Growth Mindsets

[Notes taken from a podcast of a chap from Chew Valley talking about how they had introduced ideas around growth Mindsets to staff and pupils.]

Growth Mindset verses Fixed Mindsets.

Click graphic to see larger version. 

Based on the work of Carol Dweck. 

See also TED Talk: The Power Of Belief - Mindset And Success (Eduardo Briceno). 

Mantra according to some is: Work smarter, not harder.

Change this to: Work harder to get smarter. 

Motivational posters from Chew Academy: see this PowerPoint.

Shift in language. Listen to what you say to yourself:

Instead of...	Try saying...
I'm not good at this.	What am I missing?
I'm brilliant at this.	I'm on the right track.
I give up.	I'll try a different way.
This is too hard.	This is going to take time and effort.
I can't do this.	I'm going to learn how to do this.
I'll never be as clever as her.	I'm going to learn how she does it, so I can too.
It's not good enough.	How can I improve it?

“Every teacher needs to improve, not because they are not good enough, but because they can be even better.”

-- Dylan William

[End of notes.]

Comment

I am intrigued by the "shift in language" table. The second line is interesting because the "Instead of..." entry is the only positive statement in the column. It suggests that pupils who are doing well can still have a fixed mindset. They may be succeeding but could they be even more successful. It seems to me therefore that there should be more positive statements in this column. For example, the second last row could be: 

I'm cleverer than her.

I could be even more clever.

What do you think? Could any others be adapted like this? Or can you think of any new, positive entries that could be added?