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Masters of Education in Teaching and Learning Masters Theses and Projects
Spring 5-6-2022
Getting it Write: The In9uence of Growth Mindset on Secondary Getting it Write: The In9uence of Growth Mindset on Secondary
Students' Perceptions of Their Writing Abilities Students' Perceptions of Their Writing Abilities
Megan Hertz
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GETTING IT WRITE 1
Getting it Write: The Influence of Growth Mindset on Secondary Students’ Perceptions of
Their Writing Abilities
Megan Hertz
Abilene Christian University
GETTING IT WRITE 2
Abstract
This study investigated the ways in which growth mindset activities influenced secondary
students’ perceptions of their writing abilities and skills. The researcher introduced growth
mindset strategies, language, and instruction into two class periods of a 10th–grade English
classroom to improve students’ perceptions of their writing abilities and to develop students’
writing skills. Data were collected with pre– and post–intervention surveys, field notes, written
artifacts, and individual interviews. The constant comparative method was used to analyze
qualitative data to identify significant themes. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze
quantitative data. The researcher found the participants expressed improved resilience in
response to challenging tasks and a higher acceptance of making mistakes as a part of the
learning process. By the end of the intervention, the participants aligned with the principles of a
growth mindset, believed they had improved their writing skills, and more strongly identified
with the writer identity.
GETTING IT WRITE 3
Getting it Write: The Influence of Growth Mindset on Secondary Students’ Perceptions of
Their Writing Abilities
“Why do we have to do this?”
“Ugh, I hate writing.”
“This is so hard. I can’t do this.”
Such are the usual responses I got from students when they learned we were writing in
class, whether it was three sentences or a full essay. In my clinical teaching placement in a
sophomore English class, I heard students express that they hated writing, they were not good at
writing, and that they could not write time and time again. While I attempted to encourage my
students by telling them that challenges were good opportunities that could help us grow, my
students were often not receptive to such encouragement in the moment. With all of these
observations and experiences in mind, I wondered how I could reach my students to help them
see their success, particularly their perceptions of their writing abilities, as something that could
change and grow and as something that was within their control.
Purpose
Students who develop a growth mindset view failure as an inevitable and welcomed part
of the learning process (Dweck, 2015). In particular, students can develop a growth mindset
about their writing abilities to view them as skills that can be improved upon (Miller, 2020).
Furthermore, when educators instruct students and provide feedback aligned with growth
mindset attitudes, students experience increased motivation for writing (Jankay, 2020; Truax,
2018). I knew my students could benefit from developing a growth mindset particularly in
relation to their writing abilities and skills because they expressed an unwillingness to write
based on their lack of confidence in their writing abilities. If they could see their own potential to
GETTING IT WRITE 4
grow as writers, perhaps they would not be so resistant to writing in the classroom. I conducted
this action research study to find out how students’ perceptions of their writing abilities and
skills would change after receiving instruction about growth mindset. The study sought to answer
the following research questions:
Research Question 1: In what ways do growth mindset activities influence students’
perceptions about their writing abilities?
Research Question 2: In what ways do growth mindset activities influence students’ writing
skills?
This study took place during my yearlong clinical teaching placement as part of an M.Ed.
program in Teaching and Learning. I was placed in a high school in a West Texas city that had
an approximate population of 124,000. The high school had about 1,800 students enrolled and
was one of three high schools in the district. School records indicated the campus demographics
were the following: 15.4% of students were African American, 49.6% of students were Hispanic,
30.7% of students were White, 0.2% of students were American Indian, 1.2% of students were
Asian, and 2.9% of students were two or more races. Additionally, school records indicated 64%
of students enrolled on the campus were economically disadvantaged.
Literature Review
Students often begrudge or even despise the task of writing in the classroom, and many
resign themselves to failure even before trying. A growth mindset exists when a person sees
difficulties or challenges as a learning opportunity (Dweck, 2010). Students who develop a
growth mindset view challenges as beneficial, leading to an improved self–perception, increased
motivation, and greater achievement (Altaleb, 2021; Dweck, 2015; Jankay, 2020; Truax, 2018;
Yeager & Dweck, 2020). When students do not believe they have the capability to be a writer,
their motivation is nearly nonexistent (Barone et al., 2014), but when students believe their
GETTING IT WRITE 5
abilities can be improved upon, they face the writing process with greater resilience (Jankay,
2020; Miller, 2020; Seban & Tavsanli, 2015; Truax, 2018). Developing a growth mindset about
writing can help students learn to face this intimidating task with motivation and confidence,
resulting in greater achievement, authentic learning, and more positive perceptions of writing.
Creating a culture of growth mindset in the classroom begins with the educator. Teachers
must believe in their own abilities to develop their intellectual skills and in students’ potential for
progress and then use that foundation to form an atmosphere of growth in the classroom (Dweck,
2015). In addition to building a strong foundation, teachers must praise students for their process
rather than their intelligence, value depth of learning over speed, welcome mistakes and
encourage students to welcome struggles, and give students ownership over their choices to grow
their intelligence (Dweck, 2010). Although there have been challenges to the idea that a growth
mindset can reliably predict student outcomes, the existing literature on growth mindset has
found that there is justification for putting confidence in growth mindset research (Altaleb, 2021;
Dweck, 2010, 2015; Yeager & Dweck, 2020). While effects of growth mindset interventions
may differ from person to person, a growth mindset can still predict outcomes of student
achievement (Yeager & Dweck, 2020).
Growth mindset instruction helps students view failure as an inevitable part of learning.
Not only are students with a growth mindset more likely to overcome challenging experiences
(Altaleb, 2021; Yeager & Dweck, 2020), but they are also prepared to learn from mistakes they
do make in those situations (Jankay, 2020). Students can also experience an increase in
motivation when they learn to appreciate their own progress over time. Xu et al. (2021) found
that growth mindset instruction aided in students’ perceiving a lowered cognitive load during
GETTING IT WRITE 6
learning. Even a simple change in perception can help students feel greater confidence or self–
perception, and, therefore, a heightened sense of motivation.
When students feel motivated, they are willing to persevere in the face of difficult tasks,
leading to gains in student achievement. In addition to feeling more motivated, a growth mindset
helps students to shift their educational values from intelligence, performance, and success to
growth, progress, and deeper learning (Dweck, 2015). Specifically, when teachers implement
growth mindset strategies and provide students with feedback and language that reflects a growth
mindset perspective, student achievement is promoted; in fact, when teachers place too much
focus on proficiency, growth is discouraged (Altaleb, 2021). Growth mindset also teaches
specific skills to improve achievement. When facing challenges as opportunities to learn,
students can practice exercising problem-solving skills and build up their independence (Jankay,
2020). Honing skills that assist students in gradually taking more responsibility for their learning
results in students experiencing greater achievement.
In particular, growth mindset affects the ways in which students view writing tasks.
Miller (2020) conducted a study investigating a writing tutor’s role in changing university
students’ mindsets about their writing skills and found that a tutor could effectively change
students’ mindsets to view writing skills as something that could be improved. The students
learned to place more emphasis on improving general writing skills rather than performing well
on individual assignments. Additional studies using process–focused literacy and writing
interventions helped students (13 years old or younger) learn to appreciate the improvements
they made to their writing and grow more confident in their abilities and skills (Barone et al.,
2014; Seban & Tavsanli, 2015). When students are exposed to writing as a process throughout
GETTING IT WRITE 7
which they can grow in their abilities, skills, and identities as writers, they have more reason to
put faith in their own potential to improve their writing and grow as writers.
Instructors of writing are aware that mistakes and imperfection are a necessary part of the
writing process. On the other hand, students tend to have a negative view of academic writing
because assignments completed at school usually offer little to no student choice, causing
students to feel no connection to or ownership over their writing (Hales, 2017; Seban &
Tavsanli, 2015). Disconnected from their own voices when writing in the classroom, students
have limited opportunities to develop their identities as writers. Further, students tend to believe
that writing skills are natural gifts with which one is either endowed or not (Hales, 2017; Miller,
2020). Those for whom writing abilities appear to be absent based on academic performance
experience low self–perception and decreased motivation (Barone et al., 2014). However,
students’ understanding of writing and writers can improve over time with explicit instruction on
writing, abundant opportunities to write, and the development of a growth mindset, all of which
influence perceptions to become more positive (Barone et al., 2014).
Existing studies examined students’ perceptions of writing, the general effects of growth
mindset, and how growth mindset specifically affected students’ perceptions of writing.
However, the literature regarding growth mindset’s effects on high school students’ perceptions
of their writing abilities and its effects on their writing skills is limited. Secondary students
dislike writing and believe they are not good writers because they are trapped in the mindset that
writing skills are gifts they do not possess. This mentality blocks students from improving their
writing and makes teaching writing near impossible. With more research about the effects of
growth mindset on students’ perceptions of writing, their abilities, and their skills, writing
instruction could be improved to be made more effective and impactful for high school students.
GETTING IT WRITE 8
Methods
This action research study was conducted in two class periods of a sophomore English
classroom. Data were collected through pre– and post–intervention surveys (see Appendix A),
student written artifacts, individual interviews, and head notes. The constant comparative method
(Hubbard & Power, 2003) and leveled coding (Tracy, 2013) were used to analyze the qualitative
data. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze the quantitative data (Hubbard & Power, 2003).
Participant Selection
The participants of this study were the students from the fourth period class and the
students in the sixth period class at my clinical teaching placement at Toney High School (all
names have been replaced with pseudonyms) who received parental consent and who assented to
participate in the study. These two class periods were selected based upon the students whom I
had heard be most vocal about their thoughts on writing in class. All of the students received
partial instruction through the intervention; however, I only collected data from students who
participated in the study. I sent home a parent information letter and permission form, and the
students were asked to sign an assent form. In these forms, it was made clear that participation
was entirely optional, participation would not affect the students’ grades in any way, and that
students could withdraw from the study at any point in time. Of the students in these two classes,
all who received parent consent and who gave their assent to the study participated. In the fourth
period class, one female student and three male students participated in the study. School records
indicated that the participant demographics for this class period were the following: one student
was Asian, and three students were White and Hispanic or Latino. Additionally, it was indicated
that of the participants in this class period, one student was classified as Gifted and Talented and
one student was classified as having 504 accommodations. In the sixth period class, three female
GETTING IT WRITE 9
students and two male students participated in the study. School records indicated that the
participant demographics for this class period were the following: two students were White, and
three students were White and Hispanic or Latino. Additionally, it was indicated that of the
participants in this class period, one student was classified as having 504 accommodations.
Data Collection
The intervention was the introduction and use of growth mindset activities and strategies,
which were created by the researcher and pulled from existing curriculum, in the classroom for
two to four weeks. The intervention included the daily, purposeful use of language and feedback
that reflected a growth mindset (for instance, “I haven’t mastered how to do this yet,” or “You’ve
been working on organizing your sentences to clearly convey your ideas, and that practice shows
in this essay!”), opportunities two to five times per week for students to reflect in writing and
aloud on what they had done well and with what they needed more practice, and explicit
instruction on what a growth mindset is and how to develop one. The explicit instruction was
done once at the beginning of the intervention period and was reinforced throughout the
intervention period through the growth mindset activities, strategies, and language used.
Data collection began with the students filling out a pre-intervention survey with a mix of
questions regarding their confidence in writing, their belief in their ability to grow as a writer,
what they believed they did well in their writing, what they believed they needed to improve
upon in their writing, and what, if anything, they believed would help them become a better
writer. This survey had a mixture of Likert scale questions (with the scale going from 1- strongly
disagree to 4-strongly agree) and open-ended questions.
As the intervention took place, I collected student artifacts, including but not limited to
reflections, essays, and other written responses, in order to collect samples of students’ writing.
GETTING IT WRITE 10
Based on the students’ responses to the pre-intervention survey, I pulled a purposive sample
(Patton, 1990) of three to six students with whom I conducted semi-structured interviews
(Hendricks, 2017). The purposive sample consisted of one student whose answers to the survey
questions showed a strong fixed mindset (i.e. their responses indicated they had low confidence
in their writing and/or believed they could not improve upon their writing), two students whose
answers to the survey question showed a mindset somewhere between fixed and growth (i.e.
their responses indicated they had neither significantly low nor significantly high confidence in
their writing and/or did not strongly believe or strongly disbelieve they could improve upon their
writing), and two students whose answers showed they had a strong growth mindset (i.e. their
responses indicated they had high confidence in their writing and/or strongly believed they could
improve upon their writing). The interviews were done with each student individually twice—
once early on in the intervention period and once near the end of the intervention period—and
were 10–15 minutes in length. The interviews were audio-recorded and then transcribed. To
supplement and enhance student responses from their artifacts and interviews, I also kept head
notes in which I recorded my own observations and thoughts of students during the intervention
period. The head notes consisted of words and phrases regarding events that took place in class,
and they were then fleshed out after class (Hendricks, 2017).
At the conclusion of the intervention, students filled out a post–intervention survey. The
post–intervention survey had the same questions as the pre–intervention survey regarding their
confidence in writing, their belief in their ability to grow as a writer, what they believed they did
well in their writing, what they believed they needed to improve upon in their writing, and what,
if anything, they believed would help them become a better writer. The survey had a mix of
Likert scale questions and open–ended questions.
GETTING IT WRITE 11
Data Analysis
To analyze the qualitative data, I coded the data from the pre– and post–intervention
surveys, the student artifacts, the interview transcriptions, and the head notes using the constant
comparative method (Hubbard & Power, 2003). The process began with coding the first 20% of
the data to create 28 level 1 codes, which were short phrases that described the content of the
data (Tracy, 2013). The remaining 80% of the data was then coded using these level 1 codes.
From the level 1 codes, five level 2 codes were established based on the predominant themes of
the codes. For each level 2 code, I wrote memos explaining the meaning of the codes (Tracy,
2013) that were helpful in the indexing process. The indexing process involved organizing
hierarchies of categories and supporting codes with all of the data that had been coded (Hubbard
& Power, 2003). The codes from the data are provided in the codebook (see Appendix B), which
provides a list of the completed codes, their definitions, and examples from the data.
To analyze the quantitative data, I used descriptive statistics to evaluate the Likert scale
questions from the pre– and post–intervention surveys. I created a column chart for each Likert
scale question and recorded each participant’s responses to the question on the pre– and post–
intervention surveys (see Appendix C–G).
Findings
At the conclusion of my study, five themes seemed to encompass how my students felt
about writing and how I witnessed them change after learning about growth mindset and
intentionally reflecting on their writing abilities. First, they came to more strongly believe that
challenges could help them learn and increase their resilience. Second, they were able to see the
ways in which they could learn from their past experiences and mistakes. Third, they developed
an appreciation for the concept of a growth mindset and the belief that they could use it in their
GETTING IT WRITE 12
daily lives. Fourth, they were transparent about what they felt they were lacking with their
writing skills and abilities, but they acknowledged that they could and had improved their
writing skills. Fifth and finally, reflecting on their growth with writing helped them more
strongly identify with the writer identity.
Challenges Make Me Stronger in the End (Perspectives on Challenges)
As a large part of having a growth mindset is being willing to face challenges, I knew that
I needed to have an understanding of how my students felt and what they thought when tasked
with something intimidating or difficult. In my interviews with the participants, I asked them to
tell me if they would rather work on something easy or challenging. For the most part, the
participants expressed that they would prefer to work on something that is somewhat
challenging. When asked to expand on this line of thinking, Emmanuel said that a task balanced
between challenging and easy would give him more to think about. Likewise, Madilyn said that
she would rather do something challenging, but if it were to get too difficult then she would
rather do something easy. Jaxon, however, had a very different perspective from the other
participants I interviewed. His immediate response was to choose something easy, explaining
that the challenges he faces everyday make him feel too burned out to take on additional
challenges when given an option. His viewpoint was that if he could have the choice, he would
rather “go through something easy and then carry on with whatever [he is] doing.”
I also asked the participants to tell me how they felt when doing something challenging,
and overwhelmingly they expressed negative emotions. Each participant associated at least one
of the following feelings with completing challenging tasks: stress, frustration, anxiety,
annoyance, and/or laziness. Specifically, Madilyn, the participant whose pre–intervention survey
responses indicated a stronger fixed mindset, said that some challenges get so frustrating that she
GETTING IT WRITE 13
does not even feel like trying anymore. In spite of these negative feelings in response to
challenges, many of the participants also stated that they learned more from challenges and that
challenges made them stronger, especially after learning about a growth mindset. In her post–
intervention interview, Madilyn said she felt people do not learn anything from doing something
easy. Emmanuel conveyed a similar ideation, explaining that people learn through the process of
doing something challenging. The enhanced resilience in the face of challenges the participants
identified may be connected to the sense of accomplishment they felt after having successfully
completed a challenge. Emmanuel, Carly, and Madilyn specifically said they feel more
motivated, satisfied, and proud of what they have done after finishing something challenging. All
in all, the participants, with the exception of Jaxon, expressed they were initially frustrated by
challenges but found the outcome to be more rewarding and meaningful when they had to work
harder or make multiple attempts to accomplish a task.
I Might Not Accomplish Everything the First Time (Learning from Mistakes)
While being willing to face challenges is an essential component of developing a growth
mindset, reframing the way we think about mistakes is arguably even more important. When
asked how they felt when they make a mistake, the participants initially responded that they felt
negative emotions like shame, sadness, embarrassment, anger, frustration, disappointment, and
hurt. In my pre–intervention interview with Carly, she talked about how making mistakes
brought her confidence down. She felt that making mistakes indicated shortcomings or abilities
she was lacking. Esme explained that she felt angry with herself when she messed up because
she felt she was not meeting the expectations she and others had of her. I was particularly
interested in Madilyn’s response, though. She talked in–depth about how upset making mistakes
made her; she said she often got emotional to the point of breaking down because she felt like
GETTING IT WRITE 14
she was failing. When I asked her to reflect on why she reacts this way, she talked about a
particular experience at work in which she made a mistake while still learning how to fulfill the
duties of her job, and she got yelled at by her boss. At this point, we talked about how others’
responses to mistakes we make can intensify the initial emotions we feel when we mess up.
Though Madilyn would have felt upset by the mistake she had made anyway, her boss’s reaction
only made her feel worse about herself. These responses from the participants highlighted a
common thread between them—making mistakes tremendously affected their self–perception
and lowered their self–confidence.
Throughout the intervention period, the idea of learning from mistakes and framing
learning as a process came up again and again. By the end of the intervention, I had already seen
the participants grow by giving themselves more grace when they made mistakes and reacting
with resilience during the learning process. When it came time for the post–intervention
interviews, Esme discussed making mistakes in the classroom and how she had started to change
her view from being angry at herself to using her mistakes to show her areas in which she can
improve. She talked about going back through her work to find exactly where in the process she
made the mistake and how this perspective helped her easily fix her mistakes. Instead of feeling
angry, Esme said she realized it is okay to make mistakes and that now she will respond by
trying her best not to make the same mistake once she has learned from it. Carly also talked
about making mistakes at school, particularly with writing assignments. Her perspective was that
mistakes are inevitable but are opportunities to learn and try again. She reflected on her own
growth throughout her time in high school, saying it is okay to challenge yourself and fail as long
as you try again. Likewise, Madilyn showed growth in accepting mistakes and failure and
responding with resilience instead of breaking down like she used to. She even talked about an
GETTING IT WRITE 15
experience auditioning for something in one of her extracurriculars and how she used to be too
afraid of failing and embarrassing herself in front of others to even try but that she overcame
those feelings. She explained that her view had changed and that now she felt that if a person
makes one mistake and gives up, then they are not going to grow at all. Though the participants
still associated some negative feelings with making mistakes, they also expressed a higher degree
of acceptance in making mistakes and failing and stronger resilience in response to mistakes they
may make in the future.
I’m Getting There (Discussions on Growth Mindset)
When explicitly discussing mindset theory and what it means to develop a growth
mindset, I was surprised to find that many of the participants already aligned fairly well with a
growth mindset. While their degree of alignment differed, which can be seen in their survey
responses (see Appendix C–G), the participants all somewhat agreed with the basic ideas of
growth mindset; though they did not view themselves as writers or directly acknowledge that
their mistakes help them get better, every participant initially verbally agreed with the general
concept that people’s skills can grow during the direct instruction on mindset theory. In fact, they
believed this so innately that when I asked them why they thought that way, they struggled to
break it down and explain it. Abstractly, they accepted that improving skills was possible, stating
that growing is “what learning is at its core,” but they could not yet apply these ideas to their
own life experiences and mistakes.
By the end of the intervention period, the participants were developing a growth mindset
for themselves. All five of the participants whom I interviewed said they believed either that they
had a growth mindset or were coming to have a growth mindset. They expressed their beliefs
that a growth mindset could help them learn, challenge themselves, and ask for and accept help
GETTING IT WRITE 16
from others. Their ideas of how to use the principles of growth mindset in their daily lives and
how they would advise someone who was trying to develop a growth mindset showed their
ability to concretely understand growth mindset in a way they struggled to before the
intervention.
In applying the concepts of growth mindset to writing, by the end of the intervention
period, all of the participants agreed that they could improve their writing skills, which can be
seen in Figure 1 below.
Figure 1
Responses to Question Four: I Have the Ability to Get Better at Writing
Note. This figure shows the difference between participants’ pre– and post–intervention survey
responses to question four: I have the ability to get better at writing.
Participants’ degree of alignment with growth mindset also changed when they
considered the flexibility of their writing skills specifically. At the beginning of the intervention
period, three students agreed or strongly agreed with the statement “My writing skills cannot
change,” whereas only one student agreed with that statement at the end of the intervention
GETTING IT WRITE 17
period (see Appendix G). Though the participants seemed to agree with the core idea of a growth
mindset initially, through explicit instruction and discussions about mindset theory, they were
able to practically apply it to their lives and begin developing a growth mindset for themselves.
I Can Always Get Better (Experiences of Writing at School)
Because the focus of my study was how a growth mindset might influence the students’
perceptions of their writing abilities, I honed in on how they felt about their writing and how they
believed their writing had changed over the course of the intervention period. The participants’
initial perceptions of writing were mostly negative, with each participant expressing at least once
during the intervention period that they did not like writing or that writing made them feel an
unpleasant emotion. Emmanuel explained that when he began working on writing assignments,
his initial thoughts were to worry about doing it wrong and messing something up. Esme simply
said she felt “horrible” when writing at school because she felt she did not know what to write,
which led her to lose her focus and her confidence in herself. Though the reasoning for their
distaste towards writing varied, largely the participants revealed that writing at school made them
feel worried and stressed and that they felt an inability to focus on the task at hand.
Many of the participants’ worries, anxieties, and frustrations with writing stemmed from
a lack of confidence in their abilities to meet the expectations they believed had been placed
upon them—expectations that only existed because of what they had been taught writing should
look like. Jaxon, who stated that he hated writing most often out of the five participants whom I
interviewed, explained he disliked having to write in a certain way. Jaxon told me, “I just hate
writing because it’s always like, … ‘you gotta give a spiritual reasoning for this.’” Jaxon also
expressed that he disliked writing in an academic setting because it did not seem applicable to
the real world. He described that “lazy” writing prompts encouraged him to give lazy reasoning
GETTING IT WRITE 18
in his writing because when he is working in the real world, he will not have to write “full essays
on why the Mona Lisa’s cool” or about “why cats have feelings.” Jaxon’s perspective was that if
the writing prompt could not benefit him in the real world, then it was not worth his time. In his
own words, “if you’re gonna put zero effort into a writing prompt, then don’t expect me to put
my full effort into [writing].” Jaxon was not the only participant frustrated with the reality of
writing at school, however. Three other students whom I interviewed also expressed that being
able to connect with what they were writing about helped them feel more motivated to write and
helped them feel more confident in their writing. Carly expressed that being able to relate to her
writing made it more enjoyable; similarly, Madilyn said that connecting writing with her
personal experiences helped it feel “more alive.” It seemed that when the writing assignment
allowed them to have more freedom to take ownership of their writing, the participants expressed
more positive feelings about writing and higher levels of confidence in their writing abilities. In
her post–intervention interview, Esme said she felt people should not worry about what others
think about their writing because “it’s your writing, no one else’s.”
In spite of much of the negativity surrounding writing, especially at school, the
participants also conveyed that writing was something people, including themselves, could get
better at, and the participants I interviewed revealed they believed they had seen their writing
improve throughout the research window. Overall, the participants also indicated on their post–
surveys that they were more confident in their writing abilities (see Appendix C). Though not
every participant identified themselves as a good writer or would have said that their writing
skills were necessarily “good,” they all acknowledged that they had grown in one area or another
and had ideas of what would help them get better at writing as they continued to learn. Carly and
Emmanuel both easily recognized they felt they had improved their writing. Even Jaxon, who
GETTING IT WRITE 19
still hated writing at the end of the intervention, admitted he did not feel he had seen “down–
provements” and had actually seen “up–provements” in his writing. Esme and Madilyn were
more hesitant to identify their growth. Esme confessed she was still slowly working on having
the confidence to be able to see herself as a good writer, but she eventually agreed that she had
seen her writing somewhat improve, too. Madilyn at first only focused on the areas she believed
she struggled, listing the reasons she did not see her writing as good just yet. She also revealed
she felt she was lacking the confidence that she believed good writers possessed. However, when
I asked if she had seen any improvements at all with her writing, she did admit she had seen
improvements with her understanding of writing and the methods of writing we had been using
in class. Finally, she allowed herself to recognize her own growth, stating, “I’m better than I was
last year.” Having reflected on their progress, I also asked the participants to consider what had
helped them grow and what could help them continue to make improvements. They listed the
following things that they believed would help them advance their writing: accepting feedback
and critiques, continuing to write and practice their skills, building their confidence with writing,
asking for help, and utilizing their teachers as resources.
I Don’t Have to Be the Best (The Writer Identity)
Much like the participants revealed their preconceived notions of what good writing
looks like, they also described assumptions of what a good writer is and does. Many participants
believed that a good writer should possess knowledge of their writing topic, control of writing
conventions, the ability to present their knowledge in an organized manner, the ability to express
their voice and personality in their writing, and confidence in their writing abilities. One other
common response from the participants was that neat handwriting made a person a good writer.
While that last attribute surprised me initially, I was able to identify the following connection
GETTING IT WRITE 20
between all of these responses: the participants listed abilities and characteristics they felt they
were lacking when describing what makes someone a good writer. Emmanuel and Jaxon both
listed neat handwriting as something good writers have and both expressed concern over whether
or not people could actually read their handwriting. Similarly, Madilyn talked about writing
conventions being important for writers while also lamenting her own struggles with
understanding punctuation. Esme and Carly both identified relevant knowledge as necessary for
being a good writer and explained that they lacked confidence in their writing the most when
they were unsure of what to write or when they did not understand the writing prompt or
assignment.
As the intervention period came to a close, the participants still felt that the previously
mentioned characteristics were what made people good writers, but they also showed stronger
identification with the identity of “writer.” Their responses indicated they were becoming more
confident in their abilities and thus more comfortable identifying with the term “writer.”
Emmanuel stated he believed he was a “decent writer” by the end of the intervention. Esme felt
she was “slowly becoming a good [writer].” Carly, though she felt she was not the best at
writing, said she felt she was capable of doing the same things she believed good writers can do.
Jaxon and Madilyn maintained that they felt they did not view themselves as good writers;
however, the participants overall came to more strongly identify with the writer identity, as
shown in Figure 2 below.
Figure 2
Responses to Question Two: I Am a Good Writer
GETTING IT WRITE 21
Note. This figure shows the difference between participants’ pre– and post–intervention survey
responses to question two: I am a good writer.
In comparing their pre– and post–survey responses, there were three participants whose
answers remained the same; one participant strongly agreed with the statement “I am a good
writer” before and after the intervention, and two participants (Jaxon and Madilyn) disagreed
with the statement before and after the intervention. However, the change indicated by the other
six participants was significant. One participant changed from strongly disagreeing to just
disagreeing, four participants changed from disagreeing to agreeing, and one participant changed
from disagreeing to strongly agreeing. Additionally, despite not explicitly identifying more
strongly with the identity of a good writer, Madilyn and Jaxon both acknowledged they had
improved their writing skills and believed they could and would continue to grow, which will
hopefully lead them to feeling more confident in using the label “writer” for themselves in the
future.
My hope for these specific participants and students everywhere is that they will come to
believe what Esme so wonderfully expressed in my first interview with her; to be a good writer,
GETTING IT WRITE 22
“you don’t have to be a good writer. You don’t have to be the best at it.” Once students accept
that being a good writer has very little to do with what they have been told a good writer should
be, they may feel liberated to express themselves in their writing and grow as writers in ways
they never allowed themselves to before.
Implications for Teachers
This study brought several things to my attention as an educator. First, students exhibit
incredible resilience and willingness to grow when provided the opportunity and support to do
so. Second, students have been taught, either explicitly or implicitly, that writing and writers fit
within certain confines that often do not match their writing or their own identities. Third,
students need educators to provide them opportunities to reflect on, recognize, and rejoice in
their progress.
For educators who want to help students develop a growth mindset in regards to their
writing abilities and skills, I recommend they begin with acquiring a deep understanding of their
students’ knowledge of writing, ideas about writers, and the students’ confidence in their own
writing. When I realized that my students were listing attributes and abilities that they believed
they did not possess when describing the qualities of a good writer, I knew I needed to bring that
fact to their attention. After pointing it out, a lot of them realized that what they were lacking was
confidence in themselves, and that that was truly the defining quality of a good writer.
Additionally, knowing which areas my students were struggling in allowed me to better
understand how I could support them in the classroom and help boost their confidence. Once
their confidence began to grow, their dislike for writing began to fade. To encourage students to
write, educators must first understand why they do not want to write in the first place.
GETTING IT WRITE 23
Once teachers have that understanding, they can begin to reframe what writing and
writers should look like, or rather they can begin dismantling students’ preconceived notions of
the limits to what writing and writers can be. Educators should be sure to emphasize that
academic writing is simply one genre of writing; not every writer writes the same way according
to the same styles, conventions, or rules. Students may need to follow academic writing
conventions for essays they will write in class, but they do not have to adhere to the same rules
when writing a creative story or a journal entry. Educators should highlight the ways in which
students can make writing their own. The earlier that educators can help students take ownership
of their writing, find their writing voice, and see themselves as writers, the better.
Finally, educators should teach students how to utilize a growth mindset with their
writing. Teachers should give students ample opportunities to reflect on their growth with
writing; everyday students can do something better than they did yesterday. Students should have
the chance to recognize their growth, too. Educators should ask them to talk or write about what
improvements they are seeing in their writing. Additionally, educators must show students how
to rejoice in their growth. From feedback as small as drawing a smiley face and writing specific
praise on an assignment to conferencing with a student about their areas of growth, students must
be constantly exposed to the idea that all progress is valuable and worth celebrating. Instead of
dreading all of the things they believe they cannot do in their writing, students will begin to see
writing tasks as challenges they are ready to face and their mistakes as learning opportunities that
will further their growth as they come to find who they are as writers.
Future studies should investigate how a growth mindset could influence students’
perceptions of their writing abilities and skills over a longer period of time and with more
reflection and progress–tracking opportunities. Because this study was limited to four weeks, I
GETTING IT WRITE 24
was restricted in how much time I could give the participants to reflect on and discuss their
growth in their writing abilities and skills. I was also limited as to how many activities I could
include and how much time I could use to provide instruction on mindset theory to the
participants. Further research should examine how students’ perceptions might change with
additional instruction over mindset theory and more opportunities to look over their progress.
Additionally, because I found that my students had preconceived notions of what writing is and
who writers are, it would also be worthwhile for future studies to more extensively examine
students’ perceptions of writing and writers. Moreover, additional research should investigate the
ways in which students’ perceptions of writing and writers may be influenced by instruction on
and exposure to various types of writing and writers. Teaching students about different styles of
writing and writers may help broaden their view and impact their perceptions of writing and
writers. With further research and educators who are intentional with their instruction, future
students may begin to more readily recognize their growth and develop their identities as writers.
GETTING IT WRITE 25
References
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Journal of Culture & Education, 20(2), 207–212.
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performance and self-perception for low socioeconomic young adolescents. Journal of
Education and Learning, 3(3), 158–171.
https://doi.org/10.5539/jel.v3n3p158https://www.iejee.com/index.php/IEJEE/article/view
/76/74
Dweck, C. S. (2010). Even geniuses work hard. Educational Leadership, 68(1), 16–20.
Dweck, C. S. (2015). Growth. The British Journal of Educational Psychology, 85(2), 242–245.
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Seban, D., & Tavsanli, O. F. (2015). Children’s sense of being a writer: Identity construction in
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GETTING IT WRITE 27
Appendix A
Survey
GETTING IT WRITE 28
Appendix B
Codebook
Level of
Code
Name of Code
Definition of Code
2
Perspectives on Challenges
What participants think, feel, or do
when they are faced with a
challenging task or situation
1
Challenges make you stronger
Participants expressed growing in
perseverance from challenging tasks
or situations
1
Challenges help you learn
Participants expressed that people
learn from challenging tasks or
situations or that people do not learn
from easy tasks or situations
1
Challenges stress you out
Participants expressed stress,
anxiety, or frustration in response to
a challenging or intimidating task or
situation
1
You feel proud/accomplished
when you’ve done something
challenging
Participants expressed a sense of
satisfaction in response to
completing a challenging task
1
Response to challenges
Participants expressed a reaction to a
challenging task or situation
2
Learning from Mistakes
Participants’ perceptions of
themselves and their abilities when
they mess up and their feelings and
self-perceptions when they struggle
with something
1
Learning from past
experiences
Participants expressed the belief that
a person can learn from the past or
discussed a time they learned from
the past
GETTING IT WRITE 29
1
Mistakes make you feel bad
Participants expressed a negative
emotion or thought in response to
their own mistakes
1
Mistakes can be fixed
Participants expressed the belief that
they can resolve or overcome
mistakes they have made
2
Experiences of Writing at
School
Participants discussed their thoughts,
feelings, and perspectives of writing
and their writing skills
1
Writing stresses you out
Participants expressed stress,
anxiety, or frustration in response to
a writing task
1
Writing makes you feel free
Participants expressed a sense of
liberty or catharsis when writing
1
Connecting writing to
personal experiences
Participants discussed linking their
writing to their personal lives
1
Limits to writing at school
Participants described drawbacks to
writing tasks in an academic setting
1
What helps a person get better
at writing
Participants discussed things that
have the potential to assist someone
in improving their writing skills
1
Writing as an outlet/self-
expression
Participants expressed the belief that
writing can act as a release for one’s
thoughts or emotions
1
Level of confidence in writing
skills
Participants discussed their own
perceptions of their abilities to write
1
Your mind wanders when
asked to write
Participants expressed an inability to
focus when trying to write in an
GETTING IT WRITE 30
academic setting
1
Quality of writing prompts
influences writing
Participants expressed the belief that
writing topics or prompts affected
their motivation, desire, or ability to
write
1
Feelings about writing
Participants expressed their
emotions about writing in general or
their emotions when asked to write
1
Teachers can ruin/affect
perspective of writing
Participants expressed the belief that
their teacher(s) could influence how
they feel about writing or English
class
1
Effects of burnout
Participants discussed the results of
feelings of being overwhelmed or
tired in response to their workload
2
The Writer Identity
Participants’ thoughts on what
writers are and do, what good
writing is and looks like, and their
perspectives on themselves as
writers
1
What makes a good writer
Participants described characteristics
or skills that they believe good
writers must possess
1
Handwriting influences your
writing
Participants expressed the belief that
what their handwriting looks like
influences the quality of their
writing
1
Some people are born with a
natural “gift” to write
Students discussed the idea that
people who are good at writing were
GETTING IT WRITE 31
born with a heightened ability to
write well
1
Identity as a writer
Students discussed their level of
identification with the writer identity
2
Discussions on Growth
Mindset
Participants explicitly discussed
growth mindset or mindset theory or
participants exhibited behavior that
aligned with growth mindset
1
Use of growth mindset aligned
feedback
I provided participants with
feedback that agreed with growth
mindset
1
Possible effects of growth
mindset
Participants exhibited behavior that
aligned with growth mindset
1
Thoughts on mindset theory
Participants discussed their
perspectives on mindset theory and
growth mindset
1
Ways to use growth mindset
in daily life
Participants discussed areas of their
daily lives to which they could apply
a growth mindset
GETTING IT WRITE 32
Appendix C
Responses to Question One: I Can Write Well
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Appendix D
Responses to Question Two: I Am a Good Writer
GETTING IT WRITE 34
Appendix E
Responses to Question Three: People are Born with the Ability to Write Well
GETTING IT WRITE 35
Appendix F
Responses to Question Four: I Have the Ability to Get Better at Writing
GETTING IT WRITE 36
Appendix G
Responses to Question Five: My Writing Skills Cannot Change