Looking for ways to turn around fixed mindset pre-teens right now.
Below is an outline of Growth and Fixed mindsets.
Basically fixed mindset means you think you are as smart as you're ever going to get - this is reinforced by parent/teacher comments about how smart you are, if you won, how high was your score...
It is likely that if you have a student who rolls their eyes at new tasks, blames others, has anger outbursts when it's time for assessment, hides their mistakes and declares they "suck at this" has a fixed mindset. They belief that effort is a BAD THING and if you have ability you should not have to apply effort. They believe that making an effort means you are not smart.
Fixed mindsets sap learner motivation!
Growth mindset is when you know that with effort and practise you can improve performance - reinforced by comments about how hard you worked and your process - did all your hard work pay off, what new things did you learn...
People with a growth mindset understand that mistakes are a part of learning. They embrace effort and challenge.
I have been noticing the difference in myself and others with the use of "yet" at the end of some of my critical statements. Most recently I used this with some of the young folk in my loom band workshop at IDEC (International Democratic Education Conference).
The video below is where I got the idea to start with.
Learner: "I'm not good at maths"
Teacher: "...yet..."
BEWARE LAVISH PRAISE!
Praising intelligence actually turns people off to learning.
Praising process encourages a growth mindset.
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