Developing a Growth Mindset Katherine Muncaster Staff Meeting

Questionnaire Ask staff to complete a copy of Dweck’s questionnaire Explain that this can be used with pupils aged 10+ Have got a child friendly version for pupils aged 6–9 Need to define terms with pupils prior to use, particularly the word ‘intelligence’

Scoring For use with Y5 and above: Ignore the answers to questions 4 -6 Add the scores for questions 1 -3 Divide by 3 Score of 4+ is Growth Mindset Score of 3 or less is a Fixed Intelligence Mindset Score of 3.3 - 3.7 is borderline

Prime Minister Winston Churchill repeated a grade during elementary school. He was placed in the lowest division of the lowest class.

Composer Beethoven’s teacher called him a hopeless composer. He wrote five of his greatest symphonies while deaf.

Writer Twelve publishers rejected J. K. Rowling’s manuscript of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone. One year later, one publisher gave her a chance but told her to get a day job, since she had little chance of making money in children’s books. J. K. Rowling’s net worth in 2012: $1 billion USD

Aims for the session: To define the terms fixed mindset and growth mindset To identify how the teaching of growth mindsets can affect pupils in the classroom To examine how feedback can affect a pupil’s learning and the classroom culture

Carol S. Dweck Click here to view Carol S. Dweck discuss how the two mindsets influence behaviour and achievement.

What does this mean? According to Stanford University psychologist Carol S. Dweck, success is not determined by innate talents and intellect. Rather, success depends upon mindset – the degree to which we believe we have the capacity to cultivate our intelligence and grow our abilities. Click here for another video on fostering growth mindsets.

Mindsets: Not Just Intellect People embrace fixed or growth mindsets about all of their qualities, not just intelligence. Many people believe that our other qualities – creativity, artistic ability, athleticism, personality traits – are qualities with which we are born. However, Carol S. Dweck asserts that any and all of these qualities can be cultivated. You don’t see unmotivated babies!

When do you feel smart? Fixed mindset: Growth mindset: “When I don’t make any mistakes.” “It’s when I finish first and it’s perfect.” “When something is easy for me and others can’t do it.” Growth mindset: “When it’s really hard, and I try hard, and I can do something I couldn’t before.” “When I work on something for a long time and finally figure it out.” There’s two types of fixed mindset: 1. High performing pupil who can come across as difficult. They may have the need to portray an image where they are perceived as clever. 2. Pupil who struggles with work and so switches off. This can result in bad behaviour.

What’s the big deal? Fixed mindset thinking results in: A false sense of superiority, undermined by a deep sense of self-doubt A fear of failure; refusal to take risks A feeling that failure permanently defines you as a loser A need to prove yourself again and again

Growth Mindset Growth mindset thinking results in: A love for learning and self-improvement A desire to be challenged A willingness to work for positive results A belief that you can control the outcomes in your life with effort and practice The ability to learn from mistakes and failures Emotional resilience

Why should you teach growth mindsets to children? Research shows that pupils make greater academic progress if they embrace the growth mindset concept It helps to create independent learners It builds resilience and life-long learners It creates a collaborative culture in the classroom where everyone is supported

Why should you teach growth mindsets to children? It improves behaviour in the classroom It helps girls to make greater progress in mathematics as they begin to take risks, make mistakes and learn from them It helps to engage boys further in literacy and writing in particular It effectively prepares pupils for our complex, ever-changing world It makes the teacher’s job easier!

Prerequisites The school should establish the use of talk partners that change on a regular basis Talk should be used as a vehicle for effective learning Teachers need to develop themselves as facilitators of learning Teachers should be open and honest with pupils Pupil-generated success criteria should be embedded It is essential that these are in place to foster an environment where a growth mindset can be embedded.

Growth mindset in the classroom Feedback Success criteria Challenge Direct teaching of growth mindset

Feedback and Praise Praising pupils’ intelligence puts them in a fixed mindset. Fabulous! You are amazing! Teacher: I’ll ALWAYS need praise Child:

How do you respond…? When a child succeeds? When a child fails?

Messages children hear Teacher says: ‘You learned that so quickly! You’re so clever!’ Child hears: ‘If I don’t learn something quickly, I’m not clever!’

Messages children hear Teacher says: ‘You’re so brilliant, you got an A without even studying!’ Child hears: ‘I’d better stop studying or they won’t think I’m brilliant.’ Myth of false praise.

The things that we say… Growth mindset: Fixed mindset: Ask the staff to think of alternative phrases for feedback. Choose a phrase such as ‘clever girl’ or ‘well done’ to stimulate discussion. You could repeat this activity for a range of phrases and create a bank of ideas that could be displayed in the staff room and added to.

Feeding back during the lesson In order for feedback to be powerful, the following must be embedded: A culture that welcomes mistakes Feedback must relate directly to the learning in the lesson (e.g. do not comment on handwriting if that is not what pupils are learning) Feedback should comment on the success so far and what needs to be done to move the learning forward. Reduce the gap between where the pupil ‘is’ and where they are ‘meant to be’ Most variable effect size

Feeding back during the lesson… How do peers feed back? Have you explicitly taught this? Use the visualiser and mini-plenaries to show learning Reflect on and remind pupils of ‘What Makes Good’ or the success criteria

Praise Praise effort rather than ability Encourage pupils to see learning as a process that is more valuable than the end results Model how to give feedback to pupils as this will provide them with a structure to work with Identify challenges for pupils and ask them to identify their own challenges Recognise both effort and struggles, not just effort alone Place emphasis on strategies and choices Encourage pupils to choose difficult tasks, persist and use their mistakes Focus on learning and improving

Feedback phrases “Well done… you’re learning to…” “Every time you practise, you are making the connections in your brain stronger.” “Super effort, you have… [praise process]” “You can use this mistake. Think about why it didn’t work and learn from it.” “You need some more challenging work…” I can’t do this … yet I am learning to …

Challenge The language of challenge is very powerful and it is a very effective tool for motivating pupils Pupils should see challenge as part of their learning journey Pupils should be challenged as individuals and encouraged to focus on their learning journey

What is Self-Efficacy? Self-efficacy is the belief that you are capable of accomplishing the things you set out to do. A healthy self-esteem results when a pupil has a strong sense of self-efficacy. This comes from actual earned accomplishments, not piled-on praise. This is what we want for all our pupils and exploring mindsets is an effective means of developing this.

Self-Efficacy vs. Self-Esteem Pupils who demonstrate self-efficacy are more successful than pupils who have an inflated self-esteem (high confidence).

Next steps? What will you do differently following this staff meeting? What are your next steps?