Showing empathy and promoting a growth mindset when students are struggling
Intended Learning Outcomes
- Identify ways of communicating with students that promote a growth mindset.
- Describe the elements of active listening and use active listening to support students.
Facilitation Notes
Ask folks to reflect on a time when they felt most supported by a teacher. What did that look like? Have folks share out about their experiences or use an anonymous polling platform.
Not every challenge that a student is facing is apparent on the surface (from what we can observe). Discuss with TAs what other pressures or “unseen” challenges may exist.
Introduce the Active Listening and the Active Listening triangle, which is a framework for how we can better listen to our students and engage them in a discussion about what challenges they are facing. Discuss each part of the Active Listening Triangle using the slides and activities provided. Some guidance on each activity is provided below:
- What makes a good question? Provide feedback on TA responses to the prompt, asking TAs to reflect on whether it fits the criteria of short, open-ended, non-judgmental, and future-focused. One possibility: “What matters to you as you make this decision?”
- What does listening look like? Make sure that folks know the purpose of the activity, which is to make TAs aware of their own unconscious reactions/behaviors while listening. This is not how we want them to listen to their students! Follow up with a conversation of what good listening does look like.
- Responding supportively to our students. You should allocate at least 25 minutes to discuss these scenarios. Scenarios are provided in a separate word document (see files below). Send folks into groups of 2-3 to discuss one or more scenarios of their choosing. Suggest to TAs that they choose the most relevant or challenging scenario. Provide ~10 minutes for discussion using the prompts on the slide. Ask one representative from each group to share out a short summary of what they discussed.
Close with an Exit Ticket that prompts folks to think about what they are taking away and what they still have questions about.
