1. Read each statement and decide whether you mostly agree with it or disagree with it.
Your intelligence is something very basic about you that you
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.

2. The beliefs you hold about yourself and your basic qualities.
Mindset
The beliefs you hold about yourself and your basic qualities.
“Mindset: The New Psychology of Success” by Carol S. Dweck, Ph.D.
Dweck is a world renowned Stanford University Psychologist who researched how people succeed and how to foster success.

4. A snapshot of the research…
Dweck performed a study of 400 5th graders:
Children took 3 tests
2nd test purposely made more difficult - every child failed
Students who were praised for their effort achieved scores 30% higher on 3rd test than on 1st test
Students who were praised for their intelligence scored 20% lower on 3rd test than on 1st test
Conclusion: children should be praised for what they can control, like effort; praise for innate ability could build the idea that hard work is not needed to be successful.

6. Growth Mindset and Mathematics
As teachers we face fixed mindsets regarding math:
“I was never good at math and my child got that from me.”
“I’m not a math person, I’m a reading person.”
I’ve never been good at this.
We may even have fixed mindsets ourselves when it comes to some things!
The teacher’s perception of the students must be based on a growth mindset.

7. Brain Plasticity
Current research on the brain supports the idea that mistakes are good for your brain!
Brain Plasticity Video

9. What can we do?
Create an environment where mistakes are not only okay, they are celebrated!
You can do anything
Change the language we use with students
The key word is “yet”
Math answers are not “wrong” but innacurate

11. How will you celebrate mistakes in your classroom?
Brainstorm your ideas on a post-it, write one idea per note.
Share out ideas with the group.

12. Choose your words wisely…
“You learned that so quickly! You’re so smart!”
Message: If I don’t learn something quickly, I’m not really smart.
“Wow! You’re so smart you didn’t even have to study for that A on your test!”
Message: If I have to study, I’m not really as smart as they think I am.

13. Try these phrases…
Focus on effort put forth, not innate ability or perceived intelligence
I can tell you worked really hard on this.
Great perseverance.
I’m proud of you for not giving up.
Model how to handle mistakes & take risks
I made a mistake. I’m still learning too!
Let’s learn about this together.
I’m so excited to try something new today!

14. Resources for getting started
YouCubed by Jo Boaler- great source for videos, info for parents, teacher, students.
Activities to get students thinking about how they feel when they make mistakes
Math attitude survey
Give students high ceiling and low floor math tasks
2 Scoops of Ice Cream

15. Teaching Students Growth Mindset
Stanford MOOC – a free online course that is for intermediate and middle school students.
The class can be done whole class or students can sign up and take it individually.
Sign up now.

16. Ideas to promote Growth Mindset in Math
Number talks
Always give students the chance to re-test, they may not all master content at the same pace.
“My favorite no”- put math problem on the board, students respond on notecard and turn in, teacher selects their favorite incorrect answer and as a class they do an error analysis.
Share out your ideas

18. Sources
Jackie Gerstein, Ed.D. n/
cindy-bryant