" Parents think they can hand children permanent confidence- like a gift- by praising their brains and talent. It doesn't work, and in fact has the opposite effect. It makes children doubt themselves as soon as anything is hard or anything goes wrong. If parents want to give their children a gift, the best thing they can do is to teach their children to love challenges, be intrigued by mistakes, enjoy effort, and keep on learning." (Dweck 176-177)
I want to apply this to homework completion for my own children and my students. Homework completion is a challenge. Students don't want to read on their own, and it seems like the same students give minimal- or no- effort on their assigned work. I always make a point of telling the students that I will never waste their team with meaningless homework. All h/w in my class has value. Now, I want to begin to give praise on the time and energy that went into the work. I will also use this with my own daughter. H/W completion is a struggle at home. She is 6, almost 7, and hates homework. Here's a phrase I'm going to borrow right from Dr. Dweck: " That homework was so long and involved. I really admire the way you concentrated and finished it" (178). Another one: " We all have different learning curves. It may take more time for you to catch on to this and be comfortable with this material, but if you keep at it like this you will." (178). Perhaps modeling the growth mindset in my classroom and at home, will help make h/w a slightly less onerous task for some.
Sadly, I am guilty of praising my own children using fixed mind-set phrases. I was operating under the belief that I was giving them the gift of self-confidence, and now, I see how mistaken I was. Luckily, my own children are still in elementary school so I can start to use the phrases that reflect a growth mindset.
I want to apply this to homework completion for my own children and my students. Homework completion is a challenge. Students don't want to read on their own, and it seems like the same students give minimal- or no- effort on their assigned work. I always make a point of telling the students that I will never waste their team with meaningless homework. All h/w in my class has value. Now, I want to begin to give praise on the time and energy that went into the work. I will also use this with my own daughter. H/W completion is a struggle at home. She is 6, almost 7, and hates homework. Here's a phrase I'm going to borrow right from Dr. Dweck: " That homework was so long and involved. I really admire the way you concentrated and finished it" (178). Another one: " We all have different learning curves. It may take more time for you to catch on to this and be comfortable with this material, but if you keep at it like this you will." (178). Perhaps modeling the growth mindset in my classroom and at home, will help make h/w a slightly less onerous task for some.
Sadly, I am guilty of praising my own children using fixed mind-set phrases. I was operating under the belief that I was giving them the gift of self-confidence, and now, I see how mistaken I was. Luckily, my own children are still in elementary school so I can start to use the phrases that reflect a growth mindset.