Mindset

Book Review: Mindsets in The Classroom

by Mary Cay Ricci

Ricci begins by distinguishing between the concepts of fixed mindset and growth mindset: Fixed mindset is the belief that a person is born with a certain level of intelligence that can’t change.

Growth mindset is an opposing belief that a person’s intelligence can be developed through “persistence, effort, and a focus on learning”. (3)

She then makes the important point that neuroscience supports the notion of growth mindset in that recent brain-based research confirms the concept of neuroplasticity or malleable intelligence – that the human brain can change throughout a person’s life.

Unfortunately, students tend to move from a growth mindset to a fixed mindset as they move to higher grades.  According to Ricci, a fixed mindset is damaging for students at both ends of the learning continuum: For at-risk students, it is a self-fulfilling prophecy of failure; for gifted learners, it results in “risk avoidance” as they shy away from difficult learning challenges. Hence, the major goal of her book is to suggest ways that all school community members can promote the belief in growth mindset.

In Chapter 2, Ricci explores several strategies that school leaders can use to build a growth mindset school culture:

• Have teachers reflect upon and pre-assess their beliefs about intelligence;
•  Educate teachers on the value of praising student effort, not outcomes (which includes careful attention to both verbal and non-verbal feedback);
• Educate teachers, students, and parents about malleable intelligence;
• Monitor, evaluate, and review school protocols with respect to growth mindset – including establishment of PLCs and Look-Fors for student and teacher behavior.

Classroom & school bulletin board displays such as
this example can help create a growth mindset culture

Noting that teachers must create a differentiated, responsive classroom in order that students grow intellectually, Ricci presents, in Chapter 3, “necessary steps” to such a classroom environment.  The first step is to pre-assess to allow for front-end differentiation, including possible remediation, enrichment, or curriculum compacting.  “Pre-assessment respects a student’s time and prior knowledge.” (35)   Other strategies include flexible groupings and use of anchor activities.  Anchor activities are meaningful tasks that extend or enrich student learning and are available at any time students complete regular classroom work.  Formative assessment, such as exit cards, is essential in a responsive classroom.  The author stresses that a teacher should clearly explain to students the dual purpose of formative assessment – to help the teacher better meet the student needs and to allow the teacher to grow in his/her capacity. 

Chapter 4 explores the relationship between critical thinking and growth mindset.  Critical thinking is a process that involves acquiring many higher order skills, including such abilities as analyzing, classifying, and evaluating.   Ricci argues that “… providing students with many opportunities to develop their cognitive abilities through critical thinking experiences impacts the child’s view of herself and contributes to a growth mindset.” (57)  Exposing students to challenging learning opportunities helps them develop “determination, motivation, and persistence” – growth mindset attitudes. (64)

 Failure is the topic of Chapter 5.  In order for students to develop a growth mindset, teachers must promote two beliefs about failure:

1. A student’s own actions and behaviours, not external factors, lead him/her to succeed or fail;
2.  Failure is an opportunity to reflect on errors as “data” that will help a student approach a future “challenging task in a new way or with more effort.” (69)

In Chapter 6, Ricci provides helpful advice for parents so that they can support the development of a growth mindset in their children:

•       Build resilience in their children by modeling a flexible, glass-is-half-full mentality, especially when things don’t go well;
•       Use growth mindset praise – “Always praise a child’s willingness to try, effort, patience, and practice. Do not attribute success to ‘being smart’ … but to hard work and perseverance.” (77)
•       “Help children find their own niche” (78) by providing them with a variety of opportunities.

In Chapter 7, the question Can Gifted Education and A Growth Mindset Coexist is answered.  The author’s answer is “Yes” but only if a concept of giftedness “ that emphasizes potential and possibilities” is adopted. (93)   By avoiding the overuse of the term gifted, and instead, employing terms such as “highly motivated” learner or “high-potential learner” (89), educators will prevent students from adopting a fixed mindset mentality.

Chapter 8 presents a number of strategies for helping students adopt a growth mindset.  Pre-assessment strategies include having students draw a picture of what they think their brain looks like, and having students respond Yes or No to a series of statements such as Some kids are born smarter than others.

One suggested learning task is a Guess Box in which a dried sponge is placed.  First, the students try to guess what object is in the box by asking questions that identify its attributes.  Once the students determine that the object is a sponge, they are asked How is your brain like a sponge?   Then, after pouring water over the sponge so that the students can see it grow and absorb water, the teacher says, “Every time you work hard and learn something new your brain grows and gets stronger.” (110)   

Building a neural network is also suggested as an effective hands-on activity.            Students hold the ends of a string to represent the neural connections that form when new learning occurs.   

When it comes to introducing students to growth mindset, the author recommends that students examine examples of fixed and growth mindset in characters in books, movies  and TV shows.  Likewise, students can learn to view failure from the standpoint of a growth mindset by exploring the lives of famous people who, through determination and  resilience, achieved success after initially failing.  Finally, students can create concept    placemats - collages of pictures which reflect growth.

Ricci concludes her book by identifying some ways that teachers and administrators can maintain a growth mindset school culture:

•       embed a focus on growth mindset in the school improvement plan;
•       create “fear-free zone” learning environments in classrooms (140); and
•       create “Look fors” that would demonstrate that students have acquired growth mindsets

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