How do we create a school environment in which students are more likely to develop a resilient mindset, an environment that maximizes the probability that students will not only succeed, but that they will interpret their achievements as predicated in large measure on their own abilities and efforts?

How do we create a school environment that reinforces the belief that mistakes are not only accepted, but expected?

Students: Ownership, Mistakes, Supportive Adult, Learning Styles, Interactions Two Frameworks: Attribution Theory, Deci’s Approach Educators: Ten Key concepts in nurturing mindsets

Believe that whether they learn or not is based a great part on their own motivation, perseverance, and effort. They feel a sense of ownership for their own education.

Recognize that making mistakes is part of the learning process and thus, do not view mistakes as a source of humiliation or indications that they are incompetent as learners. Rather mistakes are perceived as opportunities for learning, a belief that will motivate students to persevere with demanding academic tasks.

Perceive the teachers as a supportive adult. When confronted with academic or nonacademic challenges, they feel comfortable in taking the initiative and seeking assistance from the teacher.

Understand their unique learning style, learning strengths, and learning vulnerabilities. This understanding permits them to develop with the input of their teacher strategies that will help them learn more proficiently.

Interact with their classmates with respect, avoiding teasing and bullying. They recognized that such negative behaviors work against developing and sustaining a positive school climate in which learning thrives.

Characteristics of students with effective mindsets Ownership Mistakes Supportive Adult Learning Style Interactions With your table group discuss and decide which of the five characteristics is the most important for a student. Construct support for your answer.

Attribution Theory Deci’s Approach

Positive Children who are hopeful and resilient: attribute success to their own efforts, resources, and abilities. They assume realistic credit for their accomplishments and feel a genuine sense of control over events in their lives.

Negative Children with a negative mindset: more likely to interpret their achievements as predicated on luck, chance, or fate, and variables outside of their control, thus weakening their confidence in future success.

Deci suggests that students will be more motivated to engage in and persevere at school tasks when their teachers develop a school environment that satisfies particular needs.  To Belong and Feel Connected  To Feel a Sense of Self-Determination  To Feel Competent

With your table group: Compare and Contrast Attribution Theory & Deci’s Approach

That is the information on student mindsets, but what about the mindsets of educators?

1. Understand mindsets and how they impact behaviors 2. View building resiliency as something that is not an extra curriculum 3. Educators have a lifelong impact on students

4. All students wish to learn and to succeed 5. Ask ourselves “what can I do differently” 6. View empathy as an essential skill

7. Seek ongoing feedback from students 8. Look for what I can do differently rather than waiting for the student to change first 9. Identify each students “island of competence” 10. Realize that one must strive to become stress hardy rather than stressed out

Scenarios 1 – 6 We will work on scenario #1 together and then work in small groups on scenarios 2 – 5.

Athletics and Music – A student comes to you and tells you they cannot meet the deadline you have established for a project. The student explains that they have two extracurricular activities this week, a game and a musical performance. Both activities are school sponsored functions. How do you handle this situation?