AVReading

A sense of agency, or the belief that a given circumstance is within one’s control, is an important condition of self-efficacy.  Students who lack a sense of agency often feel powerless in the face of their academic struggles, while those who have a strong sense of agency typically feel as though their choices can make a difference in their performances.              Carol Dweck’s work (2016) on mindsets has helped us to consider these different levels of agency and how they can be fostered by choices we make in the classroom.  She defines the two types of mindsets as fixed and growth. A fixed mindset is one where students believe that their abilities are innate and immutable.  Students who believe they have a fixed mindset feel as though they are either good at something or bad at something, that it is either a gift they have been given since birth or something they simply cannot do.  Typically, stude...