Watch these videos: www.classdojo.com/bigideas/#2zrtHt3bBmQ www.classdojo.com/bigideas/#v5t-RKm0VFg The above videos show how important it is for students to have a growth mindset. At some point or another, there is going to be something that is hard for students. The students who can read above grade level sometimes have a hard time with fine motor activities such as writing well or cutting out shapes neatly. Similarly, students who are excellent at Math sometimes struggle with less finite concepts such as making predictions in text. When they struggle, they may want to give up. They may want parents, teachers, siblings, or classmates to do it for them. They will try many approaches; even bargaining and crying. But doing it for them just reinforces their self-doubt. Instead, we need to remember and nurture the power of "yet".
Carol Dweck, a professor of psychology at Stanford University, explains that some students feel as though their intelligence is "up for judgement" (Dweck, 2014) and this leads to cheating and looking for others who perform worse so they can feel better. This is definitely not the negativity that we want to foster in our classroom. Instead, we want students like Mojo and Katie in the above videos who acknowledge their limitations, work together to solve problems, and build each other up. Dweck suggests we foster the "power of yet" by making sure that when we lavish praise on students students we aren't praising their intelligence or the final product. Instead, we should praise the process and the effort required to get to where they are. She encourages us to praise their strategy, their focus, and their perseverance. "This process praise creates kids who are hardy and resilient" (Dweck, 2014). This gives students confidence and a vision of the path into the future instead of being stuck in the now. When your student comes home frustrated from a hard day, remind them that their brain is a like a muscle that needs exercise. When they bring home an A, don't praise the A. Instead ask them how they came up with those answers and praise their process or improvement. For example, "I am impressed how you thought that through" or "I am proud of how hard you worked to understand that better". And when your student says they can't do it, tell them they can't do it - yet. I will be using this philosophy in our classroom this year and hope that it fosters confidence and a strong sense of community as we forge into our future. I hope we will all be excited about what we don't know- yet. References Dweck, C. S. (2014, September 12). The power of yet [Video file]. Retrieved from You Tube website: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J-swZaKN2Ic
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OrganizationOur character trait this month is Adaptability Archives
October 2018
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