Mindset

What kind of student are you?  Bad at math? Struggling reader? Love science?  What you believe about yourself and how you learn makes a difference in your ability to learn.  I recently finished reading a nonfiction book by Carol Dweck called Mindset.  It's an excellent book with a very simple premise.  In her book she talks about the two different types of mindsets.  Fixed mindset vs. Growth mindset  

It made me wonder about the damage we do to our students when we label them with a "disability".  Sometimes that label defines them, even though that is not our intention.

I hear it all the time.  I'm not good at math or I'm not a cook, I don't write well, or I just don't do (fill in the blank)  and that's the end of it.  It's said in a way that it will never change and that's just that.   

We don't want our kids to get stuck in a fixed mindset!  Let's keep encouraging our kids to work and put effort towards the things that they have a passion to do.

I love this quote from Patricia Polacco that I heard this weekend at the Colorado reading conference (CCIRA)  this  week.  "We are all gifted, we just don't all open the present at the same time."

If you're interested in this thought changing book by Carol Dweck, check it out and the interview by NPR.

NPR - Interview with Carol Dweck

Great website!