Winners vs. Losers

If when we win it is because we are a winner,
then when we lose, it must make us a loser.

“When students or adults see their abilities as fixed, whether they think they’re naturals or just not built for a certain domain, they avoid challenge and lose interest when things get hard. Conversely, when they understand that abilities are developed, they more readily adopt learning-oriented behaviors such as deliberate practice and grit that enable them to achieve their goals. But this belief is itself malleable, and there are clear actions we can all take to establish a growth mindset and enable success for our children, our peers and ourselves.” -Eduardo Briceño, CEO of Mindset Works,  an organization that helps schools and other organizations cultivate a growth mindset culture

• We can change mindsets, to install a growth mindset. 
• Instead of praising students for being smart or good at something, we need to provide feedback related to the process. 
• A growth mindset is beneficial for everyone, not just children, or students.

Related Posts

• Intelligence if Fluid
• Classroom Strategies to Foster a Growth Mindset by Larry Ferlazzo 

Intelligence is Fluid

While looking for techniques that teachers can use to reinforce effort and provide recognition, I came across the work of Carol S. Dweck. She’s been studying students’ motivation for over 30 years and has found that:

“The most motivated and resilient students are the ones who believe that their abilities can be developed through their effort and learning.”

Her research has identified two distinct ways that students view intelligence and learning, with a growth mindset or a fixed mindset.

Students with a Fixed Mindset:

• Feel that their intelligence is an inborn trait that cannot be changed.
• Value looking smart.
• Believe that you are smart only if you succeed without effort. If you have to work hard, then this shows you aren’t smart.
• Feel that mistakes indicate a lack of ability.
• Do not try to correct their errors, because these errors indicate a lack of ability, which is a permanent situation.
• They become discouraged or defensive when they don’t immediately succeed.

Students with a Growth Mindset:

• Feel that they can develop their intelligence over time.
• Want tasks that stretch their abilities and teach them new things.
• Believe that the more effort you put into something, the better you’ll do.
• Are eager to confront their mistakes and fix them.

Fostering a Growth Mindset

A growth mind-set creates motivation and resilience, thus leading to higher achievement. Brain research is showing that intelligence can be developed and is expandable throughout a person’s life. A growth mindset can be encouraged by direct instruction, cultivating a learning culture, and embedding certain classroom practices.

DIRECT INSTRUCTION

• Teach students about the brain.
  • Intellectual development is not the natural unfolding of intelligence, but rather the formation of new connections brought about through effort and learning.
  • The brain is like a muscle—the more it’s exercised, the stronger it becomes.
  • Every time you learn something new, the brain forms new connections that, over time, make you smarter.
  • Practice is the key to learning. Only by practicing can you grow new connections.
  • The more connections you make, the easier it gets to make new ones.
  • To move information from your working memory to long-term memory requires encoding. Encoding requires that you pay attention, attach new information to existing information that supports it, and repeat the information.
• Discuss with students what a learner (growth mindset) looks like.
  • Doesn’t give up when his/her first attempt doesn’t work.
  • Wants to identify their weaknesses and focus on their own improvement.
  • Isn’t afraid to make a mistake.
  • Focuses on the process of learning, utilizes feedback to correct errors and develop a plan for the next attempt.
  • Looks forward to learning something new, taking on a challenge.
  • Devotes time and effort to the task. It takes longer to understand things at a deeper level.
  • Spends time reflecting on a learning experience: What went well? What can I try next time since this didn’t work?

CULTIVATING A LEARNING CULTURE IN YOUR CLASSROOM

• Praise a student’s process: effort, strategies, concentration, choices, or persistence. Emphasizing process gives a student variables that he/she can control. They come to see themselves as in control of their success.

• “You must have worked hard on these problems.”
• “You really studied for your history test, and your improvement shows it. You read the material over several times, outlined it, and tested yourself on it. That really worked!”
• “I like the way you tried all kinds of strategies on that math problem until you finally got it.”
• “It was a long, hard assignment, but you stuck to it and got it done. You kept up your concentration, and kept working. That’s great!”

• Avoid praising intelligence.
  • “That was easy for you. You must be smart.”
  • “Wow that’s a really good score. You must be smart.”
  • “What a great story. You must be the best writer in the class.”
  • “You’re so brilliant, you got an A without even studying!”

• Make your classroom a risk tolerant environment, free from judgement.
• As a teacher, convey a sense of joy at tackling a challenging learning task.
• Tell students that mistakes are expected and valuable, because everyone can learn from them.
• Encourage them to ask questions and seek additional support as needed. Using digital feedback tools (Student Response System, Moodle Forum or Feedback, Socrative) you can allow students to ask questions privately, anonymously,  not in front of the class.
• Communicate to students that the goal is to learn, show progress or growth. The goal is not to immediately complete the task successfully without any mistakes or hard work. For example, show an inspirational video about a famous person who wasn’t initially successful, but didn’t give up.

CLASSROOM PRACTICES

•  Give students time to reflect on their learning. This could be done in a blog post (which might work best if it was private between the teacher and student), or a survey (Google Form or Moodle Feedback), an exit ticket (Socrative), or a conference between teacher and student.

– What is my learning goal today?
– What will I do to accomplish this goal?
– What is clear to me?
– What confuses me?
– Am I putting in my full effort?
– What strategies are working for me?
– What could the teacher do to help me understand better?
– What questions do I still have about today’s lesson?

• Set high expectations when composing learning objectives.
• Emphasize progress by having students compare pretests and post test to reflect on what they have learned.
• Keep students focused on the process of learning and show them that you are committed to to helping everyone get smarter. Rather than issuing a failing grade, provide a “Not Yet” label and allow the student to utilize feedback and formulate new strategies while making another attempt.

What are your thoughts? How do you foster a growth mindset in your students?

References

• Boosting Achievement with Messages That Motivate
• Even Geniuses Work Hard
• Mindsets and Equitable Education
• Mindset Works
• The Perils and Promises of Praise
• How Not to Talk to Your Kids

BYOD Pilot Readying for Takeoff

We are preparing to pilot a BYOD Program here at our High School. It is our goal to facilitate the implementation of 1:1 access for our students. This should allow teachers and students to use technology on a full time basis, more ubiquitously, since they won’t have to rely on access to class sets netbooks or laptops, or access to a lab. It will make the use of technology more transparent and authentic. We hope that our current inventory of netbooks and laptops will meet the needs of students not bringing their own devices.

Research has shown that one-to-one programs that bring technology into the classroom:

• increase student engagement
• complement project-based activities
• help increase the quality and quantity of students’ writing
• promote the interpersonal and teamwork skills required for collaborative work
• allow teachers to more easily monitor students’ mastery and application of skills and concepts
• lead to higher overall interaction with classroom material from students

A committee has been researching, discussing and planning the project for several months now. After attending conferences and online webinars, visiting with schools about their BYOD programs, and researching online, a timeline was developed to guide the program implementation. Here’s a summary of what we are doing to implement a BYOD program that allows laptops, tablets, netbooks, and ereaders (not cell phones or gaming devices.)

• The Tech Dept has researched and developed a plan to provided sufficient infrastructure and security to support the program, including a new wireless system installation to replace our current one and a separate “guest network” for student devices.
• Meetings have been held to gather input from PLC leaders and Core Department Chairs.
• The Student Super Committee was formed and meetings held to gather student input, generate interest and a sense of empowerment. We will continue to gather feedback from this group after the pilot begins.
• We surveyed our students to gather data on what hardware they have available for their use, and if they were interested in bringing their own devices to school.
• A Personal Device Usage Policy is being written that will most likely be included in the High School Handbook. This is still in the rough draft stage.
• FAQs documents for Students, Parents, and Staff have been or are being developed to inform all stake holders about the the program.
• A plan for staff professional development has been formulated. With a significant focus being put on tech integration the last couple year, this program should not be a major change for our staff.
  • There will be some minor classroom management and instruction changes, which have been outlined in the Staff FAQs, as well as modeled in a couple example lesson plans. A File Formats Reference was created for teachers to refer to when specifying a file format for digitally submitted assignments.
  • The staff will be reviewing and discussing these BYOD documents during their Professional Learning Committee meetings.
  • Following that we will have a faculty meeting to field questions and discuss the pilot.
  • During our upcoming professional development day, staff will have time to further reflect on the implications of this program in department meetings, making notes about how it will affect their instruction.
  • As a followup to the department meetings, a BYOD Open Discussion will  convene that same day to share questions or suggestions.
  • The instructional coaches for the building will be available to assist teachers in planning and teaching lessons in which students use their own devices.
• Dependent on the updates to the infrastructure, we hope to start with Juniors and Seniors in early March. If all goes well, we will proceed by allowing all high students to bring their devices at the end of March.
• Data will be collected to evaluate the success of the pilot. We are in the process of determining what data to collect and how best to do so.

This is just a pilot program this school year. I’m sure there will be kinks to work out. We are hoping by running the pilot at the end of the school year, we can ensure a smooth full implementation in the Fall of 2012.