Immerse yourself in a project, and create something new.

Immerse yourself in a project, and create something new.

(cheezburger)

Today's cat was inspired by this WONDERFUL video by Michael Wesch: The Sleeper.

Carol Dweck. Brain Research at Stanford: Mindsets

This is an older talk by Carol Dweck, which provides a snapshot of her research back in 2011. I really like her closing comments:

I'd like to end by saying every era is known by the way it views its children's intelligence. I grew up in an era that believed in fixed intelligence. In fact my sixth grade teacher Mrs. Wilson seated us around the room in IQ order; you think it's funny, but in fact in her view some children had potential and some did not. The ones who did not in her view were not allowed to clap the erasers, wash the blackboard, carry the flag in the assembly, or take a note to the principal. What will our era be known for? I hope we'll be known for understanding the brain and how it works and then using that knowledge to help all children fulfill their potential.

Brain Research at Stanford: Mindsets 

Sprouts: Growth Mindset animation

If you like animation-style videos, you will enjoy this overview of mindsets that comes to you from the Sprouts Learning channel at YouTube.

Try Everything

Shakira's Try Everything song has some great growth mindset advice! I've pasted in the lyrics below from genius.com.

[Intro]
Oh oh oh oh oooh
Oh oh oh oh oooh
Oh oh oh oh oooh
Oh oh oh oh oooh

[Verse 1]
I messed up tonight, I lost another fight
I still mess up but I'll just start again
I keep falling down, I keep on hitting the ground
I always get up now to see what's next

[Pre-Chorus]
Birds don't just fly, they fall down and get up
Nobody learns without getting it wrong

[Chorus]
I won't give up, no I won't give in
Til I reach the end and then I'll start again
No I won't leave, I wanna try everything
I wanna try even though I could fail
I won't give up, no I won't give in
Til I reach the end and then I'll start again
No I won't leave, I wanna try everything
I wanna try even though I could fail

[Post-Chorus]
Oh oh oh oh oooh
Try everything
Oh oh oh oh oooh
Try everything
Oh oh oh oh oooh
Try everything
Oh oh oh oh oooh

[Verse 2]
Look at how far you've come, you filled your heart with love
Baby you've done enough, take a deep breath
Don't beat yourself up, don't need to run so fast
Sometimes we come last, but we did our best

[Chorus]
I won't give up, no I won't give in
Til I reach the end and then I'll start again
No I won't leave, I wanna try everything
I wanna try even though I could fail
I won't give up, no I won't give in
Til I reach the end and then I'll start again
No I won't leave, I wanna try everything
I wanna try even though I could fail

[Bridge]
I'll keep on making those new mistakes
I'll keep on making them every day
Those new mistakes

Marshall Goldsmith: Feedforward

You may have already encountered Marshall Goldsmith's term "feedfoward" (which I really like!), and this video is a great overview of his feedforward process, which is something that can be helpful not just in school but also at work and for life in general: Feedforward — Coaching for Behavioral Change.

Growth Mindset for Taming the Polar Bears

I was really excited to do an online session with Brad Esau of Taming the Polar Bears this week! Below you can see the quick slideshow presentation I used for that, along with the video of Brad and me talking about growth mindset!

Slideshow:

Video:

Eyes on the Stars

This StoryCorps video about Ron McNair is a beautiful story about overcoming obstacles to, literally, reach the stars:

Eyes on the Stars

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.

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:

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?

Multiple Intelligences

Some of you may have encountered the work of Howard Gardner and his theory of "multiple intelligences." You can learn about multiple intelligences from the infographic and/or from the video which you will find at the bottom of this post, both by Marek Bennett. I really like this approach as a way to think about the different talents you can grow if you work on them: there are so many skills you can grow if you take the time to practice and improve!

I've also created a series of cats to illustrate the intelligences; here they are as a Flickr slideshow: