Positive psychology meets K-12 pedagogy. This course explores key ideas of positive psychology and shows how great teachers apply those lessons to maximize student engagement and accomplishment. Through lectures, discussions, interviews and footage of great educators in action, you’ll learn how to integrate character-based objectives into your own teaching.
Growth Mindset - Interview with Dr. Carol Dweck & Dr. Greg Walton
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From the lesson
Teaching Character in Every Moment
Character education starts with an intentional approach to every human-to-human interaction.
Taught By
Dave Levin
Co-Founder, KIPP; Co-Founder, Relay GSE
In 2007, Carol Dweck from Standford University, published an important
article about a study she ran, with 373 middle school students.
She asked each kid a simple question.
Is intelligence something very basic, that can't really change?
Their respective answers sorted them into two fascinating groups.
The fixed intelligence group, who answered?
Yeah, in, intelligence is, is essentially solid.
And the malleable intelligence group, that said no, intelligence can actually change.
Years went by, and Dr. Dweck discovered that the kids in the fixed mindset.
We're more worried about looking smart, than about learning.
Faced with a setback, they thought it was an intrinsic failure, a personal thing.
And they stopped trying.
On the other hand, those who thought intelligence could grow over time,
were more interested in learning for learning's sake.
And were willing to take risks, even though they knew they'd make mistakes.
They worked hard, because they thought they could actually become better.
And when they were faced with set-backs, they regrouped, re-strategized and
then, they tried again.
Set-backs and mistakes, were seen as chances to improve, and learn, and grow.
Dr. Dweck calls this attitude growth mindset.
And it's the second corner, of the micro-moment triangle.
There are three attributes to being in a growth mindset,
effort, using good strategies, and proactive help-seeking.
Here's Carol Dweck, and Greg Walton.
Thank you it is an incredible honor to be here with both of you.
You have a captive audience.
>> Mm-hm. >> Of teachers and
parents here, who are looking for.
>> Mm-hm. >> You know how to translate the research.
>> Yeah. >> In, in, into practice.
Where would you guys even begin to, to, to think through that?
>> What we find is that students who are in this fixed mindset,
who think they only have a certain amount of intelligence,
when they encounter effort or a difficulty, they say, it means I'm dumb.
But in a growth mindset the kids say, wow, this is when I'm getting smarter.
So educators have to foca,
focus on that process of learning, not just the outcomes.
>> I'II just add that I,
I think what's really important when students are encountering tasks that
are really hard or they're struggling, you know,
it's easy to look at them from a third party point of view, or
from a teacher's point of view, or a parent's point of view.
And not really be sensitive to the, meaning that the child, or
the student, is trying to make of that task.
But kids are there, and they're actively trying to make meaning of that.
They're trying to understand that.
And they are, they are liable potentially to-
>> Mm-hm. >> Think it means that, the,
that struggle means that they can't do it, or that they won't be able to, to do it.
And so, identifying those key moments, as a parent or as a teacher.
When your students are struggling and knowing that,
that's, that's a really important psychological moment for the student.
And then finding a way in the context of your relationship, and
the setting that you're in, to help guide your student or
your child's understanding of this trouble that they're going through.
Through this kind-
>> Yeah. >> Of language is really important.
>> Saying things like, who had a great struggle today?
Or if a, a child says, I'm not good at this.
You say yet.
There is value in those words, but
there's also value, in demonstrating those concepts.
Demonstrating that they apply to you, as well as they apply to them.
A teacher saying, I don't know the answer.
Let's figure it out.
Or, a mistake, isn't that interesting?
I made a mistake.
What can I learn from it?
Or, let me keep at this, and try another strategy.
So, not just telling kids that's what you should do,
but, modelling that that's what we do as learners, all of us.
>> Even if we work really hard, maybe in school as a student or
maybe in school as a teacher, we can sometimes find ourselves slip into
a moment where we feel ourselves in a kind of fixed mindset.
>> Mm-hm.
>> And, I think it's really helpful to.
To recognize that, to understand that's part of our culture, and
then to respond to that appropriately.
Not to beat yourself up about that, but to recognize that for what it is.
>> So, so let's, let's stay there for one second.
So if you were to say, here's how you know, you're sliding into a fixed mindset.
>> Mm-hm. >> What would be the, the tell-tale signs?
Of I know, I'm in a fixed mindset when.
>> I would articulate it in my mind as a thought of something like,
I just can't do this.
And I can't see, I can't see ahead.
And I think, when you have that thought, you want to step back-
>> Mm-hm. >> And you want to approach the problem or
the, the challenge, what you're trying to learn, differently.
You want to, you want to ask yourself should I,
should I study in a different way?
Should I ask a friend who understands this, how they think about the problem?
Should I, should I go to the teacher?
You want to, not take that as an answer.
You don't want to stop.
You don't want to allow that thought, to make you stop.
>> I think another thing is, you don't want feedback.
You don't want people seeing your work.
You want to hide it.
You want to push it away.
You want to do something else.
>> So we talked about the, the, the fixed mind set here's what it sounds like.
Does the growth mind set in your head how, what, what are your thoughts there?
>> You're still struggling.
>> Right.
>> Growth minds it doesn't mean that you've got it right away.
>> Right. >> But you're working hard, and
you're struggling, and it might feel like you're not making that much progress.
But you're, you're, you're treating it as a problem to be solved, and you're going
at it, and you're going at it, and you're going at it in different directions.
>> Yep. >> May I speak from personal experience?
>> Please, even better.
[LAUGH].
>> I knew I was recovering from my fixed mindset,
when I heard a voice in my head say, this is hard.
This is fun.
>> Yeah.
>> And I thought, who said that, because in the past, hard was threatening.
Maybe I wasn't as smart as, I thought I was or wanted to be.
And here I thought, this is fun.
This is an opportunity to figure something out.
>> So if you have a very struggling student.
How should teachers think about adjusting for the, for, for that
particular child's needs, and, similarly if a kid's a super high achiever.
How do they think about the right, you know,
getting them to have challenges that, you know, support the growth mindset effort?
>> This is a core aspect of teaching, I think, right?
And, I mean, the answer is.
You know, there's a simple answer, but it's really, it's hard to do.
Which is, you want to get the right challenges in front of the kids.
So, you want the kids to be working on material that is,
is challenging, that is pushing them.
And that they can make progress on.
But isn't, isn't so easy that it's not really genuinely challenging for
them and finding.
The way to do that, and find a way to do that in a,
in a com, in a sort of heterogeneous class, it is hard.
>> Mm-hm. >> And we don't want teachers to say oh,
this student is struggling, I'm going to really water down the work, and
make the student feel good.
That student may be struggling for
now, but when they make that breakthrough, maybe they're going to forge ahead.
Especially in math, that happens a lot.
And by saying no, this is a struggling student, I'm going to make them feel good,
you may be depriving them of that opportunity to move forward.
Every student, has something to teach you about being a teacher.
Rather than being threatened by a,
a child who doesn't seem to be progressing who should be challenged and curious and.
Let me try this, let me try that.
It should be a spur to your growth.
I love the idea that every student has something to teach.
>> I love, I love that idea.
I often think of it as when I talk to teachers,
I often say, if we can shift our mindsets from seeing kids as problems.
To seeing them as puzzles.
>> Yes.
>> I've worked with a lot of kids.
And I remember, in my own life, the first time someone told me I was smart.
>> Yeah.
>> You know, I was a private, private, private school special-ed kid.
>> Mm-hm.
>> And I remember very clearly.
It was very much like what you were saying, Gray,
about someone told me that, you know, they believed I could do something.
>> Mm-hm. >> Because they knew how smart I was.
And it was the first time that someone had used, smart in connection with me.
>> Mm-hm. >> And I remember that, you know,
I was eight.
So that's 35 years later.
I kind, I kind of very clearly remember that.
And so, how does that all fit in?
>> I think it's just a slippery concept.
>> Yeah. >> And I think that's why it's hard.
So, so you can say to, you can say to a kid.
And you can mean it, and the kid can understand it, in a growthy kind of way.
That is, you're so smart.
Look at the potential that you have.
If you work hard, look at your ability to grow and to learn.
This is, you, you, you can do this.
You can grow.
You can do this.
You can go and do things, you can be, you can.
Acquire skills, you can learn calculus, you could, you know, you, you could do it,
you have a great potential.
And there's a, sometimes when we talk about smart, we have that meaning, and
that meaning is understood.
But sometimes, that meaning is misunderstood or
it, or we simply mean that you are smart.
You have this thing.
You are smart, that's it, that's, that's a fixed thing.
>> And it alone will take you there.
>> It alone will take you there.
The way that you told the story of, of somebody saying to you that you are smart,
it felt to me that it was a statement of your potential and your,
your learn, your sort of learn ability and your growth, your growth potential.
And it wasn't a statement about your sort of a fixed quality if you.
>> Are there sentence starters?
Are there typical phrases, that you would wish teachers would use more frequently?
>> Some of our collaborators and colleagues, David Yeager and Geoff Cowen and
others have done this really nice work on, on wise feedback that's designed to.
Be a way in which teachers and mentors can give critical feedback to
students that helps to sustain their motivation.
And the idea is that when you give critical feedback, it's,
it can be demoralizing for students.
They can feel bad.
They can disengage.
And, that can cause teachers sometimes just to withhold that critical feedback,
but that is the most valuable resource there is.
There's, I mean, you know, when a teacher gives critical feedback, a good
solid critical feedback to a student, that's the learning that, that can occur.
So, the, this work by David, and by Jeff and others, shows that if you,
if the teacher prefaces that feedback by telling the student.
Why I'm giving you the feedback.
I'm giving you this critical feedback,
because I believe you can meet a higher standard.
I'm, I've seen your work so
far, and there's a higher standard, and I'm confident that you can get there.
And I'm giving you really critical feedback, so you can get there.
>> And ultimately, you want them to feel cheated, if they don't get
critical feedback, because you're robbing them of an opportunity to improve.
>> Should we look at some kids?
>> Sure. >> Yeah.
>> It's a minute-long clip of Sara Cotner
with a mixed-age classroom.
>> Mm-hm. >> Of first through third graders.
So here we go.
>> All right.
And let's write on your sheet that you're passing to.
You're excelling.
You're doing your very best work.
Passed to next level in math.
Do you feel proud of yourself?
[NOISE] You've really been working hard.
There you go. >> And this is a piece of work
that you have to concentrate.
>> Yeah, it takes a lot of concentration.
>> What are her strengths there, and where would you push her in the future?
>> I thought there were a lot of strengths.
I thought she focused on the progress, moving to the next level.
I think she made the student feel good about working hard.
And you know, working through challenge.
So I, I thought that was her really great strength.
>> Any areas of growth that you think Ms. Cottiner should think about going forward.
>> If I had to be a little picky.
>> [CROSSTALK] She's an amazing teacher, she'd appreciate it.
>> I wondered if I would say, you're doing your best work.
>> And, and instead you might say?
>> You're doing great work.
You've made a lot of progress.
We don't know what her best work is.
>> Your best is yet to come.
>> Do you feel proud of yourself?
>> When she asked a kid, are you proud of yourself?
>> Yes.
>> Positive, negative thing to do?
>> I don't think pride and shame, should be at issue.
>> No.
>> That, in one study, we showed that say, saying to a child I'm proud of you,
was almost the same as praising a trade.
>> Right.
>> And so I'm proud of myself.
The opposite might be, I'm ashamed of myself if I didn't excel or, or what.
>> So if, you know, because I'm actually struggling this with my own kids.
>> Yeah. >> And, when I'm a teacher.
Is there something else you'd think?
>> You should feel good about this.
>> Yeah, you should feel good about it.
Yeah, I could see that.
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