Taming the Mindset

I hope that someday I get to meet Carol Dweck so that I can thank her. Her research and writing has probably made the greatest impact on my home-educating-professional-learning knowledge. More than my undergraduate degree in Elementary/Special Education...more than my graduate studies...more than my 10 years in the classroom. If I had known, 20 years ago, what she's been talking about for the last 8, things would probably have been a bit different. Frankly, what her research has turned up is nothing short of educationally earth shaking!

And now her stuff keeps coming to the surface, like in this Education Week  article by Alina Tugend, author of   Better by Mistake: The Unexpected Benefits of Being Wrong  . 

A key piece of Dr. Dweck's work is summarized in this:

Here’s a fascinating experiment that shows how children absorb what we say about effort vs. results. Carol Dweck, a professor of psychology at Stanford University, has conducted groundbreaking research in this area. One of her experiments asked 400 5th graders in New York City schools to take an easy short test, on which almost all performed well. Half the children were praised for “being really smart.” The other half were complimented for “having worked really hard.”
Then the students were asked to take a second test and given the option of either choosing one that was pretty simple and that they would do well on, or one that was more challenging, but on which they might make mistakes.
Of those students praised for effort, 90 percent chose the harder test. Of those praised for being smart, the majority chose the easy test.

                      ....

One way we can do this is by understanding the concepts of “fixed mind-sets” and “growth mind-sets.” Those with fixed mind-sets, as Professor Dweck says, believe either we’re good at something—whether it’s math or music or baseball—or we’re not. When we have this fixed mind-set, mistakes serve no purpose but to highlight failure.

Those with what Professor Dweck calls growth mind-sets, who believe that some people are better or worse in certain areas, but we can all improve and develop our skills and abilities, are much more likely to be able to accept mistakes because they know that they’re part of learning.
And it’s been shown that when students are taught about growth mind-sets, their motivation to learn improves.

What a mind shift! It's not about talent, it's not about success or failure. Son of a Gun! It's about persistence and learning!  It's about believing that hard work will get you somewhere...and then continuing to try hard.  I've tried to explain that to one of my kids, but that just doesn't seem to compute.

Is it because it's easier to believe in "I can't do that as well as she, because she is more talented," than it is to believe "She may master things sooner, but if I persist, fail...and continue to try...I can probably get it too"?

Is it perhaps unpleasant to understand that some have to work harder in order to attain the same things? Does that make us "unequal" and in a nation of  "one size fits all" education and practice?

Is it because trying and failing means that I'm less intelligent, so why try?

Is it easier to give up trying than to work at it and discover the possibilities?

Motivation.

What's your motivation? What is your kid's motivation? Should they do it for a grade or should they do it because by stretching they discover the possibilities? What are we telling them by asking them to work for grades?

Tugend gets right to the heart of it. And I will be the first to tell you that I am as guilty as the rest. I'm a Momma-Bear...yesterday, today and always...but here it is:

Of course, much of this onus to shift the way we look at and react to mistakes falls on parents. We have to be willing to let our children struggle and fail and make mistakes without always rushing in to protect them or fix the problem.

Wrong answers are ok...when you use them to grow and stretch and learn. It's so hard though to not desire that our kids succeed above all else. It's so difficult to watch our kids struggle. Some of you know that today this message is very  hard for me...but I've restrained myself.  Perhaps the Momma-Bear can find a grumble that says, "I want you to succeed, but failure has its benefits and reward too. It's fine." Can I want both? Perhaps.

Dweck is on my Kindle. I'm betting that Tegund joins her soon.