Dweck – Mindset in 60 Tweets

These are my TweetNotes for Mindset. I’m planning to write a blog about it next week: Too busy at the moment.

#mindset 2.6 “people have to decide what kinds of relationships they want: ones that bolster their egos or ones that challenge them to grow?”

#mindset 2.7 “I’ll never forget the first time I heard myself say,’This is hard. this is fun.’ That’s the moment I knew I was changing Mindsets.”

#mindset 2.8 Q”When do you feel smart?”A: (from fixed mindset) “When I don’t make mistakes.”

#mindset 2.9 “people with fixed mindset expect ability to turn up on its own, before learning takes place they know how…

#mindset 2.10 “..to take tests & get As but they don’t know how how to do this-yet. They forget the *yet*”

#mindset 2.11 ch from as young as 5 can believe their intelligence can be set now & forever, by a test/expert (teacher) & by being set in an ability group.

#mindset 2.12 “Failure can be painful, but it doesn’t define you. It’s a problem to be faced, dealt with & learned from.”

#mindset 2.13 “you aren’t a failure until you start to blame…Still be in the process of learning from your mistakes until you deny them.”

#mindset 2.14 “As a society we value natural effortless accomplishment over achievement thru effort”

#mindset 2.15 “Mindsets are not fixed. Just by knowing about two Mindsets we can start thinking in new ways”

#mindset 2.16 “many ppl have elements of both.

#mindset 2.17 “effort is crucial, but ppl have different resources & opportunities”

#mindset 2.18 “did I do it for the success or did I do it because I thought the effort itself was valid?”

#mindset 2.19 “you don’t always need confidence, important to focus on learning and improving”

#mindset 3.1 “There are many myths about ability & achievement, esp about the lone, brilliant person suddenly producing amazing things”

#mindset 3.2 “many adolescents mobilise their resources, not for learning, but to protect their egos”

#mindset 3.3 “They view the adults as saying:’Now we will measure you & see what you’ve got.’ And they are answering:’No you won’t”

#mindset 3.4 “Are all children created equal? Can anyone with the right mindset do well? No, some children are different. However…”

#mindset 3.5 “the gift is not the ability itself, but constant curiosity & challenge seeking that feeds it.”

#mindset 3.6 “Prodigies or not, we all have interests that can blossom into abilities”

#mindset 3.7 “Most often when kids are behind they’re given dumbed down material on the assumption they can’t handle more…”

#mindset 3.8 “…the results are depressing. Students repeat the whole grade don’t learn anymore than they knew before.”

#mindset 3.9 Conclusion: don’t assume ch are dumb because they can’t do something (yet) & don’t dumb down the curriculum…

#mindset 3.10 …challenge them, expand their horizons, provide them with a curriculum: rich in content and possibilities.

#mindset 3.11 “Remember test scores & measures tell you where a student is, but they don’t tell you where a student will end up.”

#mindset 3.12 “Can anyone do anything? I don’t really know. But people can do a lot more than first meets the eye.”

#mindset 4.1 The Dangers of Praise & Positive Labels…

#mindset 4.2 “We asked the question: ‘Would praising people’s ability focus them on a fixed mindset?”

#mindset 4.3 Created a research project: two groups, equal at the beginning. Given test, one group praised on ability, the other on effort.

#mindset 4.4 Results:
1. Ability praised group rejected challenge of new task after the praise. Didn’t want to do anything that might expose their flaws.

#mindset 4.5 Results:
2. Effort praised group wanted new challenge, seeing it as an opportunity to learn more.

#mindset 4.6 “Next we gave each group a harder test they did less well on.”

#mindset 4.7 Results:
1. Ability praise group thought they were not smart after all. If they did less well they must be deficient.

#mindset 4.8 Results:
2. The effort praise group thought, the difficulty meant they needed to apply more effort.

#mindset 4.9 Results:
3. The ability praise group said it wasn’t fun anymore.

#mindset 4.10 Results:
4. The effort praise group said they loved the problems AND the hard ones were MORE fun.

#mindset 4.11 The performance of ability praised group plummeted. They lost faith in their abilities when they failed.

#mindset 4.12 The effort praise group continued to improve.

#mindset 5.1 Many of the things we do to ‘help children’-our helpful messages, lessons, praise-send the wrong message.

#mindset 5.2 Every word & action sends a message to our children/students telling them how to think about themselves…

#mindset 5.3 These can be fixed-mindset messages: “You have fixed traits & I’m judging them/you” or…

#mindset 5.4 Growth-mindset messages: “You are a developing person & I am interested in your development.”

#mindset 5.5 There is a strong message in our society about how to boost children’s self-esteem: protect them from failure! This can be harmful in the long run.

#mindset 5.6 ch need honest & constructive feedback. If ch are protected from it they won’t learn well. They will think feedback is negative & undermining.

#mindset 5.7 feedback is not helpful if it is full of judgement. Constructive and is helping to fix something, build a better product, will do a better job.

#mindset 5.8 Children with fixed mindsets say they get constant messages of judgement from adults.

#mindset 5.9 when children misbehave is it an occasion for judgement of their character or an occasion for teaching?

#mindset 6.0 “Don’t judge. Teach. It’s a learning process.”

#mindset 6.1 Many adults think when they judge & punish ch they are teaching. They are teaching ch if they go against their adult rules/

#mindset 6.2 …values they will be judged and punished. But they are not teaching ch how to think through the issues and come to ethical, mature decisions on their own.

#mindset 6.3 And not teaching children that the channels of communication are open.

#mindset 6.4 It’s not that adults should indulge and coddle ch, not at all. We should set high standards, but teach children how to reach them.

#mindset 6.5 Next time you’re in a position to discipline, ask yourself, what is the message I’m sending here…

#mindset 6.6 ‘I will judge and punish you? Or I will help you think and learn?’

#mindset 6.7 Simply raising standards in our schools, without giving students the means of reaching them, is a recipe for disaster…

#mindset 6.8 It just pushes the poorly prepared or poorly motivated students into failure and out of school.

#mindset 6.9 The great teachers believe in the growth of the intellect and talent, and they are fascinated with the process of learning.

#mindset 6.10 Do teachers have to love all of their students? No, but they have to care about every single one.

#mindset 6.11 Stereotypes tell teachers which groups to give up on before they’ve even met them.

#mindset 6.12 We must teach student to love learning. To learn and think for themselves. To work hard on the fundamentals. There are no shortcuts.