Helping them grow up as brave, resilient learners The Growth Mindset Challenge for parents Helping them grow up as brave, resilient learners

What we know now Intelligence is not fixed. Effort is the path to mastery. For success in exams, employment and in life, determination, optimism, emotional intelligence and a growth mindset are crucial. . Good exam results don’t necessarily predict success in work or life. Bright children can plateau and waste their potential Emotional intelligence is a more reliable indicator for resilience and happiness 1 in 4 children will suffer from mental health issues before they are 18

Emotional Intelligence is more important than IQ - Goleman Persistence/resilience Deferred gratification Mood control Stress management Empathy Impulse control Optimism Self-management GROWTH MINDSET Think of a time when you learnt something new…..

Doesn’t it feel great to be so successful!? I’m never, ever going to give up learning to walk Doesn’t it feel great to be so successful!? I ask lots of questions I keep practising over and over again When I keep falling over, I just laugh! Responsive to feedback. Resilient. Risk-taking. Relentless curiosity. Adaptable Make connections. I like everyone I meet! I try out lots of different words and sounds I LOVE a challenge ALL CHILDREN BEGIN LIFE AS BRILLIANT LEARNERS © Jackie Beere Associates

Mindsets (Carol Dweck) You have a certain amount of intelligence, and you really can't do much to change it You are a certain kind of person, and there is not much that can be done to really change that. You can learn new things, but you can't really change your basic intelligence You can do things differently, but the important parts of who you are can’t really be changed. 1=Strongly agree 2=Agree 3=Mostly agree 4=Mostly disagree 5=Disagree 6=Strongly disagree. 4 MORE GROWTH MINDSET 24 © Jackie Beere Associates

Fixed mindset Growth mindset Intelligence is a given Intelligence can grow Leads to a desire to want to look smart and therefore develops a tendency to: Leads to a desire to want to learn and therefore develops a tendency to: Avoid challenges as can’t risk failing Embrace challenges willingly Can get defensive or give up too easily Persist in the face of setbacks See effort as fruitless or sign of weakness See effort as the path to mastery Ignore useful negative feedback Learn from criticism and welcome the feedback. Feel threatened by the success of others, leading to fragile self confidence and relentless perfectionism Find lessons and inspiration in the success of others As a result, may plateau early and not achieve potential As a result, can reach ever higher levels of achievement. Carol Dweck © Jackie Beere Associates

Emotional intelligence means having a growth mindset… YET!

MINDSETS are fed and nurtured through beliefs It’s what we do round here…. MINDSETS are fed and nurtured through beliefs Consider the beliefs that will create a growth mindset in your child

Mood, habits, mindsets, skills Attitudes, behaviours, outcomes Mood, habits, mindsets, skills Thoughts and ideas Beliefs and values SUCCESSFUL LEARNER Visible Resilience, risk-taking, communication skills, self management, flexibility, determination Invisible I got that wrong but I learnt a lot If it’s hard it must be growing my brain I love a learning challenge I’m not good at maths…YET Learning makes me clever Change is possible Making mistakes helps me learn My brain can grow © Jackie Beere Associates

Supporting your child to grow Learned helplessness Key points Learning is scary. You need to take risks. Constructive criticism is good for learning NO PAIN - NO GAIN © Jackie Beere Associates

© Jackie Beere Associates The learning brain JUST GROW IT! METACOGNITION Thinking Evaluation Reflection Creativity Analysis Learning transforms your brain Emotional Novelty/surprise Humour Music Rhythm/rhyme Love Mystery Stories Passion! Fear Anger Threat Anxiety Primitive © Jackie Beere Associates

Unconscious incompetence Conscious incompetence Unconscious competence The problem with rewiring the brain…………… Unconscious incompetence Comfort zone Conscious incompetence PANIC! Coasting? Or excited? How do we get in the habit of breaking through? 10,000 hours.. Just what I do! Unconscious competence HABITS Conscious competence EFFORT

We have to work hard to think like this Your view of the world feeds your internal dialogue I’m ok We have to work hard to think like this You’re ok You’re not ok Natural selection favours the paranoid I’m not ok Negativity bias Once upon a time in the jungle……

Are you a success? How do you see it? You will always prove Success and failure are a perception You will always prove yourself right Growth Mindset means you can reframe the world and adjust the picture so that change/growth is possible

You can change your mindset... ‘Be the change you want to see’ Praise effort NOT intelligence Carol Dweck. © Jackie Beere Associates

Praise effort rather than focus on outcome GROWING YOUR CHILD’S MINDSET EVERY DAY Do Do say Don’t Don’t say Praise effort rather than focus on outcome I’m so proud of how hard you are trying and how much you are learning Praise their intelligence and talents – as if they are fixed You must get 10/10 – it’s the only result that matters because you are so bright Give lots of feedback about how they have done and what they could do next – without criticising and judging. You have written such an exciting story – how about redrafting and checking some of the spellings I have underlined? Judge their outcomes – either good or bad You are so talented, I expected more from you OR This is full of mistakes you can do better! Focus on what they are learning and developing and celebrate that You have really tried hard with those sums – how do you work them out? Make them feel all that matters is their scores and grades You got an A that is brilliant You need to get good grades if you are ever going to be successful Help them realise that mistakes are part of learning and you only learn by making mistakes and sticking at it until you can make progress Did you find that book hard with all those difficult words – just think how much you are learning if you get through it all Get upset if they can’t do it – and show you think they are useless You will never get on if you don’t read more books? Model growth mindset yourself by sometimes getting it wrong and showing how you learn from it I’m finding it really hard to learn a few Spanish phrases for the holiday but I’m going to stick at it! Demonstrate you are stuck in your ways and nervous about learning new things I don’t do foreign languages..and I’m no good at maths, so I’d rather not bother

Encourage reflection, review, redrafting, resilience Austin’s butterfly Taking feedback, aiming for quality, listening to peer critique

Carol Dweck ‘Mindset - The Psychology of Success’ What makes us successful in school, work, life?? Be the best learner you can be. Celebrate the struggle not just the results See effort and challenge as the path to mastery See mistakes as learning experiences Help build resilience and independence

Limiting beliefs need to be challenged Change your thinking I’ll never be a good writer Maths is too hard for me I will practise and practise until I become a good writer I love maths because it is so hard it makes my brain grow Making mistakes makes me feel stupid Making mistakes is an important part of learning I’m not clever enough to do well The harder I work the more my brain will grow I hate it when I get it wrong GROWTH MINDSET When I get it wrong, I want to learn from it Limiting beliefs need to be challenged

Targeted lessons in emotional intelligence Empathy Optimism Self awareness Willpower Resilience Stress management 60 lessons and projects to develop the HABITS of Learning

Key ideas – the ultimate SELFIE REFRAME THINKING: STRUGGLE = MY BRAIN GROWING EFFORT MORE INTELLIGENCE LEARNING = A JOURNEY FEEDBACK = BRAIN FERTILISER I CAN THINK ON PURPOSE EVERYONE CAN BE SMARTER

In the age of uncertainty… ‘It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change.’ Charles Darwin jackie.beere@virgin.net