|
|
|
From Theory to Practice Issue #11, April 2012
|
|
|
|
|
Dear Readers,
In this month’s newsletter, we invite you to take action on two projects. One is a FREE Mindset training webinar with Lisa Blackwell, our Mindset expert. Check out the details below and vote for your favorite training topic!
Second, learn how you can be featured in the “Power of Mindset” Gallerywe are creating to showcase learning accomplishments (of both educators and students).
Is accountability undermining American Education? Learn what Carol Dweck has to say about it!
Parents - we feature an amazing guest post on coping with pressure, straight from the desk of Dr. Christine Carter, a parenting and happiness expert.
Finally, check out the winning entries for strategies to promote positive emotions and reduce the ones that hinder learning, and find information on grants and funding opportunities.
If you would like to contribute through a guest post, we’d love to hear from you! Contact us: updates@mindsetworks.com.
The Mindset Works Team
|
|
|
Growth Mindset News and Tips
 Is “Accountability” Undermining American Education?
By Carol Dweck (reprinted from Education Nation's The Learning Curve blog)
What is education for? Is it for pouring facts and formulas into students’ heads, or is it for creating learners?
At its best, was the U.S. educational system known for producing memorizers and test-takers or was it known for producing innovators?
I think we can agree that we want to create learners and innovators—people who seek challenges, stretch to learn new things, and bounce back from (or are even energized by) setbacks. If this is what we want, we are going about it in exactly the wrong way. High stakes testing may in fact be creating the very opposite in our students.
My research shows that an environment that emphasizes evaluation and testing creates a fixed mindset. That is, it sends the message that intellectual abilities are fixed and that the purpose of school is to measure them. Students come to see school as the place to look smart and, above all, not look dumb—not a place to create and learn. A fixed mindset also breeds low effort (because students believe that high effort advertises low ability), and poor reactions to difficulty (because they believe that difficulty also reveals low ability). These are not the habits of people who achieve or innovate in adulthood.
Read the full article at Education Nation's The Learning Curve blog
 Coping Under Pressure
By Dr. Christine Carter
“What we’re seeing is something I call ‘Generation Squeeze,’” says Paul Kershaw, Ph.D., referring to a study he published showing that parents of school-aged kids are incredibly stressed.
According to Kershaw, a family policy expert from the University of British Columbia, we parents are “squeezed for time at home, squeezed for income because of the high cost of housing, and squeezed for services like child care that would help [us] balance earning a living with raising a family.”
Sound familiar? When we’re squeezed for all these resources, here’s another thing that gets squeezed: our happiness, and our ability to raise happy children.
This is a special problem for me, being a parenting and happiness expert and all. (I define an “expert” the way the physicist Niels Bohr once did: “a person who has made all the mistakes that can be made in a very narrow field.”)
I love my work—this “happiness expert” thing is a really good gig—but I also strive to not work long hours, as this compromises the “parenting expert” part of things.
Here is what I’ve learned that we “Generation Squeeze” parents can do:
Read More
First Mindset training webinar: choose your favorite topic!
 We are happy to announce our first live training webinar, with our co-founder and Mindset expert Lisa Blackwell, Ph.D. The webinar will focus on insights gleaned from educators, researchers, and the staff here at Mindset Works on best practices in the cultivation of a growth mindset. The webinar is FREE and it’s open to all the life-long learners out there!
You now have a chance to help choose the training webinar topic by voting for your favorite in the poll. If you have another suggestion for a topic, please describe it in the comment section below—we’d love to hear about it. The topic that gets the greatest number of votes will be the focus of the webinar. It’s that simple!
What is your favorite topic for the first training webinar? Vote Now!
Just for Fun: Invitation to participate in the "Power of Mindset" Gallery!
 We are rolling out a fun project to showcase the power of Mindset and invite you to take part in it. The “Power of Mindset” Gallery will feature photos, videos, animation, or diagrams that describe how Mindset and/or Brainology have impacted your students’ or children’s learning journey in the past year. We encourage you to introduce the project to your kids and start brainstorming ideas. Besides participating in our gallery, you will both get a chance to generate a great memory of what you have accomplished throughout the year and inspire others!
Visit our Power of Mindset Gallery page for more details!
 Grants and Funding Update!
Are you looking for grants or funding opportunities to bring the Growth Mindset to your school? Check out our new grants and resources page for more info!
The Growth Minded Educator Contest
The Growth Minded Educator Contest is our way of capturing and sharing collective learning experiences, and recognizing the efforts that educators have put into instilling and cultivating a Growth Mindset in their students.
March 2012 Contest Results
 We had some terrific entries to March’ contest, so we decided to honor the entries of two educators! The Growth Minded Educators of April are: Michael Crape and Steve Rish!
Congratulations to our winners, and thank you to all who participated! We received some fantastic submissions, and will reach out to some of you to discuss ways to share the other entries.
Below are the winning entries to the contest question: "What strategies do you use to promote positive emotions, or hinder the negative ones, in learning?”:
Read more...
Enter the next Growth Minded Educator Contest
All contest entries have a chance to win an autographed copy of Carol Dweck''s book, Mindset: The New Psychology of Success.
Contest Question:
How do you keep your students motivated and engaged toward the end of the year? Please share at least one strategy or activity. (Suggested length: 150 words or less.)
Email your answers to updates@mindsetworks.com by April 30th, 2012 We’ll review each answer and share the winning one(s) on a future newsletter.
If you have any questions regarding the contest, please post a comment or email us at updates@mindsetworks.com
Do you have something to say?
Please post comments at the bottom of any of the articles, and if you have more to say, consider writing a guest blog or newsletter post! Email us at updates@mindsetworks.com to share your guest post idea.
follow on Twitter | friend on Facebook | forward to a friend
|
|
|
|
|
