The Stories We Tell

Narratives About Ourselves and Others

The narratives we form in our minds have a great deal of power to shape what we expect of ourselves and others. Thinking back to Growth Mindset, if someone has been told over and over again that they are good at Math and not good at writing, that external narrative can heavily influence the internal narrative they develop about themselves.

As we've already discussed, a student who does not believe they are going to be good at learning something will likely struggle more than they would have if they had more confidence in their own abilities. And, if a student believes that an instructor expects them to already know something, it can often make them less likely to ask for help and potentially disappoint that person's expectations.

While there are patterns and trends we can observe about teaching techniques which are more likely to be effective for the majority of students, it's important to avoid assuming that we know what will work best for individual students. As we try to evaluate and support student learning, it is important to avoid forming assumptions about a student's existing knowledge and abilities, and especially important to avoid assumptions based on stereotypes. TAs are often in a position to have a significant impact on the narrative a student forms about their own abilities.

Types of Behavior vs. Types of People

When thinking about these stories we tell about ourselves in our own heads and the impact those stories can have on how we interact with the world, it is helpful to again think back to what we learned about Mindsets and make a distinction between a behavior and an identity. If an action we take does not work out the way we had hoped, that does not make us any particular type of person. Just as getting a bad grade on a coding assignment doesn't mean you as a person are categorically bad at coding, saying something based on a stereotype or prejudice doesn't make you as a person categorically prejudiced. There aren't racist/sexist/ableist people, just racist/sexist/ableist ideas, behaviors, and policies. Just as you can always work to improve your coding skills, you can always work to counteract the effects that stereotypes have on the way you think about people.