Growth mindset

• List them on the board

Talent: a special natural ability or aptitude

Skill: the ability, coming from one's knowledge, practice, energy and effort, to do something well

Of the qualities listed, which are considered talents, and which are

considered skills?

...Einstein's teacher said that he was “academically subnormal”

….Michael Jordan's coach said that he was not more

talented than other people…

…..Walt Disney was told that he lacked “creative

imagination”

How did they become successful?

The brain is static. Talent and giftedness are permanent.

THE FIXED MINDSET

The brain is malleable. Every time you learn something new, the brain forms new connections.

THE GROWTH MINDSET

• Those with a fixed mindset view effort as a reflection of low intelligence.

• Hard work means “I don’t get it, I’m unintelligent”

• Effort = lack of ability

• Those with a growth mindset see effort as a necessary part of success.

• They try harder when faced with a setback.

• Effort = success.

• They use effort to overcome difficulty.

• Those with a growth mindset tend to create learning goals.

• Their goal is mastery and competence.

• Scores and marks reflect how they are doing now and do not measure their potential.

• They create goals for learning in order to increase performance and enjoyment and decrease negative emotion.

• People adopting a growth mindset tend to generate other, and new, ways to do things.

• If one route doesn’t work they will try others.

• They will think ‘outside of the box’ to solve problems because they believe that they ‘can’.

Learning helps our neurons GROW.The more we learn, the more connections they

make.

• Pay attention to learning • Focus on what I am learning, rather than focusing on how

I feel.• Try out new ways of doing things and seek out

challenges• Use self-motivating statements such as ‘ the harder it

gets the harder I try’.• Try things that are challenging.• It is not always important that know how to do something

at first

1. Learn, Learn, Learn- It’s more important to learn than get good grades, focus on learning and improving.

2. Realize hard work is key- Putting a lot of work and effort into learning and working hard is key, seek challenges, focus on strategies, effort, struggle and persistence despite setbacks.

3. Set feedback- Capitalize on mistakes, confront deficiencies, reflect on different strategies that work and don’t work, focus on learning and improving

• How you interpret challenges, setbacks, and criticism is your choice.

• You can interpret them in a fixed mindset as signs that your fixed talents or abilities are lacking.

• Or you can interpret them in a growth mindset as signs that you need to ramp up your strategies and effort, stretch yourself, and expand your abilities.

• It’s up to you.

THE FIXED-MINDSET says:   THE GROWTH-MINDSET answers:

“Are you sure you can do it? Maybe you don’t have the talent.”

  “I’m not sure I can do it now, but I think I can learn to with time and effort.”

“What if you fail—you’ll be a failure”   “Most successful people had failures along the way.”

“If you don’t try, you can protect yourself and keep your dignity.”

  “If I don’t try, I automatically fail. Where’s the dignity in that?”

“This would have been a snap if you really had talent.”

  “That is so wrong. Basketball wasn’t easy for Michael Jordan and science wasn’t easy for Thomas Edison. They had a passion and put in tons of effort.

“It’s not my fault. It was something or someone else’s fault.”

  “If I don’t take responsibility, I can’t fix it. Let me listen—however painful it is– and learn whatever I can.”

So as you face challenges, setbacks, and So as you face challenges, setbacks, and criticism, listen to the fixed mindset voice criticism, listen to the fixed mindset voice and talk back to it with a growth mindset and talk back to it with a growth mindset voice…voice…