The Growth Mindset Classroom

Practical Teaching Strategies for Changing Student’s Mindset.

Carol Dweck has recently called for a more nuanced understanding of Mindsets.

Dweck’s research is powerful, with potentially profound implications for teaching and learning. But in some cases the implementation of her ideas into classrooms has lacked a depth of understanding and the level of sophistication required to make a deep and enduring impact on teacher practice, and student learning outcomes.

This course delves deep into Mindsets, addresses Dwecks call for a more nuanced understanding, and delivers the practical tools to enable you to work in powerful ways with these new understandings.

If we are to believe social media, implementing Mindsets in classrooms is largely a matter of simply praising effort, teaching students about brain plasticity, and celebrating their mistakes. Many strategies expect students to “adopt” a Growth Mindset instead of the opposite Fixed Mindset, often by engaging in specific self-talk strategies.

While each of these strategies has its place, to be most effective we need to go deeper.

The reality of Dweck’s research is that most students have neither a Fixed or Growth Mindset, but rather we all lie somewhere on a continuum between these two extremes.  Dweck was simply using the Fixed / Growth dichotomy as a tool to juxtapose the two extremes.

In this course you’ll explore the Mindset Continuum, and recognize how students at different points along the continuum display different characteristics.

Understanding the different characteristics and responses of students at different points of the continuum is only the first step. As a teacher you are a Mindset Maker. You create experiences that slowly shift students along this continuum.

The model we use here is the Mindset Meter, comprising not just of the characteristics we see, but also a deep understanding of the sort of experiences, the Mindset Movers, students are likely to have had to leave them with their current Mindset.

You’ll explore the practical classroom strategies that you can employ to help shift students towards a more highly growth-oriented mindset. Far from being “teach about mindsets”, this course equips you with strategies you’ll use alongside your day-to-day teaching, to help improve student learning outcomes while developing more growth-oriented mindsets in your students.

Each set of strategies in the course is tailored for students at the low-growth, mid-growth, or high-growth part of the continuum.

You will:

·       Discover how and why the low mid and high growth students respond differently to praise.

·       Understand why competition is a poor strategy for low-growth oriented students, but a great one for high-growth oriented students.

·       Learn powerful questioning strategies that help reduce the fear of failure and judgment.

·       Unpack how and when to develop a meta-language for learning

·       Explore how to shift the meaning of assessment from “Who” you are, to “Where” you are in your learning.

·       Learn powerful and practical ways to praise Effective Effort

·       Increase your focus on teaching the process of learning, including in your assessment strategies.

·       Much much more.

If you are excited by the potential impact that changing student Mindset can have on learning outcomes, but you’re worried that the superficial approaches abundant in social media will lead to Mindsets becoming another one of “last years” initiatives, then this is the course for you.

Become a Growth Mindset teacher. Develop a deep understanding of what it means to shift students along the Mindset Continuum, and equip your self with the practical tools to achieve greater success with Mindset.