Benjamin Zander - Work (How to give an A)

This talk by Benjamin Zander is about learning in general, and about music in particular: I think you will find it very inspiring!

Work (How to give an A)

Perfectionism holds us back

One of the biggest obstacles to promoting learning and growth in school is the cult of perfectionism: the perfect score on a test, the 4.0 GPA, etc. In this TED talk, Charly Haversat offers some ideas for breaking free from that perfectionism in order to keep on growing and growing.

Charly Haversat: Perfectionism holds us back. 

The Power of Belief — Mindset and Success

Eduardo Briceño is one of Carol Dweck's collaborators at the MindsetWorks project, and if you enjoyed his other TED talk — How to get better at the things you care about — you will probably enjoy this one also!

The Power of Belief — Mindset and Success

How to get better at the things you care about

Eduardo Briceño is one of Carol Dweck's collaborators at the MindsetWorks project, and this TED video is a wonderful introduction to mindset as it relates to school and any kind of learning challenge you might face; you can also read the transcript here: How to get better at the things you care about.

Tips to Boost Your Confidence

This is a helpful video about the different dimensions of confidence and how you can grow to become more confident in yourself. Find out more at the TED-Ed page for this video lesson.

Picture your brain forming new connections.

The quote is from Carol Dweck's Mindset: "Picture your brain forming new connections as you meet the challenge and learn."

The image is from cheezburger.

Picture your brain forming new connections.

And neutral connections are just one of the many types of connections that help learning to happen, as you can see in this great graphic from Jackie Gerstein: Learning: It’s All About the Connections.

Random Growth Mindset Videos

Each time this page reloads, you'll see a video displayed at random. Each video has an accompanying blog post; click on the link below the video to learn morem about each one! To browse them all, visit the Growth Mindset Playlist at YouTube.

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Student Video: Summary of Learning

One of my colleagues at the University of Oklahoma who teaches in the College of Journalism shared yesterday (via Twitter) this wonderful video by one of his students: it's a personal account that echoes many themes of the growth mindset, and the animation is absolutely gorgeous to watch. Enjoy this Summary of Learning, which she describes as follows on the YouTube page: "A brief summary of what I learned in my Copy & Layout class. & YES, I made each piece and placed them by hand. A labor of love to end the semester well!"

I really like the way that the video itself is a demonstration of the things that she is passionate about in school: clean typography and meaningful design! And she is willing to work hard at these things — very hard in fact, as this video demonstrates:

Canvas-Friendly Growth Mindset Cats

Just this year, we've started using Canvas as the learning management system at my school (I'm blogging about the experience here). Unlike D2L, Canvas will not accept any javascripts directly, but I've come up with a work-around that makes it possible to display randomized widgets inside Canvas, and I've built a Canvas Widgets Warehouse to share those scripts with anyone who wants to use them.

Of course, you will find the Growth Mindset Cats there! That page contains links to the javascripts and also to the Canvas-friendly iframe version. Here's proof that I smuggled growth mindset cats into Canvas!

What Motivates Us

This is an RSA Animate adaptation of Dan Pink's ideas about "drive" and motivation: The surprising truth about what motivates us.

How To Help Every Child Fulfil Their Potential.

This is an RSA Animate adaptation of Carol Dweck's ideas about growth mindset and our potential as learners: How To Help Every Child Fulfil Their Potential.

Changing Education Paradigms.

This is an RSA Animate adaptation of Sir Ken Robinson's TED talks on education and creativity: Changing Education Paradigms.

The Journey to a Growth Mindset

I was really excited to watch this new Carol Dweck video. It's pretty recent (March 2016), and she talks in details about some of the misconceptions and sloppy applications of growth mindset. If you have time to watch a full-length video, this is a really good one to choose: The Journey to a Growth Mindset.

There are also some recent articles where Carol Dweck has addressed some of these same topics:

Carol Dweck Explains The ‘False’ Growth Mindset That Worries Her

Watch out for your own fixed mindset, Carol Dweck tells teachers

The Stanford professor who pioneered praising kids for effort says we’ve totally missed the point

Carol Dweck says mindset is not ‘a tool to make children feel good’

Growth mindset guru Carol Dweck says teachers and parents often use her research incorrectly

Recognizing and Overcoming False Growth Mindset

What Having a “Growth Mindset” Actually Means

Video: Why do we get grades in school?

As you already know, I am not a fan of grades (I prefer experimentation and feedback, not tests and grades!)... and this video from PBS Studios has some useful background about how we ended up with letter grades in school, along with their advantages and disadvantages: Why do we get grades in school?

All the good stuff is outside our comfort zone.

All the good stuff is outside our comfort zone.

At Twitter, I found this Jack Canfield quote graphic: If we are not a little bit uncomfortable every day, we are not growing. All the good stuff is outside our comfort zone.

I found the image at cheezburger.

Empathy reduces stress.

This cat was inspired by a useful article about stress: How Harnessing the Positive Side of Stress Can Change Student Mindsets by Katrina Schwartz. Reducing stress and connecting with others are both great ways to grow your awareness and learn about the world.

Specifically, today's meme is from the first recommendation in the article:

#1 Caring for others builds resiliency against stress. To help people reset their mindsets about stress, encourage them to care for others. The biological reaction to stress naturally includes a desire to connect with others. Nurturing that inclination can dramatically reduce the harmful negative effects of stress.

The other recommendations in the article are good too: #2 Purpose in life reduces stress ... #3 Focus on how stress can help students grow. Read the article for details! Here are some more cats inspired by Katrina Schwartz's article.

Empathy reduces stress.

(cheezburger)

English: Success is not coming to you; you must come to it.

I've seen this quote attributed to Marva Collins, like here at Twitter this morning (which prompted me to make this meme), but I don't know if that is a correct attribution or not.  You can find out more about Collins and her great accomplishments as an educator at Wikipedia. She passed away in June of this year.

Success is not coming to you; 

you must come to it.

The image is made with cheezburger.

English. Ponder your potential.

This quote is inspired by a passage from Chapter 2 of Laura Ritchie's book, Fostering Self-Efficacy in Higher Education Students (2015). Ritchie is describing "an ideal learning situation where students consciously take responsibility for the processes of monitoring, reflecting, and eventually achieving their potential."

Ponder your potential.

(The image is from cheezburger.)

English: Real learning takes work.

This blog post is one of several inspired by a Chris Hildrew blog post: Growth Mindset Misconceptions and Missteps.

Here are some more cats inspired by that same post!

Made with a Cheezburger cat:

Real learning takes work.

English: Sometimes, being wrong is the only way we can learn.

Sometimes, being wrong is the only way we can learn.

Today's growth cat was inspired by this wonderful blog post by Brian Koberlein, written from his perspective as a scientist: You are not stupid.

Although Brian does not mention growth mindset in particular, the labels "smart" and "stupid" are very much part of the fixed mindset, and he shows how dangerous they both are. Here are two quotes from the post:

“So what do you do for a living?” I always cringe a bit when that question comes up among strangers, because when I reveal that I’m an astrophysics professor the response is almost always the same. “Um…wow…. You must be really smart!” While it’s often intended as a compliment, it really isn’t. Smart didn’t allow me to become an astrophysicist. Hard work, dedication and the support of family and friends did. It’s also one of the most deeply divisive misconceptions about scientists that one can have: scientists are smarter than you.

One of the things I love about science is how deeply ennobling it is. Humans working together openly and honestly can do amazing things. We have developed a deep understanding of the universe around us. We didn’t gain that understanding by being stupid, but we have been wrong many times along the way. Being wrong isn’t stupid. Sometimes it’s the only way we can learn.

I was especially inspired by that last part! So, I made this image with cheezburger.

The bigger the challenge, the more you stretch.

The quote comes from Carol Dweck's Mindset, and you can find more cats inspired by Carol Dweck here: Dweck Collection.

The bigger the challenge,
the more you stretch.

 Image made with Cheezburger.com. 

Study something new.

Follow your curiosity! One of my favorite aspects of growth mindset is that it encourages you to ask questions and find answers: don't just stick to what you know. Instead:

Study something new.

  

I made for this for the MemeGallery with cheezburger. I got the idea from this nifty graphic in the Farsley Farfield Primary School blog.

English. Commit to a goal.

This quote is inspired by a passage from Chapter 2 of Laura Ritchie's book, Fostering Self-Efficacy in Higher Education Students (2015).

Ritchie writes:  "Committing to a goal is partly determined by self-efficacy, and the actions that follow are also sustained by these beleifs and lead to achievements, which are the basis for future judgments about self-efficacy."

Commit to a goal.

(The image is from cheezburger.)

English. Stay creative: have fun!

Today's cat was inspired by the "Stay Creative" graphic of Islam Abudaoud below. The image is from cheezburger. Here are some more Stay-Creative Cats.

Stay creative: have fun!

This great graphic is designed by Islam Abudaoud. You can see the full-size infographic here, and it's also been made into a Vimeo video!

Embrace uncertainty: facts can be fluid.

Today's cat is inspired by a great article by Linda Flanagan at MindShift: How to Spark Curiosity in Children Through Embracing Uncertainty. Here is a quote from the article:

And teachers have additional challenges in presenting facts as fluid: appearing less than certain about their field of expertise can feel risky in a classroom of merciless teenagers. [...] “Students have to grow comfortable not just with the idea that failure is a part of innovation, but with the idea that confusion is, too,” Holmes writes.

"Holmes" is "Jamie Holmes, who has just written a book on the hidden benefits of uncertainty." — Nonsense: The Power of Not Knowing.

Embrace uncertainty: 

facts can be fluid.

(cat image is by Rising Damp at Flickr)

Take risks and overcome obstacles.

This cat was inspired by a useful article on feedback: Overcoming The Fear Of Feedback. The cat picture is not really about feedback (that's hard to show with cats!), but the article is definitely worth reading; I've marked in bold the part that inspired the meme:

Even when receiving mostly positive feedback, it tends to be the constructive feedback that we recall most acutely. [...] When we associate abilities with a part of our identity, receiving constructive criticism can feel more like a personal attack. People with growth mindsets, on the other hand, are more likely to take risks and overcome obstacles by seeing failure as a signal to try harder, rather than time to give up. [...] When you start placing blame on others for the feedback you receive, this is your fixed mindset speaking. Once you recognize this voice you can begin counteracting it and responding with a growth mindset.

Take risks and overcome obstacles.

Made for the MemeGallery with cheezburger.

Just keep going: action overcomes fear.

Just keep going: action overcomes fear.

I was inspired by this tweet today: Reject thoughts of fear immediately. Action overcomes fear. The Secret: Keep Going. It came with this graphic:

And then I used cheezburger to make my version, paraphrasing.

English: The future belongs to the curious.

The future belongs to the curious.

The image is from cheezburger.

Curiosity is one of the most important dimensions of the growth mindset, and this cat is inspired by a blog post by one of my favorite bloggers, Jackie Gerstein: The Future Belongs to the Curious: How Are We Bringing Curiosity Into School?

I drive my own learning ... and Canvas due dates

Today's growth cat is making her own choices about where her learning will take her... and since I invoked the metaphor of the car's emergency brake in an email I sent around to both classes this morning, I've pasted in that email below for future reference. :-)

I drive my own learning.

(made with cheezburger)

Email sent on 10/13/2016:

Hi, everybody! I don't usually do this, but there is an important item about due dates in today's announcements, so I wanted to let everyone know about that via this email: Class Announcements.

And if you mentioned something about due dates in the midterm survey, there is more information below.

CANVAS DUE DATES:

Yes, there are due dates in Canvas... and I know the due dates are not going to be convenient for everybody. That would be impossible, right? But here's the thing: you can have whatever due dates you want!

Some people said on the survey that I should make everything due on Saturday or on Sunday: great! You can totally set up the class that way. Other people said they wanted me to make everything due on Monday: that works too! Other people want Friday. And so on and so on.

That is all possible right now. You can arrange the schedule to be anything you want — ANYTHING at all. And you are the only person who knows what due dates you need.

But — here's the real challenge — you are also the only person who can enforce your due dates. I cannot do that; Canvas cannot do that. The Canvas due dates are like the emergency brake on a car; they are there in case things get a little out of control... but you don't drive a car using the emergency brake. And you are the driver of this car, not me. If you like the Canvas due dates, great! But if you don't like them, then you should change the due dates to what works better for you.

Think about it like this: for each classroom class, you have 3 hours of classroom time per week. You have to get there on time, and the clock tells you when class starts and when it stops. So, the reading and storytelling posts each week in this class are like "being in class" for 3 hours. Every week. Same time, same place. Routine. It's your schedule.

Then, think about your project plus the feedback and comments as homework, time "outside" of class. Overall, it will also average 3 hours per week, but not with a strict start and stop time. You just know more or less that the weekend is a good time to do that, or Fridays, or Thursday nights, or whatever, etc.

With an online class you have to schedule BOTH the "class time" AND the "homework time" — ALL the scheduling is up to you.

So, please, get in touch with me if you want to give yourself new due dates for the class. ANY schedule will work, and I am glad to help you set that up. Given how busy things can get at the end of the semester, now is actually the perfect time to fine-tune your schedule for this class, and I'm glad to help — just let me know!

Stay creative: take risks.

Today's cat was inspired by the "Stay Creative" graphic below. Here are some more Stay-Creative Cats.

Stay creative: take risks.

The image is from cheezburger. 

This great graphic is designed by Islam Abudaoud. You can see the full-size infographic here, and it's also been made into a Vimeo video!

You can always learn more.

This blog post is one of several inspired by a Chris Hildrew blog post: Growth Mindset Misconceptions and Missteps.

Here are some more cats inspired by that same post.

You can always learn more.

Made with a Cheezburger cat.

Where there is no path...

Do not go where the path may lead;

go instead where there is no path,

and leave a trail.

Although this quote is widely attributed to Emerson, that is probably not correct (see Wikiquote discussion). No matter: the words are very wise ones, no matter who said them first.

I made this for the MemeGallery with an image from Cheezburger, and here's the graphic that inspired me:

Stretch yourself to learn something new

Today's growth mindset cat is inspired by these words from Carol Dweck's Mindset book: "In the world of changing qualities, it's about stretching yourself to learn something new. Develop yourself."

Stretch yourself to learn something new.

The image is from Cheezburger.

Stay creative: get lots of rest.

Today's cat was inspired by the "Stay Creative" graphic below. Here are some more Stay-Creative Cats.

Stay creative: get lots of rest.

The cat image is from cheezburger, and this great graphic is designed by Islam Abudaoud. You can see the full-size infographic here, and it's also been made into a Vimeo video!

Stop for a moment and just think.

At Pinterest, I found a link to this nifty poster: I Don't Know What to Do Next, and it inspired this cat:

The image is from cheezburger — and here is more from that same poster:

Don't know what to do next?

Dig deep and stick with it.

Look in a book or use the Internet.

Can you find an example?

Keep calm and read it again.

Remind yourself not knowing is okay. 

Work together and ask a friend.

Pause a moment and just think.

Still not sure? Then ask your teacher.

So, that inspired me to make this cat; the image is from cheezburger.

In order to learn, we must probe and poke.

In order to learn,

we must probe and poke.

Today's cat is inspired by a great article by Linda Flanagan at MindShift: How to Spark Curiosity in Children Through Embracing Uncertainty. Here's a specific quote from the article (the whole thing is very much worth reading!):

There’s already a believer of the uncertain in science — Columbia neuroscience professor Stuart Firestein, who argues that “insightful ignorance” drives science. [...] Firestein describes scientific discovery as “groping and probing and poking, and some bumbling and bungling, and then a switch is discovered, often by accident, and the light is lit.” All the poking around in the unknown, he adds, is what makes science exhilarating.

The image is from cheezburger.

I learn new things constantly.

Today's cat is inspired by an item in the infographic you will find below:

I learn new things constantly.

(cheezburger)

Here is the infographic by "Jan and Alicia" that I've seen making the rounds on Twitter:

Open your mind with a new perspective.

From a tweet in the #growthmindset stream, I found my way to this nice article: Three Cognitive Biases That Stunt Your Personal Growth.

The three biases are: confirmation bias, conservatism bias, and conformity bias, with solutions for each one as follows:

• Solution: Purposefully open your mind. Objectively considering “the other side of the story” does not mean you have to accept it. But at least you have a shot at growth.
• Solution: As with goals, sometimes we need to quickly adapt in the face of new and contrary indications. Take the time to verify, but then make a move.
• Solution: Have the courage to act according to your own convictions.

As you can see, I was inspired by the confirmation bias solution to create today's cat, using this upside-down cat from cheezburger.

Open your mind with a new perspective.

The emotions of learning: surprise, awe, interest, and confusion.

Today's cat is inspired by a great article by Linda Flanagan at MindShift: How to Spark Curiosity in Children Through Embracing Uncertainty. Here is a quote from the article; "Holmes" is "Jamie Holmes, who has just written a book on the hidden benefits of uncertainty." — Nonsense: The Power of Not Knowing.

“The emotions of learning are surprise, awe, interest and confusion,” Holmes said. But because confusion provokes discomfort, it should be discussed by teachers to help students handle the inevitable disquiet. “Students have to grow comfortable not just with the idea that failure is a part of innovation, but with the idea that confusion is, too,” Holmes writes. Teachers can help students cope with these feelings by acknowledging their emotional response and encouraging them to view ambiguity as a learning opportunity.

The emotions of learning:

surprise, awe, interest, and confusion.

(cheezburger)

Explore ambiguity.

Today's cat is inspired by a great article by Linda Flanagan at MindShift: How to Spark Curiosity in Children Through Embracing Uncertainty. Here is a quote from the article; "Holmes" is "Jamie Holmes, who has just written a book on the hidden benefits of uncertainty." — Nonsense: The Power of Not Knowing.

“We’re much more certain about facts than we should be,” Holmes said. “A lot of this will be challenged, and it should not be embarrassing.”

If students can be made to feel comfortable with uncertainty — if they’re learning in an environment where ambiguity is welcome and they are encouraged to question facts — then they are more apt to be curious and innovative in their thinking.

“Our minds crave closure, but when we latch onto it prematurely we miss beautiful and important moments along the way,” Holmes said, including the opportunity to explore new ideas or consider novel interpretations.

Explore ambiguity.

(cat image is by Henri at Flickr)

Standing still is not growth. Take a step forward.

Standing still is not growth. Take a step forward.

This was inspired by a Twitter post, and thanks to the layout of the cheezburger picture, I was able to include both sentences!

Courage means you don't let fear stop you.

At Twitter this morning, I saw a simple quote graphic with these words, and I used a cheezburger cat to make the cat graphic.

Courage doesn't mean

you don't get afraid.

Courage means

you don't let fear stop you.

Later, I saw a graphic shared by Dictionary.com that attributes the quote to Bethany Hamilton:

Whatever you are scared to do . . . just do it!

Wise words from Neil Gaiman: Whatever it is you’re scared of doing, do it.

Read the whole article for a big growth mindset boost, I promise: Make Good Art: Neil Gaiman’s Advice on the Creative Life from Maria Popova's BrainPickings.

Whatever you are scared to do . . . just do it! 

(image from cheezburger)

Our true potential is unknown ... and unknowable.

The quote is from Carol Dweck's Mindset: A person's true potential is unknown (and unknowable).

Our true potential is unknown ... and unknowable.

(Cheezburger)

Now is the time to start learning a new skill.

The thought was inspired by a blog post from Josh Birdwell: Learning.

NOW is the time to start learning a new skill.

(The image is from Cheezburger.)