Sarah Kristiansen SED 445

Deficit Ideologies In the article "Failing Still to Address Poverty Directly: Growth Mindset as Deficit Ideology" by P.L. Thomas , I thought it was remarkable to read it as a pre-service teacher and assume that the words "growth mindset" were going to be a good thing. As Thomas was quoting Carol Dwek who laid out definitions of fixed and growth mindsets. I found myself nodding along with the idea of the positive notion of a growth mindset. Seems like it made sense to me! I had to recognize that as a white, middle-class student, a growth mindset was easy to imagine because I didn't have to face what Thomas refers to as "two significant flaws with the growth mindset," namely the way that this ideology blames the student, and that it neglects to address the root of the problem, poverty itself. The term "deficit ideology" was new to me as well, and I thought that his comparison to a teacher who grades an exam as "100-30=70%" made a ...

Writing is Hard The first chapter of Kelly Gallagher's book makes some fundamental aspects of writing and teaching writing abundantly clear. Writing is hard. Most of the country is not proficient in writing. The Top Ten Writing Wrongs in Secondary Schools gives some clear and explicit reasons why she feels that way. In particular, the idea that teachers assign writing without teaching students how to write resonated with me, as a mom of a reluctant 8th grade writer. One of her other points, which addresses tracking--another topic that concerns me with public schools--is that "students in the low track are more likely to do less writing and more worksheets..." and that the students "who need twice as much writing instruction end up receiving half of the writing instruction of others." How do we as educators level this playing field, and give all of the students what they need? I would like to etch the quote "no one rises to low expectations" somewher...