GROWTH MINDSET PARENT WORKSHOP TUESDAY 23rd January 2018

Objectives To reflect on what we believe about intelligence To explore the principles of Mindset To consider how Mindset could impact on learning To explore strategies to develop a Growth Mindset for our pupils

To stimulate dialogue about intelligence (ability) it can be interesting to order successful famous people in order of intelligence.

Watch the this clip to find out more! (Click on text below) Carol Dweck on Growth Mindset

Brain Science People with a fixed mindset need to constantly prove their ability, proving that they are special or even superior, whereas people with a growth mindset believe that their intelligence can be developed through learning – something which brain research has proven to be true. London taxi drivers have to learn the locations of many different places, because their streets don’t have numbers. Researchers measured the hippocampus – the area of the brain that remembers information about places – in London taxi drivers and compared them to other people’s. The taxi drivers’ were bigger and the longer they had been doing the job, the bigger the area of the brain became! This shows that learning and practising the skill made that area oo their brain grow.

Fantastic Elastic Brain

Effort! “My secret is practice. I have always believed that if you want to achieve anything special in life you have to work, work, and then work some more.” David Beckham Children were surprised to learn of the stories behind their role models – all the hard work, effort and perseverance.

Famous Failures Clip Famous Failures

Opportunities to Struggle Allow children to struggle -

Encourage positive self talk Yet Carol Dweck talked about the power of the word……..yet. She is currently doing research on it!! I don’t know the numbers that add to 10. Yet! Everyone can learn this…..just keep at it. I can’t do this well……..yet.

Carol Dweck found that what mattered most in terms of motivation is whether we see ability as fixed (an entity learner) or growth (an incremental learner). Her simple thesis is that we all have one of two basic mindsets. With the fixed mindset, you believe talents and abilities are set in stone - either you have them or you don’t. That’s the path of stagnation. With a growth mindset, you know talents can be developed and great abilities built over time. That’s the path of opportunity and success.

Sort the statements

Characteristics of a ‘fixed’ mindset Repercussions My intelligence is a fixed trait – I have a certain amount of it and that’s that. I worry about how much intelligence I have and it makes me interested in looking and feeling as if I have enough. I must look clever and, at all costs, not look stupid. I feel clever when things are easy, where I put in little effort and I outperform my peers. Effort, difficulty, setbacks or higher performing peers call my intelligence into question, even if I have high confidence in my intelligence, so I feel stupid. I need easy successes to feel clever. Challenges are a threat to my self-esteem, so I won’t engage with them. I don’t want to have my inadequacies and errors revealed. I will withdraw from valuable learning opportunities if I think my inadequacies will be revealed. Even if I’m doing well initially, I won’t be able to cope with a problem or obstacle. I readily disengage from tasks when obstacles occur. Taken from Shirley Clarke’s book – Unlocking Formative Assessment A discussion exercise – sort statements into categories. We have used child friendly wording with children. Ceres Primary School

Characteristics of a growth mindset Repercussions Intelligence is something I can increase through my own efforts. I am keen to work hard and learn as much as I can. I acknowledge that there are differences between people in how much they know and how quickly they master things. I believe that everyone, with effort and guidance, can increase their intellectual abilities. I love to learn something new. I will readily sacrifice opportunities to look clever in favour of opportunities to learn something new. I am excited by challenge. I throw myself into difficult tasks – and stick with them. I set myself goals and make sure I have strategies to reach them. I feel clever when I am fully engaged with a new task, exerting effort to master something, stretching my skills and putting my knowledge to good use. (e.g. helping other pupils learn)

What would you do? Nine-year-old Libby was on her way to her first gymnastics competition. Long-limbed, flexible and energetic, she was just right for gymnastics, and she loved it. She was a little nervous about competing, but she was good at gymnastics and felt confident about doing well. She had even thought about the perfect place in her room to place the trophy she would win. In the first event, the floor exercises, Libby went first. Although she did a good job, the scoring changed after the first few girls and she lost. Libby also did well in the other events, but not well enough to win. By the end of the evening, she had received no trophies and was devastated. What would you do if you were Libby’s parents? 1. Tell Libby that you thought she was the best. 2. Tell her she was robbed of a trophy that was rightfully hers. 3. Re-assure her that gymnastics is not that important. 4. Tell her that she has the ability and will surely win next time 5. Tell her that she didn’t deserve to win.

How are mindsets created? Babies are born infinitely curious, always experimenting, always learning, attacking the most difficult tasks of a lifetime with tremendous gusto like learning to crawl, walk and talk but yet just a few years later many of the same children are afraid of challenges, afraid of effort, afraid of setbacks, lacking motivation. Why is this? What causes their mindset to change? Carol Dweck has found a link between the language when giving feedback to children and the mindset they have. Feedback that focuses on pupils intelligence harms their motivation and their performance. If it is the norm to be praised for intelligence and talent, the minute they encounter an obstacle their confidence drops. If success means they are clever, then failure can only mean they are not, this hooks them neatly into a fixed mindset.

Messages children hear “You learned that so quickly! You’re so clever!” Child hears “If I don’t learn something quickly, I’m not clever!" Carol Dweck found through her research studies that when children are praised or given feedback for intelligence their performance declines over time. Praising children for intelligence rather than effort actually hinders performance drastically over time. It encourages a fixed mindset. Examples of well meaning praise. The child thinks if I have to put in effort then I must not be clever therefore I will disengage from tasks requiring sustained effort.

Messages children hear “You are brilliant! You got an A without studying.” Child hears “I’d better stop studying or they won’t think I’m brilliant.” Carol Dweck found through her research studies that when children are praised or given feedback for intelligence their performance declines over time. Praising children for intelligence rather than effort actually hinders performance drastically over time. It encourages a fixed mindset. Examples of well meaning praise. The child thinks if I have to put in effort then I must not be clever therefore I will disengage from tasks requiring sustained effort.

Messages children hear “Look at that drawing! Is he the next Picasso or what?” Child hears “I shouldn’t try drawing anything hard or they’ll see I’m not.” Carol Dweck found through her research studies that when children are praised or given feedback for intelligence their performance declines over time. Praising children for intelligence rather than effort actually hinders performance drastically over time. It encourages a fixed mindset. Examples of well meaning praise. The child thinks if I have to put in effort then I must not be clever therefore I will disengage from tasks requiring sustained effort.

Fixed Mindset Praise Pretty Well behaved Amazing The best Better than… Clever Cute Great Fast Best Good Mathematician Pretty Well behaved Amazing The best Better than… ‘Arty’

Our language tells children what we believe and what we value. Praise effort, perseverance, motivation and strategies – Process Praise Well done – you’re learning to ……………….. Good – it’s making you think – that’s how your brain is growing! Every time you practise, you’re making the connections in your brain stronger. Be brave. Have another go. Maybe this time you could…….. You’ve worked hard on this and you’ve succeeded because of…..x,y,z (success criteria) That picture has so many beautiful colours. Tell me about them. You can use this mistake. Think about why it didn’t work and learn from it. Does this mean that we cant praise children enthusiastically when they do something great? Should we try to restrain our admiration for their successes? Not at all, in fact without praise, motivation declines. It just means we should keep away from a certain kind of praise – praise that judges their intelligence or talent rather than the work they put in. We can praise them as much as we want for the growth-oriented process – what they accomplished through practice, persistence and good strategies. And we can ask them about their work in a way that admires and appreciates their efforts and choices. Staff found at first this took a great deal of conscious effort to always talk about and praise the pupil’s approach to learning rather than evaluating. It was challenging for us to change our language. For a while, we had lots of conversations in the staffroom about it. We being ultra tuned in to the words we used and the words used by others. Our language tells children what we believe and what we value. Ceres Primary School

Be curious. Show an interest. Ask questions. Tell me about it. Show me more. How did you do that? How did you figure that out? How many ways did you try before it turned out the way you wanted? Are you pleased with it? What do you think will happen if?

Observe and comment … You did it! You put your own shoes on. Your brother gave you a huge smile when you shared the bricks. Those clouds are really big. You have added lots of detail to the faces. I noticed you are getting better at dribbling the ball. I remember when you couldn’t do that yet. You worked out a way to share and play together.

If parents want to give their children a gift, the best thing they can do is teach their children to love challenges, be intrigued by mistakes, enjoy effort, and keep on learning. That way their children don’t have to be slaves to praise. They will have a lifelong way to build and repair their own confidence. Dr. Carol Dweck

Children’s Literature Teaching growth mindset through Literature Little by Little by Alison Stewart and Layn Marlow Perfect story to introduce growth mindset. About a little otter who wants to learn to swim. Your Fantastic Elastic Brain, Joann Deak This book explains how intelligence is expandable. Everyone can Learn to Ride a Bicycle, Chris Raschka The child in the story learns to ride a bike, by getting up time and time again, after a fall. Giraffes can’t Dance by Giles Andrae and Guy Parker-Rees The Dot, by Peter Reynolds The story of a child who believes she can’t draw, but her teacher tells her to ‘make a mark and see where it goes.’ Rosie Revere Engineer, by Andrea Beaty The story of a child who invents something that fails Ryan the Spy: and the Superhero Secret, by Jason Rago Talks about hard work and practice being the keys to success Ceres Primary School