then I know that was not right. So, I tried less. Still didnt work, so I knew that is wrong. But, I learned the right amount cause I kept trying and I knew from the practice runs what was too much water. I finally got it. I felt happy with my final picture. I am glad I didnt give up cause the red looks cool. What I like and value about Heidis story is that not only did she learn from her mistake with too little water, she learned to stay determined until she had a breakthrough. She learned that the process of block printing was about experimenting, making mistakes and to keep trying. Learning all these things helped develop her growth mindset. Before I didnt think anyone could learn art, because I never could do it. But, this project showed me that art is just trying different things, and making mistakes, Heidi shared. Bingo, Heidi! Throughout all of the projects this semester, I always had students share their mistakes and what they learned from them. Every day or so I would walk around and ask students to show me what mistakes they made and how they learned from them. I would then share at the end of class what things were learned through mistakes. This can be a sensitive thing: to share your mistakes with others. When I asked individual students what mistakes they had made (if any) and what they learned from them, I also ask them if they would feel comfortable sharing what they learned with the class. Letting students opt out of sharing, and me asking them to share what they have learned does not emphasize the mistake. Not emphasizing the mistake - asking them to share what they learned - helps students feel more positive about their situation and gives them the courage to share with others. Lanna, for example, shared her learning experience from a mistake: I learned how to find the right consistency in the red ink. I was always putting too much water and the red would look transparent. Then I would have to throw it away and start over. But, I realized if I start with less water I could always add more instead of just throwing it away. Little but of water will make you find the right mixture. This was key to showing students that art was not always such a pretty process, and that mistakes are crucial when learning. By Lanna sharing with the class, other students would see that mistakes were a positive 37

thing, and that sharing mistakes and learning experiences was a way to get better at art. Here are student responses commenting on how my sharing of student mistakes affected them: I like that you seemed to be more happy about when we made mistakes. I felt like I didnt have to hide them and I wasnt worried you would give me a bad grade, or that I sucked. I kinda had more fun making mistakes because I knew I was still learning. I like knowing even the good artists in our class made mistakes. It made me feel like they were the same as me, and that I could get better like they are. I still hate making mistakes. But just cause I dont like making them, doesnt mean I dont think they are important. In art I think you have to make mistakes to get better. I liked that I got to hear about other peoples mistakes, cause a lot of times they made the same mistakes I did, and they would share how they learned from it, and it would help me with my art. I use to think making mistakes in art was annoying and it made me not like art. But, I dont mind now because it seems like you have to make mistakes to get better. Hearing these comments was great. Students not only found value in mistakes, but I knew many were not seeing mistakes as a sign that they sucked at art, which would be a fixed mindset thought. Seeing that they can improve via mistakes was a growth mindset idea. Stage III: After the Art Project Process Celebrations over Product Celebrations Acknowledging the success of hard work, practice, dedication and perseverance, and how your product reflects all of these things, is a great way to value student learning and the idea that art is about the process, not just the product. If a student can see all that he or she has learned (their perspective in the present), and can actually look back at the improvements and skills attained (the perspective of the past), the student most likely would see growth in art. By doing this, the students perspective of the product is a product of learning, and not as a product of self-worth - one that reflects his or her overall ability as an artist. In order to accomplish this, students should always keep all drafts in a portfolio or in a sketchbook. I actually keep everything for my students, since I have had times where students would lose or throw away papers. If the project does not require drawn out drafts - when my students made a Kinetic Linear Sculpture - I took pictures. I would walk around and take pictures of different attempts so I could show them their process later. When a project is completed, before the artwork gets displayed around school or somewhere off grounds (like in a gallery, shop, museum, etc.) I have students walk around and look at each others work, along with the drafts. I then have students fill out a simple reflection. I keep the questions on the reflection simple and short, so that the students stay focused on what they have learned (and that they did, and can, learn art) and celebrating their hard work and perseverance. Here are the three reflection questions I have my students respond to after looking at their own, and the rest of the class, final products and drafts: 1. Think about the things you have learned. List all the things you have learned about yourself and the art you have created? 2. What challenges have you faced with the project, and how did you overcome them? 3. Tell me two or more times during this project when you felt really proud of yourself and/or your work. You can see that question #1 is about learning. By asking students to list what they have learned, they are confirming that in art they can grow. Art is something that can be learned, and they did it. What is tricky 38

here is that students will always list what was learned in the class (by sharing what lessons I did, or what they think others learned), but they often will place judgment on themselves as to whether the work was good or not. Normally if a student thinks their art is bad then they conclude they did not learn art. After years of teaching and having students fill out reflections about what they have learned they still state that they are not good at art and cannot learn. This is why I keep drafts and portfolios of their work. It is a visual reminder that their skills were not stagnant, but that the skills did improve. Question #2 acknowledges that they faced challenges and worked through them. They put in hard work, effort and perseverance. In order to complete the projects we completed in this class, to have a finished product all students put forth effort and hard work. Answering these questions requires my students to think back on the times they faced challenges, and to realize that they did, indeed, overcome them. I have always loved to ask my students question #3. I think this is my favorite question, because it requires my students to take pride in their accomplishments. I purposely asked for them to list at least two or more things they are proud of, prodding them to realize the value of their work. This reflection, completed at the end of projects, is a way that I have students think back on the process, and not focus on how great the final product is. I do these reflection questions to remind students that they worked hard, they learned and that because of the process they have a final art piece/product. By doing this, I felt that I supported a growth mindset, helping students look at the final product as representative of their learning, not as a product that shows whether or not they can do art. Here are three student final reflections that I felt pushed themselves to think about the process and what they have learned: Student #1: 1. Think about the things you have learned. List all the things you have learned about yourself and the art you have created. I learned how to make a linoleum block print. I learned about different tools and ways to carve so your picture comes out cool. I learned that carving is really hard when you are doing it right, but when you do it right, it is easier. I also learned that some art is literal and some can be weird and make people think. I make people think about my poem and art piece because it was cooler. 2. What challenges have you faced with the project, and how did you overcome them? It is really hard to draw a picture that looks good on block printing. I had to redraw my picture a lot, and take my time. I also had a hard time carving, but I learned different ways to use the tools by practicing different ways. 3. Tell me two or more times during this project when you felt really proud of yourself and/or your work. I am proud that I didnt give up, and that I was patient when doing the test runs. I really love my print and want to give it to my mom. I never like my art, but I really think this project came out cool. I did a good job. Student #2: 1. Think about the things you have learned. List all the things you have learned about yourself and the art you have created. I learned how to watercolor and use watercolor resist. I learned that art is more creative when it comes out of your own head. I learned that art can be relaxing and fun if you dont worry about how it looks all the time. 39

2. What challenges have you faced with the project, and how did you overcome them? It was hard for me to not be embarrassed of my work. I was worried it would look stupid and bad because it came out of my head and I didnt copy anyone else art work. But, I realized I had cool ideas, and making art is about you and not anyone else. It was hard for me to watercolor, because I kept going out of the lines. But, I realized it was cool to just let the colors go everywhere. 3. Tell me two or more times during this project when you felt really proud of yourself and/or your work. I learned to trust my ideas because I am creative. I am proud of my art because it represents me and no one else has anything like it. I am proud that I didnt care what people thought anymore, and that I tried hard.

Student #3: 1. Think about the things you have learned. List all the things you have learned about yourself and the art you have created. I learned not to give up, even when you are frustrated. I learned how to draw linear drawings and what kinetic sculptures are. I learned how to use art materials in three-dimensions and that sculpture is really hard. I learned how to make things balanced. 2. What challenges have you faced with the project, and how did you overcome them? This was the hardest project I have ever done. I made so many messed up insects before I figured out a good one. I didnt give up, even though I wanted too. I had a challenge when my insect was weak and I had to figure out a way to make the structure strong. I also had a challenge with the rice paper and learning about planes in art. But I played around and I learned. 3. Tell me two or more times during this project when you felt really proud of yourself and/or your work. I am proud of my insect sculpture because it was so hard to do, and it actually came out cool. I didnt think mine would come out good, but I think it is. I am proud too that I didnt give up.

These student responses all show growth mindset thinking. They see that they have learned and they pushed through challenges. They also realize that the final product is representative of them overcoming challenges, and sticking with it. Phrases like I didnt give up, I learned how and I was patient all show that the reflection questions all elicited growth mindset thinking. And, to prove that my students truly believe what they are saying, they have the evidence of learning thorough their drafts and stories of overcoming challenges. The three students reflections above were the average type of response I got. I believe this to be part of the culture at our school and in our class. Our students are required to do many reflections and presentations, reflecting on their work and performance in every class. At times, I got reflections that expressed a lack of effort in thinking about the questions, which I handed back to the student and asked them to re-answer the questions, with my help. Sometimes students need a teachers help to reflect on their work and to get more in depth responses. I also got responses that reflected fixed mindsets as well. Students with fixed mindsets about art seem to take a little longer on their reflections. Perhaps this is because they are struggling with the idea of learning in art. Question #1 requires them to think about what they have learned in the project, which means they have to 40

debate whether they think art is something they can learn or not. Remember, a fixed mindset student does not think they can learn or grow as an artists. Here is a student response that reflects fixed mindset thinking: Student #4: 1. Think about the things you have learned. List all the things you have learned about yourself and the art you have created? I have learned that I am not good at art, but I do try. I learned that I do not give up, and I try to learn. I learned about how to make linoleum block prints, and I learned the process. I learned how to give critique in art. I learned how different ways to make art, though I cant do good at them. 2. What challenges have you faced with the project, and how you overcame them? It was really hard to draw and make my print look good. I am not an artist, but I tried. I did not give up. I stuck with it. 3. Tell me two or more times during this project when you felt really proud of yourself and/or your work. I did not give up. I helped other people when they needed help In the fixed mindset students reflection you can see there are comments where they share that they are not good at art, or are not artists. This is actually normal. In many reflections where students have a fixed mindset, they seem to always share they are not artists, or are not good at art. Perhaps this is their way of letting me know that they feel art is not learnable. When we took the mindset quiz, I compared reflections with the results of the mindset quiz to remind myself which student had which mindset. I wanted to see how reflections varied according to mindset. Not much had changed except what I stated earlier - that fixed mindset students like to comment that they are not good at art, or are not artists. I feel I would get different comments if reflections were not an ingrained part of the culture at our school. By 8th grade, our students are fantastic at reflections, and they have learned how to write and speak about their performance and learning. I wonder if reflections were not such an important process at our school, how the fixed mindset responses would vary. I had a great conversation with one my students, Eddie, during lunch. I asked him if he liked filling out my final reflections. I wondered if students appreciated taking a moment to look back and acknowledge their learning. He commented, I know sometimes kids dont like doing so many reflections all the time. But, we get so busy in school with all the projects, and things go by so fast. Reflections make us remember what we did. Why do you think it is important to remember what you did? I asked. I know what you are asking. I did not have a growth mindset cause I didnt think you could learn art. I always tried but couldnt. When I look back at the weeks of working, I remember that I did learn how to make art. When I wrote the reflection, I remembered I learned. I was ecstatic to hear that Eddie had seen what I was getting at; that my reflection helped him to have a more of a growth mindset about art. Now, I want to imagine what it would be like if I did not do reflections, just for comparison. What if at the end of each art project I took the products and put them up for display in the front of the school? What if we didnt think back or review all that we learned, we didnt think about how we overcame challenges, and we didnt think about the things we did that made us proud? All that remained was the art piece. How many students would perceive the product as: You can do art, or you cannot? How many would see the art and think, Look at all I learned from doing this art project? I think that by ignoring the learning and growth in the end, without celebrating the process you just confirm and set fixed mindset thinking. To cultivate a growth mindset and make students feel confident you have to get them to see their accomplishments and success by recognizing the process. Knowing you faced challenges and overcame them, knowing you learned, knowing 41

that you stuck with something and grew as an artist these are the things that give you the confidence and strength to pursue art. Here is a table that I created for myself to reference everyday while I worked with my students. I had this printed out and put in my teacher folder so I could review it. It helped me to create a checklist of things I should do around my class:

The Three Stages of Preparing Perspectives WHAT TO PREPARE OR ACKNOWLEDGE Setting Realistic Expectations & Lifting Judgment - Set realistic expectations - Eliminate judgments - Acknowledge feelings and thoughts During the Art Project Project has begun and the student is working on the development of the art piece. This phase is usually the longest and is where students practice, experience and explore the most in art. This is the process of the project. In Art There is Process: You Learn & Make Mistakes -Check-ins: How is the student feeling? -Maintaining a positive outlook -Learning from mistakes (seeing mistakes as learning experiences, not as a sign of failure) -Deliberate practice -Encouragement and Support: Praise the effort and encourage hard work After the Art Project Project is completed, and the art piece is finalized. This stage is where reflections usually are made;

STAGES Before the Art Project Project has been introduced and student knows what is expected, what content will be covered, expectations, and the materials that will be used.

Process over Product Celebrations -Summarizing the growth and learning (review and celebrate the process) 42

where students can think back on the process and performance. Work is exhibited for public view. This is the product of the project.

- Acknowledging the success of hard work, practice, dedication and perseverance and how the product reflects all these things.

Switching Gears Once my projects kicked into full gear and the semester was in full force, I had a difficult time doing surveys, exit slips and getting reflections out of my students. With my schedule, and the hectic energy of being in the middle of art projects, it was hard to get my students to want to do anything else but make art. It was awesome, and I wanted them to be focused on their projects. I had predicted this would occur, so that is why I created the Three Steps of Preparing Perspectives. I needed a simple structure that could be easily implemented in my class for all students. In the beginning of the semester I did a lot of work with students: defining mindsets, understanding how different mindsets work, demonstrating the value of a growth mindset, and how to work towards a growth mindset. Then for the months of working on different projects, I followed my steps laid out in the Preparing Perspectives cheat sheet. On top of this, I felt that collecting evidence and information from my all students was not getting the depth I wanted in my research. So I switched gears partway through the semester, moving away from collecting information from everyone to focusing in on the detailed experiences of a few students. I decided to work with three students very closely for the remainder of my research. In Part II Case Studies: Three Students Journeys Through the Art Studio, you will read about these three students, and hear more about how this semester in art class affected their mindsets and their confidence in art.

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