Have you ever felt like praising a student
whose grade was just a little above the average? Well, that happened to me and
that was exactly what I did. I wrote how glad I was to see that his efforts,
better behavior and involvement paid off and that he had to keep on doing all
the exercises and participating in class. Actually, what I was trying to do was
to build in him a more “constructive mental model”. Well, let me share with you
a very interesting article I read as part of an online course I took called “Teaching Character to Create Positive
Classrooms”.
According to this article, each person holds
his/her own belief about intelligence. Some believe they have a fixed mindset, in which intelligence is
a fixed entity, it doesn`t change. These beholders are performance oriented,
that is, in response to failure they are more likely to give up as they see
failure as an evidence of low competence and effort as a sign of low ability
(not as a need to change strategy). These students don`t believe in their
ability to learn, when they don’t reach a goal they feel like losers, are humiliated
and, eventually, they give up. They worry more about proving they are good than
improving their learning skills.
However, others believe in the Incremental
Theory. This theory says that intelligence can be expanded and developed. These
theorists, who believe in a growth
mindset, are more focused on increasing their ability, they see effort as a
way to nurture and develop intelligence; they show enthusiasm to learn and are
not afraid of new challenging experiences. For them, learning is more important
than performance and failure is seen as an obstacle to overcome. Moreover,
the challenge excites them.
Our belief in what kind of intelligence we have
plays an important role in our academic outcome. It is good to know, though,
that intellectual ability can always be developed. However, this does not imply
we all have the same potential in every area, or will learn everything with
equal ease. The good news is mindsets and skills can be taught in order to
achieve academic success. Check below a list of some key elements we should be
aware of to promote a growth mindset and, consequently, academic success.
Praising plays an important role in
the building of a person`s mindset - Praising students for their effort fosters
resilience, a key trait in those who hold a growth mindset. Comments like “That’s
a really high score. You must have
worked hard at these problems.” make students understand that their effort was
responsible for their success and want to work harder to be successful
again.
Cooperation rather than competition promotes a better learning
environment. Studies show that students believe that cooperation activities
engage students more than competitive ones.
Another predictor of academic success is the feeling of social
belonging. Students who develop a bond with their peers and teachers are more
engaged, get better grades and are more successful at school.
Teachers and schools need to keep standards high and challenge students.
High expectations foster motivated students because teachers invest more time
on them, give more attention, constructive feedback and encouragement.
High-quality feedback with clever strategies to facilitate student
understanding is among the strongest predictors of student accomplishment and
teacher effectiveness. That is because it shows the commitment of the teacher
to learning and belief in the student`s capacity for growth. Good teachers are
like good parents—at times authoritative but consistently caring.
Scaffolding – Effective teacher seldom gives direct answers and
feedback. Instead, they use hints, and gradually provide more specific hints
until students answer a question correctly.
Sense
of belonging – It`s important to create a sense of fellowship between students
and teachers. One-on-one attention, caring relationships and good rapport is
critical. Group work can bring motivational benefits because it encourages cooperation
and makes students see that their difficulty with course material is another
student`s difficulty as well. Moreover, this sharing lowers the sense of
frustration and provides a sense of identity.
In a few words, remind your students that
success is possible with dedication, and difficulty is something temporary they
can overcome rather than something that is out of their control. Greater effort
yields to greater competence and the more we believe in the students` ability
to learn, the easier it is for us to do our jobs.
