1. SEALS Mindset, Grit, and Goals
Project SEALS – Mindset, Grit, and Goals Module

2. SEALS- Supporting Early Adolescent Learning and Social Success
Introduction to Project SEALS
Project SEALS is a collaboration between The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Virginia Commonwealth University, and The Pennsylvania State University.
Project SEALS is a universal intervention that uses professional development to help teachers create classroom environments that promote the successful school adjustment of students during the first years of middle school.
Teachers learn evidenced-based approaches to enhance students’ academic engagement, promote students’ use of constructive classroom behaviors, and foster students’ involvement in positive social relationships with peers who value, and are productively engaged in school.
Project SEALS – Mindset, Grit, and Goals Module

3. SEALS Academic Engagement Strategies
Competence Enhancement Behavioral Management Strategies
Classroom Social Dynamics and Bullying Prevention Strategies
Academic Engagement Strategies: focused on instructional preparation, organization, and engagement strategies
Competence Enhancement Behavioral Management Strategies: focused on productive classroom behaviors
Classroom Social Dynamics and Bullying Prevention Strategies: focused on engagement in productive and positive social relationships
Project SEALS – Mindset, Grit, and Goals Module

4. Motivation and setting goals
There are a number of factors that influence student learning, they range from being social, emotional or cognitive factors.
Socio-emotional factors like learned helplessness, self-esteem, self-confidence.
Solution: Motivate students to have a growth mindset and develop grit.
This module provides educational theories on motivations that revolve around developing a growth mindset and building grit to support students achieve academic success.
Project SEALS – Mindset, Grit, and Goals Module

5. Classroom A Lets compare two classrooms
Mr. Joe is a sixth grade teacher. He believes in reinforcing his students. He uses positive reinforcement to encourage his students for completing their work, getting the right answers, and for getting good grades.
How does this kind of reinforcement influence his students?
What kind of messages does this give to his students who cannot complete their work or get good grades?
Project SEALS – Mindset, Grit, and Goals Module

6. Classroom B On the other hand
Mr. Kent is a sixth grade teacher. He believes in reinforcing his students. He uses positive reinforcement to encourage his students for the effort they put into their work and encourages his students for progressing in their tasks.
How does this kind of reinforcement influence his students?
What kind of messages does this to his students who cannot complete their work or get good grades?
Project SEALS – Mindset, Grit, and Goals Module

7. What is Mindset?
Mindset is a set of beliefs that guides an individual’s choices and greatly influences their decision making process (Dweck, 2006).
2 types:
Fixed mindset
Growth mindset
Dweck, C. (2006). Mindset: The new psychology of success. Random House LLC.
Fixed Mindset
Believe that their ‘core qualities are fixed’ and cannot be changed
Example: “I’m either smart or dumb”
If they experience failure, they attribute that failure to their innate abilities
Consequence: may avoid challenging tasks in order to avoid failure
Growth Mindset
Believe that their core qualities like intelligence or personalities can be developed or adapted based on their life experiences
Example: “I can work hard to change”
If they experience failure, it is seen as a learning process and chance to grow from the experience.
Consequence: do not avoid challenges as these may help them grow
Project SEALS – Mindset, Grit, and Goals Module

8. What is Mindset?
Mindset is a set of beliefs that guides an individual’s choices and greatly influences their decision making process (Dweck, 2006).
2 types:
Fixed mindset
Growth mindset
Project SEALS – Mindset, Grit, and Goals Module

9. Growth or Fixed Mindset?
Growth Mindset
Fixed Mindset
Students with a growth mindset believe that intelligence is ‘malleable’, thus they believe that they can learn and perform better on tasks
Students with a fixed mindset believe that intelligence is a fixed concept and cannot be developed or adapted.
They take failure in their stride and learn from feedback and aim to improve.
Do not take failure well, are resistant to feedback, and give up on task they perceive to be challenging.
These students emphasize more on the learning process and do not take failure to heart.
The end is the product of their performance there for a grade is more important than the learning process.
Project SEALS – Mindset, Grit, and Goals Module

10. Classroom strategies to foster a Growth Mindset
Praise students for their effort not their smartness.
Praise the child for their ability to perform a particular task rather than the achievement of the result.
Stress on the learning process and rather than being able to achieve a goal.
Project SEALS – Mindset, Grit, and Goals Module

11. Goals
These goals affect an individuals behavior, attitude, as well as their cognitive process involved in achieving these goal.
A fixed or growth mindset influences goals.
Having a fixed or a growth mindset greatly influences the goals we pursue. We will now discuss the different types of goals. Different researchers have used different terms to define these goals, but we will see that these terms broadly indicate similar concepts.
Project SEALS – Mindset, Grit, and Goals Module

12. Terms Learning versus Performance goals.
Task-Involvement versus ego-involvement goals
Mastery versus Performance goals.
(Ames, 1992)
Ames, C. (1992). Classrooms: Goals, structures, and student motivation. Journal of Educational Psychology, 84(3), 261.
These terms each indicate towards a fixed or growth mindset. As we go back to the Grit example of the two students Sally and Mary, what were their mindsets. Sally had a growth mindset while Mary had a fixed mindset. Thus the goals each on them set for themselves will be influenced by their grit and mindset. Learning goals, Task-Involvement goals and Mastery goals all indicate towards a growth mindset, while Performance goals and ego-involved goals all indicate towards a fixed mindset. Similarly, Mr. Joe’s classroom fostered a fixed mindset and his students are more likely to have performance or ego-involved goals. While Mr. Kent’s classroom fostered a growth mindset and his students are more likely to have learning goals, or task-involved goals or mastery goals.
Project SEALS – Mindset, Grit, and Goals Module

13. Learning Versus Performance Goal (Ames, 1992)
Learning Goals
Performance Goals
The level of effort influences outcome
The level of one’s ability and self-worth influences outcomes
Influenced by intrinsic motivation
Influenced by extrinsic motivation
Sense of efficacy is based on the belief effort will lead to success or mastery
Sense of self-worth derived from one’s ability to perform a task.
Focused on mastering and understanding content, and are eager to learn.
Learning is viewed as achieving desired goals
Address challenging or difficult tasks
Avoids tasks that are challenging as it may threaten their self-concept of ability
Project SEALS – Mindset, Grit, and Goals Module

14. Grit
“Grit entails working strenuously toward challenges, maintaining effort and interest over years despite failure, adversity, and plateaus in progress.” (Duckworth, Peterson, Matthews & Kelly, 2007)
Duckworth, A. L., Peterson, C., Matthews, M. D., & Kelly, D. R. (2007). Grit: perseverance and passion for long-term goals. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 92(6), 1087.
Project SEALS – Mindset, Grit, and Goals Module

15. How is Grit different from Resilience? What is Resilience?
Resilience is common
Resilience is a dynamic developmental process (not a trait)
Developed through interactions with the environment (Brooks, 2006)
Usually arises from the normative functions of human adaptation systems, with the greatest threats to human development being those that compromise these protective systems
Good outcomes in spite of serious threats to adaptation or development (Masten, 2001)
Defined as dynamic process encompassing positive adaptation with the context of significant adversity (Luthar, Cicchettie & Becker, 2007)
Project SEALS – Mindset, Grit, and Goals Module

16. Grit Angela Duckworth explains Grit http://tinyurl.com/lb28fpo
Project SEALS – Mindset, Grit, and Goals Module

17. Grit Versus Resilience
It is ability to persist on classwork against adversities
It is the perseverance to achieve goals in dire circumstances
More applicable to classroom and students
More applicable in life and to people at large
Project SEALS – Mindset, Grit, and Goals Module

18. How does Grit affect Academic Achievement?
Students who pursues a task for a long period of time even in face of adversity is more likely to succeed.
For example, I have two students, Sally and Mary, they are both have the same IQ, live in the same neighborhood, similar home environment. However, Sally works hard, any feedback is take in a positive way and she constantly tries to improve and never takes failure for an answer. On the other hand, Mary does not take failure well, she often gives up on her assignments and does not follow through on her tasks. In the long run though Sally and Mary have the same IQ and capabilities, Sally is more likely to be successful than Mary. This also takes us back to the kind of mindset each of them have. Sally has a growth mindset because she learns from her experiences and values learning versus completion of task, while Mary is more focused on completion of the task and getting a grade than the process of learning.
Project SEALS – Mindset, Grit, and Goals Module

19. Strategies to inculcate Grit among your students
Praise your students for their effort.
Inculcate a sense of hard work leads to achievement.
Through consistent effort they can reach their goals
Develop a growth mindset.
In a research conducted by Dr. Duckwork, a class was divided into two groups, both group got the same math problem. However, one group of students were told they were “smart” and that they would do well. The other group of students were praised for their effort. The students then had the option to solve another harder problem, 90% of the students who were praised for their effort opted to solve the problem as opposed to very few students who were praised for being smart.
Project SEALS – Mindset, Grit, and Goals Module

20. Conclusion
Developing a Growth Mindset promotes students to have Learning Goals that in turn fosters Girt.
Project SEALS - Module 1

21. References
Ames, C. (1992). Classrooms: Goals, structures, and student motivation. Journal of Educational Psychology, 84(3), 261.
Duckworth, A. L., Peterson, C., Matthews, M. D., & Kelly, D. R. (2007). Grit: perseverance and passion for long-term goals. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 92(6), 1087.
Dweck, C. (2006). Mindset: The new psychology of success. Random House LLC.
Masten, A. S. (2001). Ordinary magic. Resilience processes in development. American Psychologist, 56,
Project SEALS - Module 1