MPE Blog
The limitations a fixed mindset can have on a person, their outlook and their education (and physical education) is enormous. I found this video eye opening, take a look. This past summer I was immersed in learning during the month of July. One of the ideas that stuck was the difference between a fixed mindset and a growth mindset. Working with a group of teachers (Gord Gallimore, Vikki MacLaughlin, and Erin Gates) in the MED program at X we researched how praise can affect learning and mindset became the focus of our research.
Simply put, in a fixed mindset, Intelligence is static, this leads to a desire to look smart and therefore a tendency to avoid challenges, to give up easily, to see effort as fruitless or worse, to ignore useful negative feedback, and to feel threatened by the success of others. As a result those with a fixed mindset plateau early and may achieve less than their full potential. Meanwhile a in growth mindset, intelligence can be developed, which leads to a desire to learn, to embrace challenges, to persist in the face of setbacks, to see effort as a path to mastery, to learn from criticism, and to find lessons and inspiration in the success of others. As a result these people can potentially reach ever higher levels of achievement. Put another way, people in a fixed mindset believe you either are or are not good at something, based on your inherent nature, because it’s just who you are. While people in a growth mindset believe anyone can be good at anything, because your abilities are entirely due to your actions. Based on mindset theory a teacher can determine the influence of the language used in praising comments on student performance and behaviour. As a teacher then, one should modify or change the language used when providing praise to influence student performance and behaviour more positively. In being mindful of the findings of this inquiry, teachers could then improve their practice to better serve their students. BE AWARE OF YOUR LANGUAGE
ENCOURAGE MISTAKES
FOCUS ON PROGRESS AND EFFORT
SET MICRO GOALS
Recently I have been thinking about this with regard to physical education. When we have students disengage from class and who pigeonhole themselves as non-athletic, as not liking PE, or as not good a sports... they are employing a fixed mindset believing that they cannot alter "who they are". Meanwhile, this perception can be reinforced by the presence of students and even the teacher who appear to be the exact opposite to these disengaged students, and appear to be that way without effort or having to work at it. This leads to how to deal with these disengaged kids. My hope is that through self awareness and reflection and being careful with language that we can help these people to see that they are able to improve and perform and that working hard, effort, mistakes and perseverance can lead to growth and development of their skills in PE. Sources: https://sivers.org/mindset 8 Apps to Promote Growth Mindset in Learning Ted Talk - Carol Dwerk Ted Ed Select Video - An Introduction
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