Growth Mindset

[Patricia S. McRae "Trish"]

 This summer our staff is reading Carol Dweck's book on mindsets, which will be the topic of conversation during our professional work days at the end of August. If anyone else is reading or has read Dweck's book, I would be interested to know if  her repeated references to athletes and coaches is perceived to be a bit overdone? I wonder who the intended audience for Dweck's book was? It seems that our society continues to confuse the concept of hero and celebrity. Teachers frequently refer to sports and music stars as a way of connecting with their young students, but I was hoping for more substantive fodder for professional conversations.  Are there other authors who have tackled the topic differently? Whose views would you recommend that we explore?

[Sarah Hanawald]

Hi Trish,

I'm interested in your comments. I read Dweck's book a little over a year ago. I don't remember being troubled by the extensive references to athletes.

At this point in the US, I am troubled by the fact that our system of developing athletic prowess seems to be more creative, focused and successful than our academic system. Now, I realize this is a huge generalization. . . however, sports teams seem to be able to inspire persistence (!) and devotion from both children and parents in ways that academic programs can't. Instead of lamenting the difference maybe Dweck is trying to say that we should focus a spotlight what is working and try to draw upon that to make changes (the Heath brothers talk about this in Switch).

I read Drive, by Daniel Pink this past spring. I was a bit disappointed and didn't actually find the Pink's conclusions all that surprising (although the subtitle said I would be surprised). However, I found that the book inspired some great conversations among a group of faculty about the definition of motivation and how our students are/aren't motivated. This led to talk about what motivates us as educators. Those were some worthy conversations, so I should probably go back and give Pink another star on Goodreads!

You might find something similar with Dweck's work--that you get more value out of your post reading conversations with colleagues than from the book itself.

Sarah

[Christy Dillon]

I agree with Sarah. I've seen Dweck twice and I've got to admit that her ideas are "sticky" (as the Heath brothers might say). I'm far from someone who might be considered a sports' nut, so when I borrow her analogies to speak to parents about their child's fixed mindset using a sports' reference, a lot more of the dads pay attention. In fact, I had a father tell me recently when I referenced the John McEnroe example from the Dweck book that his roommate at college was none other than McEnroe. That reference alone allowed me to unblock this dad (guess where his child got the fixed mindset from?). Faculty here refer to Dweck's book a lot, more so than Pink, who tends to be more off-putting to some faculty who find him to be anti-intellectual.

[Patricia S. McRae "Trish"]

Christy, communicating effectively with parents is certainly an important part of moving forward with their children. I suppose the common denominator is athletics. Perhaps we have to honor that and 'speak sports' to get buy-in; then we can go deeper. Has your school used Dweck's Brainology online-program? A friend at Baylor told me that her school is going to use it this year, but will continue to use learning styles inventories. Anything research-based that positions students to advocate for themselves wins my vote!

[Christy Dillon]

We are planning to incorporate Brainology into our 6th grade wellness program this year. I'm intrigued by its potential and agree that anything research-based that helps students find their own voice is all good. We are also planning to give the CWRA exam to 9th graders and seniors this year as well--all in an effort to provide information and data to assess just how well we do what we say we do. BTW, what's interesting about Dweck is at her speaking engagements, she doesn't use sports' analogies to make her points.

[Patricia S. McRae "Trish"]

Christy, thanks for the feedback on Brainology as well as the CWRA your school is using. I appreciate your sense of humor :)

Trish

[Ben Chant]

Christie,

How did it go with Brainology?

Ben

[Christy Dillon]

I know that this response is a long time coming but we are in year two of brainology and from all reports it was a rousing success . Our middle school head led a session with parents to get them on board

[jim eagen]

I think sports are often the common denominator - living in NYC for years, I was always fascintaed when I overheard warm, passionate conversations on the Subway between people from all walks of life - class, race and gender became a non-issue once someone saw the backpage of the Post's headline about a Knicks win or lose. I think Dweck knows sports is one way to connect to certain readers (like me). And like it or not, we live in a country that is all about performance, competition, and winning and losing - and not just in athletics. Many of our parents are in fields like finance, technology, and law that often value these ideals above all else. It's important for educators in independent schools not to be mindful.

[Patricia S. McRae "Trish"]

Sarah, wouldn't it be interesting if professional development were centered around a focused topic and educators could choose their 'read' on that topic? We differentiate for students, why not for ourselves? I appreciate your comments and your endorsement of Pink's book, Drive.

[Ben Chant]

Coming in on this conversation a year later...how did the summer reading go?  Did anyone see Paul Tough's article in the NYT recently? http://nyti.ms/mXbiUV I was surprised it didn't mention Dweck, though Duckworth seems to be plowing the same ground.

 

Ben

[Matt Montagne]

I like Dweck's work generally, but I've always had a hard time with her emphasis on students and not the system. I wonder what role our system and industrialized construct of school has played in building the need for Dweck's work. Do montessori kids need growth mindset training? Do kindergarten kids need it? Or is it only for kids who have been in the system for many years?