Well I am going to start the official blog on the article so I am not last minute for once. A few things came to mind as I read this article. One of them is the low reading group I have this year. I didn't realize I have been encouraging them in a growth mind-set sort of way. They are fully aware that they have been and are in the lowest reading group in the 4th grade. I have been trying to boost their confidence by keeping them focused on their progress in my class. By charting their progress with oral reading check-outs and independent work they can see they are improving. I really believe most of them feel they can and are becoming better readers than before. My hopes are that this will motivate them for higher achievement in reading.
I thought this article was very interesting and certainly shed some insight on the two types of praise. Even though I praise effort, not intelligence, it didn't occur to me that it was harmful to praise someone's intelligence because that kind of praise would lead students to perceive themselves as either smart or not smart. I have worked with students who have the fixed mind-set. Now I understand why it is difficult for those types of students to try something new; they are afraid of making a mistake. I agree with the article that teachers can help students maintain their confidence in learning by helping them stay focused on the process of developing their achievement level. When students believe they can do something, they find a way to accomplish the task. Good luck with your reading group, Deb.
After reading Deb and Jan's comments, I realized that the teacher could create a classroom of confident and eager learners by commenting on improvement, strategies, motivation, and effort. Even the mind set learners would probably start to believe that, in fact, they too could have higher achievement because of being praised for something other then their smartness.
I found it interesting how just a few simple changes in my vocabulary might make a difference. I guess that when I give an assignment that saying "This is pretty easy and shouldn't take you too long" might not be the best thing to say. I will try this week to pump up my HS Understand the Holocaust kids with some "good" praise and see what happens on their test. I will keep you posted.
Even in first grade I see students that are so afraid to fail they chose not to even try. After reading this article, I realized that those students may already think that making an effort makes them dumb. This year I have one student that I think has this fixed mind set. All week long I have been making an extra effort to comment on his effort. I haven't seen any change in his behavior yet but I did hear a comment he made to a classmate. He said that we all make mistakes when we are learning. It made me smile since I had just told him that. Hopefully he will become motivated to learn without worrying about how smart he will appear. So like Eric, I'll keep you posted.
This article brought one of my students to mind. He is one of the smartest kids I've ever had but he knows it. Anything that is challenging or makes him think is a real problem for him because he's so used to everything being easy. This year I have presented some challenges for him and I have tried to encourage him by telling him it's OK to get things wrong and that you should look at it is a learning experience. That has't gone over real well yet. I'll keep trying though. I also thought it was interesting that Alfred Binet's purpose of the intelligence test was to help identify students who were not profiting from public schools. I wonder what he'd think about how it's really being used.
I always thought we have gotten in the habit of praise for nothing or praise for the wrong things. I know I have been guilty of doing both. I also found it very interesting the fixed and growth mind sets and how easily we turn our students and children into the fixed mind set.
This year I started a new grading system that I think rewards students for their effort. They start out each quarter with point and as long as they do their assignment they keep those points. They lose points for not completing the assignment. My problem is that the students are so hung up on grading the assignment and why should I do it if it doesn't matter how many I get wrong. It has been hard trying to change their mindset to look at their mistakes and learn from them. I have one 8th grade student that is very bright and he is really having a hard time with the new system. This article made me realize that maybe I'm going in the right direction? Any suggestions?
12 comments:
Hi Janice, I got your message. I will read the article and blog back.
I am glad you are able to "blog" about the article with me. Isn't this fun!
I got your message. I hope you get mine.
Jean
Hi Janice. I'll get reading.
Julie
Well I am going to start the official blog on the article so I am not last minute for once. A few things came to mind as I read this article. One of them is the low reading group I have this year. I didn't realize I have been encouraging them in a growth mind-set sort of way. They are fully aware that they have been and are in the lowest reading group in the 4th grade. I have been trying to boost their confidence by keeping them focused on their progress in my class. By charting their progress with oral reading check-outs and independent work they can see they are improving. I really believe most of them feel they can and are becoming better readers than before. My hopes are that this will motivate them for higher achievement in reading.
I thought this article was very interesting and certainly shed some insight on the two types of praise. Even though I praise effort, not intelligence, it didn't occur to me that it was harmful to praise someone's intelligence because that kind of praise would lead students to perceive themselves as either smart or not smart. I have worked with students who have the fixed mind-set. Now I understand why it is difficult for those types of students to try something new; they are afraid of making a mistake. I agree with the article that teachers can help students maintain their confidence in learning by helping them stay focused on the process of developing their achievement level. When students believe they can do something, they find a way to accomplish the task. Good luck with your reading group, Deb.
After reading Deb and Jan's comments, I realized that the teacher could create a classroom of confident and eager learners by commenting on improvement, strategies, motivation, and effort. Even the mind set learners would probably start to believe that, in fact, they too could have higher achievement because of being praised for something other then their smartness.
I found it interesting how just a few simple changes in my vocabulary might make a difference. I guess that when I give an assignment that saying "This is pretty easy and shouldn't take you too long" might not be the best thing to say.
I will try this week to pump up my HS Understand the Holocaust kids with some "good" praise and see what happens on their test. I will keep you posted.
Even in first grade I see students that are so afraid to fail they chose not to even try. After reading this article, I realized that those students may already think that making an effort makes them dumb. This year I have one student that I think has this fixed mind set. All week long I have been making an extra effort to comment on his effort. I haven't seen any change in his behavior yet but I did hear a comment he made to a classmate. He said that we all make mistakes when we are learning. It made me smile since I had just told him that. Hopefully he will become motivated to learn without worrying about how smart he will appear. So like Eric, I'll keep you posted.
This article brought one of my students to mind. He is one of the smartest kids I've ever had but he knows it. Anything that is challenging or makes him think is a real problem for him because he's so used to everything being easy. This year I have presented some challenges for him and I have tried to encourage him by telling him it's OK to get things wrong and that you should look at it is a learning experience. That has't gone over real well yet. I'll keep trying though. I also thought it was interesting that Alfred Binet's purpose of the intelligence test was to help identify students who were not profiting from public schools. I wonder what he'd think about how it's really being used.
I always thought we have gotten in the habit of praise for nothing or praise for the wrong things. I know I have been guilty of doing both. I also found it very interesting the fixed and growth mind sets and how easily we turn our students and children into the fixed mind set.
This year I started a new grading system that I think rewards students for their effort. They start out each quarter with point and as long as they do their assignment they keep those points. They lose points for not completing the assignment. My problem is that the students are so hung up on grading the assignment and why should I do it if it doesn't matter how many I get wrong. It has been hard trying to change their mindset to look at their mistakes and learn from them. I have one 8th grade student that is very bright and he is really having a hard time with the new system. This article made me realize that maybe I'm going in the right direction? Any suggestions?
Post a Comment