Developing Confident Individuals

Learners meet very challenging targets and almost all make good or excellent progress as reflected in contextual value added measures Essex Schools Draft School Improvement Strategy Quality learning and teaching are the key principles of the school ethos, harnessing pupils’ self-esteem and self-confidence so that each and every pupil is given the opportunity to realise their educational potential. Burnham-on-Crouch Primary School: Learning Teaching Curriculum Policy

Can teachers improve self - esteem?

“Children need to fail. They need to feel sad, anxious and angry. When we impulsively protect our children from failure, we deprive them of learning skills. When they encounter obstacles, if we leap in to bolster self-esteem…to soften the blows and to distract them with congratulatory ebullience, we make it harder for them to achieve mastery. And if we deprive them of mastery, we weaken self-esteem just as certainly as if we had belittled, humiliated and physically thwarted them at every turn.” MARTIN SELIGMAN

Mindset Optimism + Self-Efficacy

Neuroplasticity Brain can change structure and function through thought and activity.

Attribution Explanatory Style Beliefs

Mastery

Mindset Are people born brainy, talented at sport, naturally gifted, nice people? Fixed Mindset Growth Mindset

I am clever I am a naturally brilliant….. I am developing my intelligence I am becoming more capable at……..

Mindset Related to your belief about ability Creates a whole mental world for you to live in Fixed mindset – ability cannot change Growth mindset – ability can change (grow)

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 5 of his greatest SYMPHONIES while DEAF

Writer Leo Tolstoy dropped out of college He was described as both “UNABLE and unwilling to LEARN"

Motivation

Two types of goals Performance Learning

Those with learning goals: Higher score 50% more writing Significantly more adept at devising strategy

Goals: performance Those with a FIXED MINDSET tend to create PERFORMANCE goals. They seek positive judgments on their ability both from themselves and from others.

Goals: learning Those with a growth mindset tend to create LEARNING goals. The goal is MASTERY and COMPETENCE. Their focus is on developing their intelligence/ability.

Response to failure and challenge

Response: helpless When faced with failure or challenge, people with a FIXED mindset: Do not pay attention to learning information Denigrate their intelligence: ‘I am stupid’ Explain the cause of events as something constant about them.

Response: mastery Pay attention to learning information, and so do better on future tests. Focus on what they are learning, rather than focusing on how they feel. Try out new ways of doing things.

Attitudes to effort “If you have to work hard on some problems you are probably not very good at them” “When you are good at something, working hard really helps you to understand”

Effort Those with a fixed mindset view effort as a reflection of low intelligence. Hard work means ‘I don’t get it’, ‘I’m unintelligent Effort = lack of ability

Effort Those with a growth mindset see effort as a necessary part of success They try harder when faced with a setback. Effort = success. They use effort to overcome difficulty.

Strategies: fixed mindset Carol Dweck has found that students with a fixed mindset keep using the wrong strategy when faced with a problem. Then they disengage from the problem. Finally, they give up.

Strategies: growth mindset People adopting a growth mindset tend to generate other, and new, ways to do things. They will think ‘outside of the box’ to solve problems because they believe that they ‘can’.

Praise

The body in the brain A homunculus is used to describe the relative amount of space our body parts occupy in the brain. In a model of motor functions, some parts are much bigger because we use them much more, or with more accuracy.

Evidence from neuroscience Rats in a rich environment have heavier brains, by 10%, than those in a boring environment. Taxi drivers have bigger areas which deal with 3D space – the hippocampus - than non-taxi drivers. Musicians have a larger auditory cortex. Learning helps neurons grow and make connections

STRATEGIES PRAISE –Effort and Technique

Be aware Teach Mindset to students Use growth mindset language Feedback using growth mindset Be sensitive to feelings but don’t be ruled by them Coach students to develop problem solving attitudes

Summary A growth mindset helps people to be motivated and to succeed. A growth mindset can be learnt. We can foster a growth mindset in others by the type of feedback we give and by teaching them about the brain’s huge potential. Role models give people evidence of the growth mindset in action.

Resources Creating Confidence: A handbook for professionals working with young people Dr. Carol Craig Mindset: the new psychology of success Dr. Carol Dweck The Brain that Changes Itself Norman Doidge