Providing Praise and Feedback While Encouraging a Growth Mindset Abstract: Too often are kids being praised incorrectly or stuck in a fixed mindset about intelligence, they are stuck in the “now”. Throughout this article you will learn the importance of providing effective praise and feedback as well, some examples on how you can implement a growth mindset or “yet” in your classroom. Keywords: praise, learning, feedback, growth, mindsetIntroduction Teachers have unconsciously set students up to fail by using praise incorrectly. When you praise a student’s intelligence instead of their effort, the student may associate the teacher liking them because they are smart. In fear that they will disappoint the teacher, students who are praised for their intelligence are more likely to doubt their abilities and often stay within their comfort zone with what they know they can do.
These students usually possess a fixed mindset, meaning they believe they are only good at a few things and “can’t” do others. We need to teach kids that they all have the opportunity to succeed, they just aren’t there “yet.” By saying “yet” you are implementing a positive belief that the student can accomplish the task with a lot of hard work, therefore making them focus on the effort and progress rather than the end result. Using this practiceThe power of “yet” is incredible. The perspective of yet or not yet is one not many individuals have lost sight of. Dweck’s talks about her concept in a TED Talk called “The Power of Believing that You can Improve” is based on the idea that we, as people, are all on a learning journey, and that just because a person has not accomplished a task “yet,” does not mean that the person cannot or should not try,.
.or make mistakes, the teacher should see this as a chance to teach students new perspectives on how to go about solving these problems-just like a detective solving a mystery. Dweck suggests, if a student has attempted a math problem for example but is now stuck, the teacher can say, “OK, let’s solve this mystery!” and ask the student to show the strategies he or she has tried so far. As the student explains a strategy, the teacher can say, “That’s an interesting strategy. Let’s think about why it didn’t work and whether it gives us some clues for a new path. What should we try next?” When, perhaps with the teacher’s guidance, the student finds a fruitful strategy, the teacher can say “Great! You tried different ways, you followed the clues, and you found a strategy that worked.
You’re just like Sherlock Holmes, the great detective. Are you ready to try another one?”
