Praise is a powerful thing. It has the potential to motivate, guide and support a student’s learning. But it can also derail it. When our praise is focused on outcomes and abilities (“You’re so clever!”, “You’re a real natural at this!”), it contributes to the development of a Fixed Mindset.
Students with a Fixed Mindset tend to fixate on their performance – how “good” or “bad” they are at something. They see their intelligence as innate and unchangeable, so they do what makes them feel comfortable. They are anxious about failure, which means they are unwilling to try anything new. Consequently, their learning stagnates and they fail to learn and grow as much as we would hope.
When it comes to nurturing Growth Mindsets, psychologist Carol Dweck stresses the importance of praising effort. When we praise students for their effort rather than their abilities, we help them understand that their intelligence is malleable. We help them realise that with the right actions and behaviours, they can master new skills.
However, when Dweck talks about praising effort, she doesn’t mean just any kind of effort. Only effective effort should be praised.
The problem is, the “effective” part seems to have been forgotten. Now, teachers praise students for simply “having a go”:
“You did your best.”
“At least you tried.”
“Great effort!”
When we give out this kind of empty praise, we inadvertently encourage a Fixed Mindset – the very thing we are trying to avoid. When a student is told, “At least you did your best,” the message they take away is that there is nothing more they can do. So they stop trying.
Let’s look at the two key issues when it comes to praising effort:
1. Not all effort leads to growth.
The word “effort” is thrown around so much these days, it has become a vague concept. If a student puts time and energy into a task, they are praised for their effort. But not all effort is created equal. There is effective effort – the kind that leads to growth and new learning; and there is ineffective effort – the kind where a student expends energy, but the energy is unfocused and leads to little progress. If we are to praise effort, we must praise the effective effort that leads to growth.
2. Praising effort can result in less effort.
People with a Fixed Mindset do not associate effort with growth. Usually, they’ve seen their previous efforts fail to pay off, so when the going gets tough, they give up easily. They believe that some people can do things easily, while others cannot. If we praise this type of student for their efforts (“You did your best!”), all we do is reinforce their lack of ability. It’s likely they’ll put in even less effort than before.
When Dweck says we must praise students for their effort, she means we must focus our attention on the effective behaviours and actions that lead to students’ growth. If a student is engaging in ineffective effort that’s getting them nowhere, we must redirect them towards the kind of effort that will help them grow. To illustrate this, let’s look at the Effective Effort Matrix.