Growth Mindset...

I am currently reading Carol Dweck's book on the fixed vs. growth mindset.  It is a fascinating concept, and something that is very prevalent in the way students and adults make decisions and attempt tasks.  I hope you enjoy this article taken from Larry Ferlazzo's blog.

~Laura

Response: Classroom Strategies to Foster a Growth Mindset

By Larry Ferlazzo on October 15, 2012 1:03 PM

The question asked last week was:

What are actions teachers can take to help their students develop a growth mindset?

As Professor Carol Dweck -- one of authors of today's guest response and the developer of the term and concept -- has written elsewhere:

Individuals with a fixed mindset believe that their intelligence is simply an inborn trait--they have a certain amount, and that's that. In contrast, individuals with a growth mindset believe that they can develop their intelligence over time.

Thanks to Professor Dweck's work, I have been explicitly applying this concept in the classroom for the past few years, but won't take up space here to share my experiences. Instead, I've developed a list of resources you can access here.

We're lucky today to have Professor Dweck and Dr. Lisa Blackwell, the co-founder of the organization designed to help schools be more effective in helping students develop growth mindsets, as the co-authors of today's guest response.

In addition, several readers offer their comments.

Response From Carol Dweck & Lisa Blackwell

Dr. Carol Dweck is the Lewis and Virginia Eaton Professor of Psychology at Stanford University, author of Mindset: The New Psychology of Success, and internationally renowned expert on mindsets and motivation. Her colleague and Mindset Works co-founder, Dr. Lisa Blackwell, is a former school leadership coach and the principal designer of Brainology. She is currently VP of Design, Implementation, & Evaluation at Mindset Works, which offers curricula, professional development, and tools that foster a growth mindset in students and educators. Learn more about deepening student motivation at Mindset Works:

Students typically begin each new school year with a mixture of anticipation and anxiety. Will their teachers be supportive or severe? Will they succeed or not? Adding to the anxiety is the fear of public embarrassment if they do have difficulty. Here is a 5^th grader talking about how he feels about challenges and about making mistakes in class:

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Our research¹ on the growth mindset² shows that students who believe they can grow their basic abilities have greater motivation and higher achievement than do students who believe their abilities are fixed, and that teachers can influence students' mindsets. The beginning of the new school year is a great time to establish your classroom as a growth mindset environment. Here are some things you can do right away to lay a foundation for growth all year:

1) Establish high expectations (not just high standards). Research by Geoffrey Cohen and colleagues³ shows that this increases motivation in vulnerable students. So let students know that you are challenging them because you know that all of them have the ability to meet those expectations. For example:

• Use lesson-framing language that outlines high expectations, as in this Growth Mindset Framing Tool.⁴ For example, when introducing a new topic, you can tell your students, "This will be a challenging concept to learn, but all of us can reach the goal. I want you to stretch."


• Write comments to your students that contain specific feedback on ways to improve, along with an explanation that you are providing it because you believe they have the capacity to develop a high level of skill in that area.

2) Create a risk-tolerant learning zone. Let your students know that you value challenge-seeking, learning, and effort above perfect performance, and that the amount of progress they make individually is more important than how they compare to others. Make it clear that mistakes are to be expected and that we can all learn from them. For example:

• At the beginning of the year, write a letter to your students saying how much you look forward to supporting their individual growth, and explaining that mistakes are welcome in your classroom. (See this Welcome Back Letter⁵ contributed by a middle school teacher.)


• When you introduce a new topic or assignment, tell students they should expect to find some things confusing and to make initial errors. Ask kids to share their "best" mistake of the week with you, and what they learned from it (and do the same yourself).

3) Give feedback that focuses on process--the things students can control, like their effort, challenge-seeking, persistence, and good strategies--not on their personal traits or abilities. Avoid praising children for their "smartness," and instead help them understand the importance of their own actions in achieving success. Claudia Mueller and Carol Dweck⁶showed that praising students for effort triggers growth mindset thinking. But many students think that effort is simply doing something for a long time, or doing the same thing over and over. Instead, help your students understand the many ways to employ effort effectively, such as seeking out challenges, setting goals and making plans, using creative strategies, and sticking with it when they are having difficulty. For example:

• Recognize your students' effort with tools such as this Effective Effort Rubric⁷ and teach them to use it to self-assess and build on their effort strategies.


• Give feedback that is appropriate to the situation--for example, don't praise effort if the student did not work hard. See the Growth Mindset Framing Tool⁸ for sample language in situations where students worked hard and succeeded, made an effort but have not yet met the goal, or did not exert effort.

4) Introduce students to the concept of the malleable mind. Recent research in neuroscience shows that our brains develop through effort and learning, and that they are more malleable than previously thought. Teaching this can be a powerful way to help students develop a growth mindset about their own ability. For example:

• Have your students read and discuss an article about the malleable brain, such as You Can Grow Your Intelligence.⁹ Let students know that when they are practicing hard things their brains are forming new connections and making them smarter. Instead of feeling dumb when they struggle, they will learn to "feel" those connections growing.


• Teach students about how the brain changes with learning and how they can build their brains with effective learning strategies through programs like the Brainology¹⁰ blended learning curriculum.

By introducing the growth mindset into your classroom early in the year, you can begin to build a culture of growth that will support your students as learners all year long.