Mindsets

• How do beliefs about our ability influence behavior?

• What are messages that we are sending our children about their intellectual capacity?

• What opportunities can we seize daily to influence children’s beliefs about themselves?

• How can we teach children to exert effort effectively?

Effective Effort

(The Key to Success in Life and School)

Think of a Time…

• When something was hard for you, but you got better at it. What did you learn how to do? How did you get better at doing it? Who helped you get better at it?

(Share with your partner: minutes)

Two Theories AboutHow Intelligence Works

Innate Ability Theory: People are born with a certain amount of intelligence. How well they succeed or fail depends on that amount of intelligence.

Fixed Mindset

Two Theories AboutHow Intelligence Works

• Incremental Belief Theory: Ability + Confidence + Effective effort (hard work + acquiring strategies) = ACHIEVEMENT

• Growth Mindset

Key Terms

• Effective-produces the desired result

• Ineffective-does not produce the desired result

• Effort-something done by hard work

What Does it Take to Make Effective Effort?

• Hard Work• Time• Focus• Resourcefulness• Use of Feedback• Commitment• Persistence

Hard Work• Hard work means that

you are challenging yourself, and your brain, whenever you do work. You should put 100% of your energy into the work you are doing.

Time

• Time means that you spend enough time on the work. You don’t rush through it- you work on it for as long as it takes to get it done completely and correctly.

Focus

• Focus means that you concentrate only on your work when you’re doing it! No TV, no Facebook, no telephone, no Twitter -no distractions!

Resourcefulness

• Resourcefulness means that you know where to go, and who to ask for help, when you are stuck. You stay with teachers, you call a friend if you’re stuck on homework, ask for a tutor if you know you’re having a hard time in a subject.

Use of FeedbackIf someone gives you feedback (they tell you to practice your times tables, or use more details in a ‘Take a Shot’, or read for 40 minutes a night instead of 30), you should

use that feedback to help you improve.

Commitment

• Commitment means that you are determined to do your very best work, and do whatever it takes to achieve your goal.

Effective Effort vs Ineffective Effort

• Ineffective Effort means that you are working hard, but you’re not working smart, so your work doesn’t yield success.

• Effective Effort means that you are working smart and hard, and your hard work yields success.

Building Confidence:Nine Arenas of Classroom Life

Arena 1: Calling on Students

• Who gets called on?• How do they get called on? By whom?

Randomly? Systematically? Hand raising?• How do I ensure that all are included? • What level of thinking is called for in the

questions?• Do I insert sufficient wait time (minimum of 3

to 5 seconds) after posing a question

Arena 2: Responding to Students’ Answers

• Another arena through which expectations are communicated is what teachers do right after a student has responded or spoken in class.

• The way teachers respond to student answers is probably more important than the questions themselves.

• Our responses to student comments or answers signal to individuals—and cumulatively to the whole class—whether it is safe to speak out, whether a student can risk trying something that’s hard, and

Arena 2: Responding to Students’ Answers

• Criticize: “That’s not even close. Come on, wake up!”

• Redirect to get more, build, and extend: “Okay. You’re on the right track. Judy, would you add anything to that?”

• “Wrong” with the reason: “Not quite, because you left out the exponent.” Then the teacher waits while the student tries again.

Arena 2: Responding to Students’ Answers (Praise)

• Specific. It specifies exactly what is praiseworthy about the student’s performance.

• Contingent. The praise is dependent on successful student performance and not given randomly or for encouragement.

• Genuine. The teacher means it. The praise is not manipulative, or given to reinforce.

• Congruent. Gesture, tone of voice, stance, and posture send the same message as the words.

• Appropriate. The choice of words, setting, and style is matched to the particular student.

Arena 3: When Students Don’t Answer

• No Opt Out• Repeat the question• Ask a simpler question• Ask a fact only question

Arena 4: Responding to Student Performance

• There are many ways one might respond to student work, whether it is products they create or some type of skill-based performance.

• Among these are feedback, encouragement, suggestions or advice, praise and questions.

• The most powerful single modification that enhances achievement is feedback.

Arena 4: Responding to Student Performance

• Reacting to Unmet Expectations• When students do poor work, it is important

they hear about it in a way that conveys our belief that they can do better.

• But students also can easily interpret low affect or a neutral or noncommittal response to low-quality work as an expression of our lack of interest or belief in them.

Arena 4: Responding to Student Performance

• Reacting When Students Do Well–“You came for extra help, studied

before the test, and took your time checking your answers before handing it in. And it really paid off!”

Arena 4: Responding to Student Performance

• Reacting to a Change in Performance– “This is nowhere near the standard you’re capable

of.”– “You did really well on this test. Why do you think

you did so well?”

Arena 5: Dealing With Errors

• There are at least two ways in which any one of us can interpret errors or mistakes we make: as an indication of weakness or lack of ability or as an opportunity for learning and growth.

Arena 6: Grading

• Grading practices send strong implicit messages about what is important and the teacher’s beliefs in students’ capacity.

• What is significant is how we determine the grade the student receives. Does the student get the higher of the two grades, signaling that demonstrated learning—and persevering toward that end—is what matters?

Arena 7: Dealing With Students Who Don’t Get It Yet

• It is a common event for a class to end with several students who don’t understand the material yet.

• If we assume that some students won’t or can’t ever get it really, or get it only partially, we feel obligated to move on to new material and drop their gap in understanding by the wayside.

Arena 8: Dealing With Students Who Don’t Get It Yet

• Our beliefs about our children’s innate ability to determine how we spend our time.

• For some the belief is that the slower students couldn’t really ever get the material anyway, and that getting all students to pass requires slowing down the whole class and dumbing down the standards.

Arena 8: Dealing With Students Who Don’t Get It Yet

• If we really believe that all students can reach a high standard given hard work, effective effort, and adequate prior knowledge…

• We would provide time and structure to reteach for students who don’t “get it” the first time around.

Arena 9: Grouping

• The grouping of students for instruction is an arena that can send powerful messages about a teacher’s belief in students’ capacity—not because of the practice itself, but because of several important variables associated with grouping students.

Arena 9: Grouping

• The standards students are pressed to reach once they are in a group

• The flexibility of entry and exit from the group• The quality of instruction• The tenacity of the teacher and his or her

expressed belief in the students’ capacity to learn

• The understanding the students themselves have of why they are in a particular group.