Dana Thomann is an Associate Professor of Instruction for the University of Iowa’s Department of Rhetoric. She’s been teaching for the department since 2016. Thomann uses Learning at Iowa’s Three Ms (mindset, metacognition, memory) in her Rhetoric classroom because it reveals the hidden work of academia. As a first-generation graduate of the University of Iowa (2005 BA Journalism and Communication Studies), creating an equitable learning space for all students is her passion.
Anat Levtov is the Program Manager for Learning at Iowa. She has been thinking, presenting, and writing about college students and growth mindset for over a decade. She first learned about metacognition and memory in 2018 and hasn’t looked back since!
Anat: Dana, thanks for chatting with me about writing, mindset, and your teaching strategies! I’ve heard you say that when students enter your classroom, you want to be their writing hype-person. Say more about that.
Dana: Students who struggle with writing often think that accomplished writers are just innately good or talented. They don’t readily see the hidden processes to which good writers devote their time. As an instructor, I constantly reinforce that there’s a lot of hidden work needed to create good writing, such as brainstorming, drafting, soliciting feedback, rinsing and repeating (as often as is needed), and revising. Yes! Sometimes writing is magical and easy—but that’s typically because the subconscious has been stewing on ideas over time.
I recently had to remind my students that the draft they were turning in need not be perfection. They were concerned about losing points. Would I remove points if they didn’t have the rough draft formatted correctly? Heck no! If the formatting interferes with the clarity of the final draft—maybe—but drafts should be messy! Make a mess! That’s part of the process. I show students a quick NPR Tiny Desk Concert (6:13 – 7:10) with Taylor Swift. Swift shares that sometimes lyric ideas come to her in the night. So easy! Oftentimes, though, she must rely on craft to write her songs. I explicitly teach “craft” or a process for every writing assignment.
Anat: Yes! I’ve found that students new to academic writing often think their first draft must be perfect or it means that they are not “good” students or strong writers. This approach is a reflection of a fixed mindset, as defined by psychologist Carol Dweck in her 2006 book, Mindset: The New Psychology of Success.
Dweck’s research suggests that students with a fixed mindset believe that their intelligence and skills are innate and cannot improve or develop substantially over time. Therefore, when they encounter academic challenges—such as when they write their first Rhetoric paper—they interpret these difficulties as proof that they are incapable of success. This can trap students in a downward spiral of reduced motivation and effort, often leading to embarrassment and even worse, resistance to seeking help from instructors. Interestingly, even students who perceive themselves as “great writers” can hold this same underlying subconscious belief, discounting and downplaying the deliberate efforts they put into the writing process.
Given the continuum of students’ mindsets, what are some ways that you help your students foster a growth mindset?
Dana: Within the first week of Rhetoric class, I assign an excerpt of bell hooks’ Critical Thinking. Through careful reading and discussion, students begin to realize that writing is critical thinking! I return to this anchor text throughout the semester to remind students why we write. Educators don’t need to throw a million texts at students to get them to internalize that critical thinking is important; we just need to return to the message and discuss its importance often.
I also try to allow as much student choice in topic selection for writing assignments so that students are curious about and enjoy their writing topics. I am very transparent about the fact that assignments will feel more purposeful and meaningful if students can find an explicit way to link the writing to their own life, interests, current or future career(s), or other courses.
For instance, a student might say, “I will need to use the resources in the University of Iowa Libraries when I am a student in Business Communication and Protocol (BCAP). I better learn how to search the library guides for business databases in this Rhetoric research assignment, so I build my skillset for later.” Suddenly, putting a bit more effort into the writing process, exercising their brains to build neural pathways, actually doing their own thinking and processing has tangible benefits. I don’t blame students for feeling the urge to take shortcuts, especially if they cannot find meaning in the work.
Anat: Wait, wait—this totally connects to so many conversations about A.I. right now, both on campus and within the broader academic community! I tell my students that I don’t care what the computer algorithm thinks, I want to hear from them. But so many students feel like hitting a “snag” in their writing process means they don’t have what it takes to succeed.
A recent New York Times article about K-12 teachers’ experience with the use of A.I. really captures this sentiment: “‘Students aren’t giving up because they’re lazy,’ Martin said, ‘but because they’re quick to assume they’re not smart if they can’t grasp certain concepts right away; it’s almost as if the speed of available technology is making them assume that their human brains should have all the answers.’”
How do you help combat this assumption and encourage the thoughtful and intentional use of A.I.?
Dana: I see Learning at Iowa’s Three Ms (mindset, metacognition, memory) as the antidote to handling A.I. in writing courses—seriously. I remind students why it is important to develop as a writer—even with ChatGPT, you still need skills to assess the generated output and to think clearly and critically, which writing forces you to do. While A.I. can generate the text, it does not provide the thinking that goes along with it.
Especially because Rhetoric is a required course for all students, I am all about explaining why what we're doing is important, how it can help them in their current courses, future careers, etc. I explain that successful students often transfer skills or ideas from one course to another. I want students to see that succeeding in Rhetoric is an opportunity for them to perform above average in all their other courses, rather than a mandate in drudgery.
I also remind students that we live in a fast-paced world, with a lot of instant gratification, and preparing to write is the opposite of fast-paced and instant gratification! At the end of some classes, I’ll start talking in a calmer voice. If you know me, that’s rare! I’ll put on some “focus” music. I ask students to take a moment and just start drafting. Even if they’re staring at the curser blinking on the screen in front of them, even if they’re closing their eyes, even if it appears they’ve accomplished nothing, they have accomplished something—thinking, stewing. Slowly, the room builds with the sound of fingers tapping on keyboards. Sometimes students don’t realize class time has ended. They’re so focused and inspired to produce their own work.
Anat: I think they call that being “locked in”—a level of focus that can be challenging these days! I think a dedicated writing course is such a great chance to develop those life-long critical thinking skills in a supportive environment. But writing and communicating your ideas effectively is not magic and progress doesn’t happen overnight; both are misconceptions about growth mindset. Students can’t just say “well, that didn’t go well, I’ll try harder next time,” they need to learn about the specific strategies they can use at each stage of the writing process and put them into action.
How do you communicate that learning requires students’ intentional effort and engagement?
Dana: I normalize the fact that writing is a complex task. Success is hardly a linear progression. It’s typically two steps forward, one step back! I also want my students to feel and know that I value improvement. Each assignment is just one assignment in many assignments throughout the semester, and they have time and designated drafts to improve. Think about it. Published books often take years and a team of people to come into fruition. That’s a lot of hidden work! Unfortunately, we only have a semester together!
While writing does involve solitary time, the process shouldn’t all be solitary or alone. I remind students that we are all in community to help one another with this complex task, to get excited and inspired by each other’s ideas. My classes often make use of the Transform, Interact, Learn, Engage (TILE) Classrooms on campus to brainstorm in big, beautiful, messy ways—to share in the complex task and make it easier together. This way, students see the process other students use.
Feedback is another process that needs radical visibility to be helpful. When students review each other’s work, I encourage them to ask: “Peer, what level of feedback most motivates you: kind, honest, harsh?” Students declare what level of critique they want during peer response.
I also explain how students should go about reading my feedback so they may improve on future assignments. I typically share two to three global ideas for improvement on a major assignment to avoid overwhelming students.
We want students to read and apply our feedback—not just read the grade. In fact, I often hold back on placing the grade on a paper. I’ll make the comments visible on our learning management site, then after they confirm that they’ve read the feedback, I’ll reveal the grade. I spend hours on feedback! I want students to read it and use it to improve! When they write a new piece of work, I ask them how they applied the feedback from the last assignment. Again, the process is so much more important to me than the grade a student earns.
Anat: It sounds like you are fostering a “Culture of Growth” in your classroom! This concept was introduced by Mary Murphy, a social psychologist and collaborator of Carol Dweck, in her 2024 book, Cultures of Growth: How the New Science of Mindset Can Transform Individuals, Teams, and Organizations. Murphy broadens the original definition of the mindset continuum, extending it from individual beliefs to the collective assumptions and attitudes of the organizations or communities to which individuals belong.
For example, each of our academic disciplines has its own mindset culture. In some disciplines, faculty were taught (are still taught?) that to be successful, one must possess a special aptitude or talent, something that can’t be taught. Murphy calls these environments “Cultures of Genius” and argues that the pressures of thriving in those contexts can lead to aggressive competition and ethical lapses. So, if students believe that innate talent is the only way to excel, I can see how they might conclude that putting in effort is pointless—they might as well turn to A.I.
You, on the other hand, are actively promoting the idea that each one of your students, no matter their writing experience, has the potential to succeed with the right scaffolding and support. How do your students respond to that?
Dana: This is actually quite personal to me. I grew up in a rural area where the adults are whip smart. When they hear I teach at the college level, they often say; "I wasn’t good at school. I just wasn't smart enough."
I like to tell them, "Maybe the system didn't support experienced, trained teachers who could encourage, nurture, and give you the tools you needed. I think you're very smart." They usually think I'm trying to flatter or tease them, but I'm actually telling them the honest truth.
I see it as a challenge when a student tells me, "I'm not very good at writing." Uh, huh. We'll see about that! By the end of the semester, when students reflect on the course as a whole, they take a step back and look at all they have produced. In reflection, students overwhelmingly write something to the effect of: “I will no longer write a paper the night before. I have a process to follow now, and it’s kind of fun.” Can I just give those students “A”s?
This proves that students have internalized the hidden work of writing and, most importantly, a growth mindset. Now when they encounter challenges, for example, writer’s block, they have tools to free themselves, such as brainstorming and spaced thinking. They understand there’s no shame in getting help from peers, instructors, librarians, tutors, the Writing Center, friends, and family—it's all a part of the process, what good writers do. The University of Iowa has so many resources to help students work smarter, not harder. We, all of us, are the writing university.
If that idea doesn’t hype you up, what will?
The authors acknowledge the use of CoPilot generative A.I. to generate title ideas and to proofread this piece. [AL1]
References:
Dweck, C. S. (2006). Mindset: The new psychology of success. Random House.
Grose, J. (2024, August 14). What Teachers Told Me About A.I. in School. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/14/opinion/ai-schools-teachers-students.html.
hooks, b. (2010). Teaching critical thinking: Practical wisdom. New York: Routledge.
Murphy, M. C. (2024). Cultures of growth: how the new science of mindset can transform individuals, teams, and organizations. Simon & Schuster.
National Public Radio Music. (2020). Taylor Swift: NPR Tiny Desk Concert. [Video.] YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FvVnP8G6ITs
University of Iowa Center for Teaching. (2025). TILE Spaces. https://teaching.center.uiowa.edu/consultations/tile