1. Building a Growth Mindset in Middle School
M. Guerrero, RCMS School Counselor
G. Ochoa, RCMS School Counselor

2. “If parents want to give their children a gift, the best thing they can do is to teach their children to love challenges, be intrigued by mistakes, enjoy effort, and keep on learning.”  – Carol Dweck

3. Growth Mindset Smart Cute Great Fast Best Pretty Well behaved Amazing
I believe my intelligence is not fixed. The intelligence can be improved through effort and hardwork
I thrive on challenge. I throw myself into difficult tasks. I am self confident
I react to failure by trying harder. I am self reflective
I have high aspirations
I have learning goals. I like feed back on my performance so I can improve
Smart
Cute
Great
Fast
Best
Pretty
Well behaved
Amazing
The best
Better than

4. I like easy performance goals and being told I have done well
Fixed Mindset
I believe my intelligence is fixed. I was born clever/I was not born clever
I don’t like challenges. I don’t want to risk looking stupid. I am vulnerable
I like easy performance goals and being told I have done well
I have low aspirations
I react to failure by switching off, getting cross and avoiding the issue. I have low self-esteem

5. Growth Mindset
“When we talk about intelligence, we do not mean the ability to get a good score on a certain kind of test, or even the ability to do well in school; these are at best only indicators of something larger, deeper and far more important.
By intelligence we mean a style of life, a way of behaving in various situations, and particularly in a new, strange and perplexing situations.
The true test of intelligence is not how much we know how to do, but how we behave when we don’t know what to do.”
-John Holt: How Children Fail

6. Five ways we can develop a Growth Mindset in our Children
Have daily learning discussions
At dinner, in the car or at bedtime take time for both the kids and the parents to share the answers to these types of question:
“What did you learn today?” (instead of “How was your day today?”)
“What mistake did you make that taught you something new?
“What did you have to work at today? (learning should be hard if not we are not learning anything new.)

7. Five ways we can develop a Growth Mindset in our Children
2.Give feedback on process only
Praise effort, persistence, strategies, seeking challenges, setting goals, planning, or using creative strategies.
Don’t praise personal abilities like being clever, fast or artistic. This kind of praise can lead to a loss of confidence as children won’t be good at everything. They’ll doubt their ability to be good at something that is initially difficult.

8. Five ways we can develop a Growth Mindset in our Children
3. Do you know brains can grown?
Explain to children how the brain can grow stronger and that intelligence can improve throughout your life. Intelligence is not fixed. It’s changeable. This is called brain plasticity
What’s more, learning changes our brains. Children need to know this is possible.

9. Five ways we can develop a Growth Mindset in our Children
4. Encourage risk, failing and learning from mistakes. Good Mistakes!
Now is the time to let our children take risk and fail. Failure teaches our children important life lessons. For one, it’s how they learn to be resilient
But we often want to prevent our children from failing, from feeling upset or sad
Don’t
We must let our children fail now so that they can strengthen their growth mindset muscles. If we don’t, they will be adults with no perseverance, with no belief in their abilities to work hard and succeed

10. Five ways we can develop a Growth Mindset in our Children
5. Encourage and model positive self talk
Finally, change our words to change our mindset. Our self talk is where it all starts to shifts.

11. Real Life Example of Messages and Mindsets
Ella has been playing soccer (piano, dance, art, academics, acting) since she could walk. Her parents have instilled of love of the game from an early age and have been very involved in helping her to develop her skills
Ella and her family are proud of her talents, and she often described by friends and family as the “sporty”(artistic, smart, social) type
She is used to hearing comments such as:
“You are a such a natural athlete”
“Your mom and dad are good athletes, so it is just in your genes to be good”
“I’m sure we will see you playing Division 1 someday”
“Great game, Ella, we can count on you to win the game for us.”

12. Message and Mindsets
This year, Ella had the opportunity to try out for a highly competitive travel soccer team
Before tryouts, she was a little nervous, but she felt confident that she would do well. She knew some girls that already plated on the team, and she was looking forward to playing with them
At try outs, it was obvious that many other players trying out had been trained extremely well and had exceptional soccer skills, conditioning and stamina
Ella hung in there during many, many drills, but she was often outplayed by the other players

13. Messages and Mindset
Two days after tryouts, the coach called and notified Ella that she did not make the team
She came so close, the coach said, but her skills just needed to be a little more developed to play at this competitive level
The coach made it a point to tell Ella that he was looking forward to seeing her at try outs next year

14. What would you do if you were Ella’s parents?
Tell Ella she should have made the team and ensure her that you will do your best to see that she is in fact put on the team this season
Tell Ells that she was “robbed” and the coach doesn’t know what he is talking about
Reassure Ella that soccer is not that important anyways
Tell Ella that she has the ability and will surely make the team next time
Tell Ella that she was not good enough to make the team

15. What would you do if you were Ella’s parents?
Tell Ella she should have made the team and ensure her that you will do your best to see that she is in fact put on the team this season
Basically insincere. Ella was not the best, you know it and she does too. This offers her no recipe for how to recover or to improve
Tell Ells that she was “robbed” and the coach doesn’t know what he is talking about
This places blame in others, when it was Ella’s performance that was not adequate, not the coach . This may teach her to blame others for her setbacks instead of perservering
Reassure Ella that soccer is not that important anyways
May teach her to devalue something if she doesn’t do well in it right away
Tell Ella that she has the ability and will surely make the team next time
Dangerous. Does ability alone automatically take you where you want to go? If she didn’t make it this time, why should she the time time?
Tell Ella that she was not good enough to make the team

16. So What do I do Now? Help her realize why she did not make the team
Decide together if, now that she knows this, she still wants to try out for the team next year
Help her understand she will need to put in a lot of effort in order to make the team next year
Target the specific skills she needs to develop and set goals
Call the coach and ask what Ella can work on to improve within the next year
Look for ways to develop these skills
Seek additional opportunities for practice
Encourage her persistence: help her to persevere when she feels discouraged
Praise her and her hard work and effort as she sees herself improving

17. Developing a Growth Mindset When our children face disappointment or failure
Ok, so you didn’t do as well as you wanted to. Let’s look at this as an opportunity to learn
What parts did you do well in? What parts were difficult for you? Let’s figure out why that part was difficult and then it may be more clear how to tackle that problem
What did you do to prepare for this? Is there anything that you could’ve done differently?
Do you know anyone who does well in this area? Maybe we can find out what strategies they used to achieve this task
How can I help you work this out?
You really tried hard, I am sorry it didn’t work out the way you wanted it to. I bet you can figure out how to make it work next time. I’m here if you need someone to brainstorm with.

18. Imagine you have been given an envelope
Inside this envelope is a magic Smartie.
If you eat this magic Smartie, you will always find tasks that you take on easy.
Take a moment to think about this, then decide what you want to do.
A - Eat the Smartie….
B - Leave the Smartie in the envelope…..

19. What are the consequences for you?
Would you get the satisfaction from a job well done?
What would you learn along the way?
What would you learn about yourself along the way?
What would you learn about others along the way?
How would it help you build friendships and relationships?
What if everybody took a magic Smartie?
What if only a few people took a magic Smartie?