Kathy Marks, M.Ed. Gifted Program Teacher Gwinnett County

 From Merriam-Webster’s online:  a mental attitude or inclination  a fixed state of mind  For English language learners:  a particular way of thinking  a person's attitude or set of opinions about something

 In Mindset: The New Psychology of Success, Carol Dweck writes that her “research has shown that the view you adopt for yourself profoundly affects the way you lead your life.”  Which mindset are you? 

Read each and decide whether you mostly agree or disagree:  1) Your intelligence is something very basic about you that you can’t change very much.  2) You can learn new things, but you can’t really change how intelligent you are.  3) No matter how much intelligence you have, you can always change it quite a bit.  4) You can always substantially change how intelligent you are.

Read each and decide whether you mostly agree or disagree:  1) You are a certain kind of person, and there is not much that can be done to really change that.  2)No matter what kind of person you are, you can always change substantially.  3) You can do things differently but the important parts of who you are can’t really be changed.  4) You can always change basic things about the kind of person you are.

Categorize the qualities of a fixed mindset and a growth mindset using the paper strips provided.

 In a fixed mindset, people believe their basic qualities, like their intelligence or talent, are simply fixed traits. They spend their time documenting their intelligence or talent instead of developing them. They also believe that talent alone creates success—without effort.

 In a growth mindset, people believe that their most basic abilities can be developed through dedication and hard work—brains and talent are just the starting point. This view creates a love of learning and a resilience that is essential for great accomplishment. Virtually all great people have had these qualities.

 Puzzles with children  Junior high students  College students  Praise Junior High Math Achievement

Natural Talent  Billy Beane (baseball)  John McEnroe (golf)  Pedro Martinez (baseball)  Sergio Garcia (golf)  Patrick Ewing (basketball)  Keyshawn Johnson (football) Effort  Michael Jordan (basketball)  Muhammad Ali (boxing)  Babe Ruth (baseball)  Wilma Rudolph (running)  Jackie Joyner-Kersee (heptathalon)  Marshall Faulk (football)  Mia Hamm (soccer)

Talent Scouts  Kenneth Lay and Jeffrey Skilling (Enron)  Lee Iacocca (Chrysler)  A&P  Alber Dunlap (Scott Paper, Sunbeam)  Jerry Levin and Steve Case (AOL Time Warner) Constant Improvers  Alan Wurtzel (Circuit City)  Kroger  Jack Welch (General Electric)  Lou Gerstner (IBM)  Anne Mulcahy (Xerox)

Fixed  Feels judged and labeled by rejection  Strong bitterness and need for revenge  Ideal is instant, perfect, and perpetual compatibility – it was meant to be  Continually have to prove self Growth  Focuses on understanding, forgiveness, and moving on  Wants to learn from experience  You, your partner, and your relationship can all be developed

 Listen to the messages you send about success: “Praising children’s intelligence harms their motivation and it harms their performance.”  As soon as they encounter a difficulty they will think they are not smart, which will cause confidence and motivation to decrease.  Instead, praise for growth-oriented processes: hard work, effort, persistence, practice, study, use of good strategies, etc

 Protecting children from failure to boost their self-esteem can be harmful in the long run.  Children need honest and constructive feedback. If they are “protected” from this, they will not learn well.  Constructive criticism helps a child fix something, build a better product, or do a better job.  Fixed mindset children feel constantly judged.

 Beliefs are the key to happiness and misery.  Our minds are constantly monitoring and interpreting  Fixed: internal monologue focused on judgment  Growth: internal monologue focused on learning and constructive action  Just learning about the mindsets can help shift thinking: workshops, discussions, activities  Student workshops had a significant, measurable impact after 8 sessions  Brainology™: interactive computer modules guided by teachers

 Change can be easy…but hard just as often  Dweck’s 4 Steps  Learn to hear your fixed mindset “voice.”  Recognize you have a choice.  Talk back to it with a growth mindset voice.  Take the growth mindset action.

 Created a summer online book study for 30 staff members (a first for our school) using Desire2Learn software through the county  During the study we read, learned, and discussed mindsets and how they affect us and our students  Exploration of D2L course Exploration of D2L course

 Gave a brief presentation to the rest of the staff as a teaser to do the book study in the springpresentation  Reflected on our impact impact

 We wanted to do a Spring online book study, but there were too many other staff development options going on!  We will set up a summer study and replicate with a new set of minds (after making improvements, of course!)

 Mindset: The New Psychology of Success Carol S. Dweck, Ph.D.   Desire2Learn program software for online course development