Niko LewmanHere are the materials from today’s Parent Workshop
How do I Help Promote a Growth Mindset?
According to Carol S. Dweck, Ph.D., author of Mindset, parents can do the following:
1. Have daily learning discussions.
At dinner, in the car or at bedtime take time for both the kids and parents to share the answers to these types of questions:
- “What did you learn to day?” (Instead of “How was your day?”)
- “What mistake did you make that taught you something?
- “What did you try hard at today?”
Model desired behavior
It’s really important says Dweck that I share what I learned, too. This models for kids that I learn new things every day, even learning from failures.
When children share, you can reply like this:
- “You certainly did get smarter today.”
- “I like the way you tried all kinds of strategies on that math problem until you finally got it right.”
- “We all have different learning curves. It may take more time for you to catch on to this and be comfortable with this material, but I you keep at it like this you will.”
- “Everyone learns in a different way. Let’s keep trying to find the way that works for you.”
(These are direct quotes from Mindset by Carol S. Dweck, Ph.D.)
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 smart, pretty, or artistic. This kind of praise actually can lead to a loss of confidence since kids won’t be smart at everything. They’ll doubt their ability to be good at something that is difficult initially.
The research Dweck did on our feedback to kids is fascinating.
3. Encourage being a risk-taker, failing, and learning from mistakes.
Embracing the IB Learner Profile and especially Risk-Taker is hugely important. It is the time to let our kids risk and fail. Failure teaches our kids important life lessons. For one, it’s how they learn resiliency
But we often want to prevent our kids from failing, from feeling upset or sad.
Don’t.
We must let our kids 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.
FAIL = First Attempt In Learning
4. Encourage and model positive self talk.
