A Growth Mindset: Motivating Students to Learn Phebe Shen 8-9 February, 2016 Karatekin University

About me I love traveling and have visited 27 countries Grew up in Seattle, Washington Ethnically Chinese (Made in Taiwan) Writing instructor and project coordinator for international students for over ten years I love traveling and have visited 27 countries Most recently, I went to Cappadocia in Turkey (Brrrr) Favorite Turkish food so far: kunefe

Have you ever heard the following? “English is so hard.” “I can’t do this.” “I give up.” “I’m bad at languages.” “Why do we have to do this?”

Affective factors in language learning Students’ affective filter can negatively affect students’ language learning Fear of failure, lack of motivation, self-perception as learner, fear of making mistakes, lack of self- confidence, etc., all can impact how well a student learns a language How do we help students overcome these factors to become better students and language learners?

What is intelligence? Find a partner and tell them if you agree or disagree with the following statements and why: 1. Everyone is born with a certain amount of intelligence that determines how smart we are. 2. Teachers should tell students that they are smart. 3. Once we get to a certain age, our brains stop developing.

Kahoot.it

Can we get smarter? We often think of intelligence as fixed. However, new research focuses more on how the brain is like a muscle and gets stronger with use: neuroplasticity. Muscles are as something we develop with use. When not used, certain parts shrink. “Use it of lose it!”

How the brain works

Animal brains grow with stimulus

So do human brains

Our brains can get smarter! When we learn new things, the dendrites, which create connections between brain cells, grow and get stronger. The more connections are made and strengthened, the easier something gets. How we think about learning and intelligence affects our attitudes towards tasks that are difficult, like learning a language.

What is a growth mindset?

Fixed vs. Growth Mindset Intelligence like eye color: fixed Intelligence like muscle: it can grow Avoid challenges Embrace challenges Give up easily due to obstacles Persist despite obstacles See effort as useless See effort as path to mastery Ignore useful feedback Learn from criticism Threatened by others’ success Inspired by others’ success

Developing Growth Mindset in Students Be a model! Share a personal story about a time when you overcame a struggle in learning and overcame a problem. Focus on the following: 1. Hard work 2. Strategies 3. Help from others Share your story with a partner!

Praise the Process, Not the Person Our natural inclination is to praise students and kids for being smart Studies show that students who receive praise for being smart did worse on more challenging exams than those students who were praised for effort.

Do’s and Don’ts of Praise Instead of (Person Praise) Try (Process Praise) Great job! You must be smart! Great job! You must have tried really hard! See, you are good at English. You got an A on your last test. You really studied for your English test and your improvement shows it. You got it! I told you that you were smart. I like the way you tried all kinds of strategies on that problem until you finally got it. You are such a good student! I love the way you stayed at your desk, you kept your concentration, and you kept on working. That’s great!

Yoda and Growth mindset

Help Students to Adopt the Right Mindset Instead of… Try… I’m not good at this. What am I missing? I give up. I’ll use some of the strategies we learned. I made a mistake. Mistakes help me improve. This is too hard. This may take some more time and effort. I’ll never be as smart as she is. I’m going to figure out what she did so I can try it.

Other Activities Have students create a chart for class on how to have a growth mindset. They can use the phrases from the handout or something they make up. Make growth mindset recognition cards. (Lots of examples on Pinterest) Have students write a letter to a future student that shares a struggle they had when trying to learn something. How did it make them feel? How did they overcome it and what did they learn? Collect the letters and pass it back to the students during a difficult time, such as final exams. Have a growth mindset rubric.

A growth mindset is for all of us We must also foster a growth mindset in ourselves authentically Be a lifelong learner Grow in our own mindsets, strategies, and habits as learners Model and teach students about what it means to be an effective learner

Growth mindset song

Questions and Contact Information Please feel free to contact me at: Phebe Shen phebe.shen@hacettepe.edu.tr http://teachinglearninghub.weebly.com I would love to hear about how you: used what you learned in the workshop adapted the ideas into your classes shared with others any other ideas or feedback you have.

Sources “Do’s and don’ts of praise”by mindsetkit.org “Growth Mindset Lesson Plan” by Khan Academy and PERTS Willis, Judy. “Praise that Discourages Children.” Psychology Today. “You can grow your intelligence” by mindsetwork.com