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Growth  Mindset    

What’s  it  all  about?    

TWO  BELIEFS  ABOUT  INTELLIGENCE  

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   FIXED  MINDSET  Believes:    Intelligence  is  CARVED  IN  STONE    Intelligent  people  shouldn’t  have  to  WORK  HARD  

 Failure  reFlects  a  LACK  of  INTELLIGENCE    

 Potential  is  measurable,  e.g.  via  tests.  

GROWTH  MINDSET    

Believes:    Intelligence  is  MALLEABLE  

Learning  requires  HARD  WORK  and  EFFORT  

ALL  individuals  CAN  LEARN  and  improve  

We  CANNOT  MEASURE  a  person’s  POTENTIAL  

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RESEARCH  –  MUELLER  AND  DWECK  

“You  must  be  smart/clever    at  these  problems”  

“You  must  have  tried  hard  at  these  problems”  

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RESEARCH  –  MUELLER  AND  DWECK  Next,  the  students  worked  on  some  challenging  problems.    •  Students  praised  for  their  intelligence  lost  their  conFidence  in  their  ability  and  their  enjoyment  of  the  task  as  soon  as  they  began  to  struggle  with  the  problem.  If  success  meant  they  were  smart,  then  struggling  meant  they  were  not.  The  whole  point  of  intelligence  praise  is  to  boost  conFidence  and  motivation,  but  both  were  gone  in  a  Flash.    

•  The  effort-­‐praised  children  remained,  on  the  whole,  conFident  and  eager.  Finally,  the  students  were  asked  to  report  their  scores  (anonymously).  •  Almost  40  percent  of  the  intelligence-­‐praised  students  lied.  Apparently,  their  egos  were  so  wrapped  up  in  their  performance  that  they  couldn't  admit  mistakes.    

• Only  about  10  percent  of  the  effort-­‐praised  students  saw  Fit  to  falsify  their  results.  

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THE  BRAIN  IS  MALLEABLE  • Similar  to  a  muscle,  it  grows  stronger                                                    and  works  better  with  use  

• When  you  challenge  and  stretch  your                                                                thinking,  the  brain  becomes  stronger  

• You  can  literally  ‘grow’  your  brain!  • The  more  we  repeat  something  and                                                          use  that  portion  of  the  brain  in  a                                                                    focused  way  new  neural  pathways                                                      might  develop  in  your  brain.    

“Children  do    differ  in  intelligence  but  intelligence  can  be  changed  through  sustained  hard  work.”    Daniel  Willingham

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BRAIN  RESEARCH  •  If  each  child  in  front  of  you  feels  understood,  this  is  good  for  their  self-­‐esteem.  

•  If  these  two  things  are  happening  the  child  will  feel  self-­‐conFident.  •  If  these  three  things  are  happening  the  child  will  be  emotionally  engaged  in  learning.  This  means  the  child’s  brain  is  neurobiologically  optimised  for  learning.  

A  growth  mindset  isn’t…

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• As  Carol  Dweck  says  “successful  individuals  love  learning,  value  effort  and  persist  in  the          face  of  obstacles”.  

•  “Changing  mindsets  is  not  like  surgery,”  she  says.  “You  can’t  simply  remove  the  Fixed  mindset  and  replace  it  with  the  growth  mindset.”    

• Growth  mindset  is  about  closing  achievement  gaps,  not  hiding  them.  It’s  about  telling  the  truth  about  a  child’s  current  achievement  and  then,  together,  doing  something  about  it.    

ASHMEAD  VALUES  AND  GROWTH  MINDSET  

 

ReFlection    

Perseverance  

 

Responsibility  

 Hope  

 Courage  

 

ConFidence  

 

Loveable  and  Capable  

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WHAT  ARE  WE  TRYING  IN  THE  CLASSROOM?  

•  Praising  effort  (combined  with)  speciFic  feedback  –  the  steps  to  making  progress.  

•  Thinking  skills,  esp.  metacognition.  

•  Discussing  and  sharing  our  Fixed  mindsets  too.  

•  Opportunities  for  building  independence  

•  Emphasising  mistakes  =  learning  (but  offering  support  too!)  and  persistence  +  patience  (learning  pit)  

•  Yet…  •  Sharing  our  mistakes.  •  Sharing  stories  of  succeeding  after  failure.  

WHAT  TO  PRAISE  

• Effort,  motivation,  struggle  and  persistence  despite  set  backs  

• Strategies  and  choices  • Choosing  difFicult  and  challenging  tasks  • Learning,  improving  

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HOW  TO  PRAISE  

I  liked  the  way  you  tried  different  

strategies  on  that  problem  

I  enjoy  watching  you  

stretch  yourself  and  

trying  to  learn  more  

challenging  things  

That  picture

 has  so  

many  beau

tiful  

colours  in  i

t.  Tell  

me  about  th

em.  

You  put  so  much  thought  into  this  story,  I  really  could  see  all  the  settings  and  characters  clearly  

WHAT  IF  THE  CHILD  DIDN’T  DO  WELL?  

I  like  the  effort  you  

put  in,  but  let’s  

work  together  on  

the  bits  you  didn’t  

understand  

Everyone  learns  things  at  a  different  rate  so  don’t  worry  if  you’re  

not  there  YET.  

Everyone  learns  in  a  different  way  let’s  keep  trying  to  Find  the  one  that  works  for  you  

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PRAISE  THAT  CAN  GET  IN  THE  WAY  OF  LEARNING  

Clever  girl  Bright  boy  Brilliant  mathematician  Gifted  musician  Top  of  the  class  You’re  the  best      

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=45mMioJ5szc&list=PLwrHA9rJu3ybuh85eQ6CTLlC67iQpbY8_&index=7

GD JOURNEY

•  Worked with a small group of Y6 children •  Whole school staff training day •  Assembly for children •  Introduced at class level •  Feedback and marking •  Monitored impact •  Celebrated success!

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WE’RE  GOOD  LEARNERS,    WHEN  WE’RE  STUCK  WE…  

“read  the  question  again”    “try  breaking  the  question  down  into    smaller  parts”    “go  back  through  my  book”    “ask  a  classmate  who  has  a  similar  problem”  

 “highlight  the  bits  I  Find  difFicult  or  the  key  words”  

 “try  another  question  and  come  back  to  the  question  I  am  stuck  on  later”  

“look  at  our  working  walls  and  displays”    

 

“listen  well  to  others  then  try  again”  

 

“ask  ourselves  where  we  are  going  wrong  and  why”  

 

“ask  ourselves  what  could  help  us,  what  we  need  to  work  it  out”  

 

“use  talking  partners”  

 

“try  having  a  go  on  my    whiteboard  First”  

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THE  FUTURE…  

• This  is  a  journey,  not  a  quick  Fix.    • Keep  working  on  embedding  the  GM  culture  –  children  and  staff  and  families.  

• Accept  we  are  all  a  mix  of  Fixed  and  growth  mindsets  (and  we  probably  always  will  be)  –  danger  of  demonising  FM.  

SIX  THINGS  YOU  CAN  DO  AT  HOME…  

• Praise  effort  • Celebrate  mistakes  and  remind  of  successes  

• Create  opportunities  for  independence  • Yet…  • Share  mistakes  • Be  a  role  model  –  including  being  honest  about  your  mistakes  and  where  you  have  a  Fixed  Mindset