Transcript Changing Mindsets: Teaching How to Cultivate Intelligence

Kathy Marks, M.Ed.
Gifted Program Teacher
Gwinnett County
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From Merriam-Webster’s online:
 a mental attitude or inclination
 a fixed state of mind
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For English language learners:
 a particular way of thinking
 a person's attitude or set of opinions about
something
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In Mindset: The New Psychology of Success,
Carol Dweck writes that her “research has
shown that the view you adopt for yourself
profoundly affects the way you lead your
life.”
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Which mindset are you?
 www.mindsetonline.com
Read each and decide whether you mostly agree
or disagree:
 1) Your intelligence is something very basic
about you that you can’t change very much.
 2) You can learn new things, but you can’t really
change how intelligent you are.
 3) No matter how much intelligence you have,
you can always change it quite a bit.
 4) You can always substantially change how
intelligent you are.
Read each and decide whether you mostly agree
or disagree:
 1) You are a certain kind of person, and there is
not much that can be done to really change that.
 2)No matter what kind of person you are, you
can always change substantially.
 3) You can do things differently but the
important parts of who you are can’t really be
changed.
 4) You can always change basic things about the
kind of person you are.
Categorize the qualities of a fixed mindset and
a growth mindset using the paper strips
provided.
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In a fixed mindset, people believe their basic
qualities, like their intelligence or talent, are
simply fixed traits. They spend their time
documenting their intelligence or talent
instead of developing them. They also believe
that talent alone creates success—without
effort.
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In a growth mindset, people believe that their
most basic abilities can be developed through
dedication and hard work—brains and talent
are just the starting point. This view creates a
love of learning and a resilience that is
essential for great accomplishment. Virtually
all great people have had these qualities.
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Puzzles with children
Junior high students
College students
Junior High Math Achievement
Praise
77.0
76.5
76.0
75.5
75.0
74.5
74.0
73.5
73.0
72.5
72.0
growth mindset
Fixed
Growth
fixed mindset
Entering
Academic
Year
Fall
Year 1
Spring
Year 1
Fall
Year 2
Spring
Year2
Natural Talent
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Billy Beane (baseball)
John McEnroe (golf)
Pedro Martinez (baseball)
Sergio Garcia (golf)
Patrick Ewing
(basketball)
Keyshawn Johnson
(football)
Effort
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Michael Jordan
(basketball)
Muhammad Ali (boxing)
Babe Ruth (baseball)
Wilma Rudolph (running)
Jackie Joyner-Kersee
(heptathalon)
Marshall Faulk (football)
Mia Hamm (soccer)
Talent Scouts
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Kenneth Lay and Jeffrey
Skilling (Enron)
Lee Iacocca (Chrysler)
A&P
Alber Dunlap (Scott
Paper, Sunbeam)
Jerry Levin and Steve
Case (AOL Time Warner)
Constant Improvers
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Alan Wurtzel (Circuit City)
Kroger
Jack Welch (General
Electric)
Lou Gerstner (IBM)
Anne Mulcahy (Xerox)
Fixed
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Feels judged and labeled
by rejection
Strong bitterness and need
for revenge
Ideal is instant, perfect,
and perpetual
compatibility – it was
meant to be
Continually have to prove
self
Growth
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Focuses on understanding,
forgiveness, and moving
on
Wants to learn from
experience
You, your partner, and your
relationship can all be
developed
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Listen to the messages you send about success:
“Praising children’s intelligence harms their
motivation and it harms their performance.”
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As soon as they encounter a difficulty they
will think they are not smart, which will
cause confidence and motivation to decrease.
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Instead, praise for growth-oriented processes:
hard work, effort, persistence, practice, study,
use of good strategies, etc
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Protecting children from failure to boost their
self-esteem can be harmful in the long run.
Children need honest and constructive
feedback. If they are “protected” from this, they
will not learn well.
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Constructive criticism helps a child fix
something, build a better product, or
do a better job.
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Fixed mindset children feel constantly judged.
Beliefs are the key to happiness and misery.
 Our minds are constantly monitoring and interpreting
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 Fixed: internal monologue focused on judgment
 Growth: internal monologue focused on learning and
constructive action
Just learning about the mindsets can help shift
thinking: workshops, discussions, activities
 Student workshops had a significant, measurable
impact after 8 sessions
 Brainology™: interactive computer modules
guided by teachers
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Change can be easy…but hard just as often
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Dweck’s 4 Steps
 Learn to hear your fixed mindset “voice.”
 Recognize you have a choice.
 Talk back to it with a growth mindset voice.
 Take the growth mindset action.
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Created a summer online book study for 30
staff members (a first for our school) using
Desire2Learn software through the county
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During the study we read, learned, and
discussed mindsets and how they affect us
and our students
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Exploration of D2L course
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Gave a brief presentation to the rest of the
staff as a teaser to do the book study in the
spring
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Reflected on our impact
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We wanted to do a Spring online book study,
but there were too many other staff
development options going on!
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We will set up a summer study and replicate
with a new set of minds (after making
improvements, of course!) 
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Mindset: The New Psychology of Success
Carol S. Dweck, Ph.D.
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www.mindsetonline.com
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Desire2Learn program software for online
course development
http://desire2learn.com/