Week 5 - LDC - Developing a Growth Mindset (Leading change)

My current thinking on Growth Mindset

I've heard this term bandied around school occasionally in my 2 years there. I myself often say to people "I'm not very smart but I am a hard worker." I believe this but use to see it as a negative and from a fixed mindset. I knew I could get the results with really, really hard work but then I experienced not being able to remember much from past papers or study. I now know this is more around how the brain works and memory retention - not intelligence. 

When I look back over my first two years teaching I can now see students that I've unconsciously supported with a Growth Mindset. In my first year I had an ESOL student who came in with no confidence and who was below the expected age for reading and writing. I would use phrases such as " you will get there." or " you can do it with hard work." And she did. The ESOL teacher would often say to me "you have made a difference in how Samantha sees herself. She has gone from a shy, introverted little girl to a confident one who will now offer an opinion occasionally. In a year where I felt I taught very little she was my highlight. 

In year two I had a very low class in terms of their reading and writing. Even without the benefit of the Growth Mindset knowledge I was increasing my use of language such as "not yet' or " you will get there with hard word." I had one little boy who was 8 years (in a class of 6/7yrs) who is still waiting on RTLB Lit assessment. I believe he could be dyslexic and had obvious issues with processing new information or recalling recently learnt knowledge. However he did have average handwriting and letter formation at the start. Certainly far better than 1/4 of the class. It was an area where I could offer specific praise and encourage him to improve with hard work and persistence. He by the end had beautiful letter formation and was able to help others with specific feedback.

My other key highlight for 2015 was our class work around 'Austin's Butterfly.' I had several students who openly stated "I can't do it - it's too hard." This became their reason for either not starting any work or giving up soon after. I choose the word perseverance as our learning goal and over the course of 3 weeks every student produced a final draft of a Blue Butterfly. They did this by offering and accepting specific feedback to each other about their drawing draft. It was one of those times that I deliberately allowed all the time every student needed in order to finish - there was no time frame or finish date. The final results visually were very noticeable. However I observed the natural way we could use the word Perseverance in the class to apply to other learning e.g. when we learnt TBall - the first 2 sessions were messy and many students failed. As soon as I used the comparison to the butterfly drafts they relaxed and went back for another go with a more positive attitude. TBall became the classes favourite free choice. 

Overview

The term 'growth mindset' refers to the belief that abilities can be developed and honed through dedication and hard work. In contrast a 'fixed mindset' is the belief that you are born with a level of talent and intelligence that really can't be changed.

The above resonates strongly with me as evidenced by my current thinking above. It helps me to believe that personally I can learn what I know to be important for my growth as a leader both in my class and in my school. I can do this because it is not based on my intelligence but my passion for teaching and my past experience that hard word can produce the results I'm after.

These concepts are the basis for Stanford psychologist Carol Dweck's book Mindset: The New Psychology of Success. Dweck maintains that how we feel about things like risk, learning, intelligence, tests, failure, effort (and other things) form our beliefs, and those beliefs can ultimately impact our performance and success.

Growth mindset in a leadership context “comes from a belief that those we lead can be motivated to improve and grow their practices. This choice usually involves including many stakeholders in decision-making, over-communicating the vision, mission, and goals, building shared values, and providing specific, targeted, timely feedback.

A Growth-Minded [Leadership] Choice might result in this:

• Validates and addresses staffs fears and barriers
• Communicates the vision explicitly
• Provides support to those who lack knowledge or skills
• Creates an opportunity to share research and information
• Allows everyone access to growth opportunities
• Shares the work load among all staff”

Harvard Article by Carol Dweck

• “For some people, failure is the end of the world—but for others, it’s this exciting new opportunity.”
• People with a “growth mindset,” in contrast, enjoy challenges, strive to learn, and consistently see potential to develop new skills. 
• Instead of focusing on output, which can be seen as the result of talent (and emblematic of a fixed mindset), we think about effort.

 Interview with Andrew Patterson

• issues highlighted were 85% felt lack of confidence asking questions
• link between competence and confidence - once you get good at something your confidence flourishes
• Experiential learning - one student expressed that his goal was to be Minister of Education so Andrew arranged a small group of kids to go to Wellington and meet John Key.
• Next take some kids to Silicon Valley - dtop them into google and facebook. H
• They returned driven and focused on their goals with some changing their goals after the trip.
• “Don’t limit kids to their immediate realm.
• Not every idea will work out but Try out ideas.
• Not being afraid to challenge yourself.
• Disruption  is the nature of the world we live in now.
• Why shouldn’t Education and the ways kids learn be thought of in a disruptive way.

An easy speaker to listen to who presented his obvious passion and belief he wanted to make a difference. I liked his 'can do' attitude and his use of his contacts to make things happen. The following stood out for me:

• Competence and Confidence - my experience is that these do go hand in hand and the smallest step in competence can foster huge growth in confidence. This current paper is a case in point. I received back a 90% which not only gave me the confidence to continue and believe I can do it. The result also motivated me to use much of my holiday time to go back over the course readings in more detail and reflect more deeply. 
• Experiential learning - Without a doubt my more satisfying moments of teaching so far have been the experiences my students have had with guest speakers e.g. army officer talking about why ANZAC day is so important to him and then teaching the children to march or leopard crawl. Walking a couple of miles carrying water while we study it's importance and how we can help those overseas who don't have clean drinking water. I definitely want to have my students more hands on and with choices within the classroom and also talking about what they are interested in.

2nd talk by Andrew

His talk “The Power of Confidence to Change Lives” details how his work in low decile schools has impacted both himself and the students he works with.

• Creativity, Confidence and Purpose - all linked.
• In the course he covered: How to meet and greet people confidently; how to start a conversaion; how to frame questions properly; how to develop critical thinking skills; how to deliver an effective presentation.
• The course became transformative and in some cases life changing.
• " Now I believe what I want to believe" young 13 yr old student, Bailey.
• Used PT England and how each student over 8yrs has a net book. All their traditional processing jobs have gone so they need to have digital knowledge.
• In the book creative confidence Tom and David Kelly, the founder of Ideo, "At it's core creative confidence is about believing in your ability to create change in the world around you. It's the conviction you have that you can achieve what you set out to do.Creative Confidence is like a muscle, it can be strengthen and nurtured through thought and experience."
• Andrew believes we can reimagine our communitt building social capital.We need to redefine value in the 21st C.
• Sal Khan - in two years he has formed the largest online school. His vision is to provide a world class education free of charge to anyone anywhere. 
• Umar Hark in his book "Betterness" - we need to build positive paradigms. A healthy state that maximises potential. What we have never explored is the ability for more prosperity in human exchange. He believes in this social contract for the 21st Century - " if you work hard and play be the rules you will achieve fitter, smarter, wiser. tougher, closer, 
• Victor Frankel - The meaning of of his own life. "The meaning of your life is to help others find the true meaning of theirs."

Developing a Growth Mindset: Secret to improving grades

• Why don't we see unmotivated Babies?
• What is mindset? A mental attitude that determines how you will interpret and respond to stituations.
• Fixed Intelligence - no matter how much you learn or how hard you work your intelligence stays the same!
• The brain is malleable - every time you work hard, stretch yourself and learn something new your brain forms new connections and over time you actually become smarter.        

Steps to Developing a Growth Mindset:

Step 1#: Learn, Learn, Learn - " It is much more important to learn that to get top grades."

Step 2#: Realise that hard work is key - "Putting a lot of effort into learning and working hard is key."

Step 3#: Face Setbacks - Captilise on mistakes and confront deficiencies.

Developing a Growth Mindset - Mindlab Video

https://app.themindlab.com/media/15877/view
by Phillipa Nicol Post Grad Program Director in Wellington

• There is a fixed intelligence that can be measured using an IQ test. No matter how much you learn or how hard you work your intelligence stays the same. Carol Dweck
• The Growth Mindset belief is that the brain is malleable: that it is like a muscle that can get stronger and work better as you learn and stretch yourself. Over time you can get smarter.
• It is a Mental attitude.It's now what you are born with that matters; it's your mindset that matters.
• Guy Claxton - Building Learning Power - exercise our 'learning muscles."
• Implications for Learning:
• Language we use - Do we talk about "work" or "learning" Work can be hard and finite. Learning is ongoing and a journey. It needs persistence and resilience.
• Class displays - finished product versus learning in progress. What is the purpose?
• " Not Yet" " I can't spell it YET!"
• Role of Praise Effort and Persistence versus intelligence and talent.
• Failure -F.A.I.L first attempt in learning, iterative loops.
• GATE programmes - do we need targeted programmes? More inclusive.
• Life- Long Learners - are we role modelling with failure.

Tasks for Week