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1. What it is

1. Teaching to students part of minority groups.

2. Why you found it so impactful

1. Utah is an especially harmful place for the LGBTQIA+ community so it is important to have teachers who are aware of these students and will be in their corner so that they are recieving the same education as the majority.

3. How it will impact your practice

1. I will make sure that students are treated fairly and I will be an ally to those who are marganilized.

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Many marginalized students share a similar experience entering a new classroom; they walk in, scan their surroundings, cautiously interact with new people, and assess if you and your room are a safe space. Whether it's from their own personal experiences and/or societal norms, some students feel their identity is not welcome in your art room. As student populations shift in our country at a much more rapid rate than the teaching population, understanding marginalized identities, and implementing teaching strategies to support them in the classroom is critical to being a good teacher.

So, what is a marginalized identity?

The first step to supporting students is understanding your marginalized students. A student's identity is made up of several factors and has many layers. The extent to which a student is impacted by each of their identities also varies based on their lived experience.

According to Charter For Compassion, a marginalized identity is anyone who feels or is, " underserved, disregarded, ostracized, harassed, persecuted, or sidelined in the community." Possible groups include but are not limited to:

immigrants, refugees, and migrants

women and girls

victims of human trafficking

people struggling with mental illness

children and youth

people of differing sexual orientation (LGBT+ community)

people of differing religions

people with developmental delays

those with a physical disability

incarcerated people (and their families)

people released from incarceration

people of low socioeconomic status

unemployed people

people of a particular ethnicity/country of origin

people with a differing political orientation

So what can teachers do?

Being nice isn't enough. Students deserve a teacher who is actively honoring their identity in the classroom. Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs illustrates the importance of students feeling safe, physiologically and physically, before they can learn and reach their potential. What's required for personal safety is dependent on the person. But to get you started, here is a list of common approaches you can immediately implement into your classroom.

Hanging Classroom Visuals

One of the easiest and most technical approaches is to fill your space with imagery and messaging supportive of the identities of your students, particularly your marginalized students. Students develop their first impression as they look around your classroom and wait for you to begin class. Before you even have a chance to speak to the class, students are internalizing the messaging in your room.

So, help their first impression be a supportive one by hanging posters and graphics that affirm their identify and send the right message. Students can connect with images of artists, subject matter, historical images, or images of support like Hate Has No Home Here g raphics. Scan your room and ask, can each of my students connect personally with something in this room? What messages do the images in my room send and to whom?

Use Supportive Language

Words matter. The words you use and don't use with students play a critical role in supporting their identity. While you might initially think about direct conversations with students, marginalized students can be equally impacted when they overhear a teacher's comment to another student. Or, if they observe no action by the teacher for student comments. Help students by being aware and informed of the various sub-groups students can represent. Be able to identify stereotypical or biased imagery in student work or reference materials and address them accordingly. Have an understanding of their culture, so you use appropriate language and terminology.

Providing a Culturally Relevant Curriculum

Honoring and acknowledging the identities of your students is a year-long responsibility and not only reserved for identified months like Black History or Pride month. Use your curriculum to help all students see themselves in art by introducing them to a diverse group of artists and artwork. Provide choice and options for prompts with all of your projects to increase engagement and help all students connect with their art. When you limit students to one prompt, you're assuming every student has a positive connection, and you might be unaware of potential triggers. For example, the concept of memories can sound positive, but not for students with trauma.

To give you a head start, check out these articles for a list of Black Female Artists and LGBTQ+ Artists you should know.

Removing Existing Barriers

Rather than focusing on the students in your room, consider who is missing and try to identify potential barriers blocking their access. One approach is to compare how your art student population aligns with the rest of the building and identify any gaps. You could also review any policies or practices to see how those could be unintentionally blocking access for students. For example, lab or material fees could be impacting your students with financial struggles. Or if art is scheduled at the same time as reading or a support class, those students are now prevented access. Once you have recognized a potential barrier, strategize the best approach for change, including supporting data and support from your administration.

Make the Art Room Fully Accessible

Proactively making your classroom accessible and inclusive for students with special needs can send a more welcoming message to a whole population of students. Start by making sure your physical space is open and free of clutter to help students with physical challenges better navigate your room. Then, review your curriculum and develop new projects through a lens of universal design, which includes common accommodations in the lesson construction. Once you're prepped and ready, meet with your administrator and a special education representative to share your enthusiasm and preparations for teaching all students.

The art room should be a safe and inclusive space for all students. Unfortunately, this is not the case for many students as they enter your room with a lifetime of messaging and experiences that say their identity is not welcome. However, intentionally supporting your students by honoring who they are can help your art room become a safe space. As you implement these new ideas, continue to seek out additional resources and opportunities to learn about the cultures of the various sub-groups represented in your room to help you be a better teacher for your students.
How can schools help teachers better understand the identities of their students? What resources exist to help teachers learn about new artists from other cultures?

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How to Better Support Your Marginalized Students - The Art of Education University

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Many marginalized students share a similar experience entering a new classroom; they walk in, scan their surroundings, cautiously interact with new people, and assess if you and your room are a safe space. Whether it's from their own personal experiences and/or societal norms, some students feel their identity is not welcome in your art room.

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1. What it is

1. Using culturally sensitive teaching strategies to acknowledge and celebrate student identity.

2. Why you found it so impactful

1. Students are in a very vulnerable stage where they are learning who they are and are creating an identity based on their culture, race, sexual orientation, sex, etc. We must be sensitive to their process and find ways to celebrate who our students are and what they come from.

3. How it will impact your practice

1. I will ensure my classroom is a safe space of exploration and authenticity.

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Michelle Nicola is a Spanish teacher and instructional specialist in the Portland public schools in Oregon and a Fulbright Distinguished Awards in Teaching recipient.
This year, I've become particularly captivated with the idea of telling empowering stories as one way to infuse culturally responsive teaching into my classroom. Last fall, I conducted Fulbright research in Veracruz, Mexico, with the goal of collecting Afro-Mexican stories that would empower students to reconsider their assumptions about identity.

What Is an Empowering Story?

The idea of telling empowering stories first came to me through Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's TED Talk, The Danger of a Single Story, and has been reinforced by leading educators such as Zaretta Hammond and Elena Aguilar. After I returned from Mexico, I attended one of Hammond's Culturally Responsive Teaching training sessions. She explained that enabling or empowering texts challenge dominant narratives about diverse populations and invite students to think beyond heroes and holidays. Aguilar, in her incredible book Onward, dedicates a whole chapter to the importance of telling empowering stories and includes practical activities to help school communities cultivate optimism.

To me, an empowering story is one that challenges students to rethink assumptions, stereotypes, and the way things are or "should" be; describes resilience but not necessarily winning; and acknowledges the complexities of being human. Empowering stories include many voices and perspectives, challenge notions of identity, complicate the good-versus-evil narrative that we are used to, and offer students blueprints for navigating life's problems.

Below are examples of how I'm integrating empowering stories into my Spanish classes, using two stories that I learned while living in Mexico.

A Story of Crossing Borders and Cultures

In November 2018, I traveled to the small town of El Nacimiento in the state of Coahuila, Mexico. There, I learned a fascinating and powerful story, the story of Los Negros Mascogos. The story of the Mascogo people is one of crossing borders and cultures, of resistance and freedom. The inhabitants of El Nacimiento are descendants of enslaved peoples who escaped slavery in the United States and settled in Mexico, where slavery has been abolished by law since 1810. There is more to this story, but what is important to understand is that at this point in history, enslaved people, Native Americans, and abolitionists all looked toward Mexico as the land of freedom. The Seminoles, Black Mascogos, and Kickapoo people united to travel south and seek refuge there. In October 1850, the Mexican government recognized them as Mexican.
Classroom Connections
Los Negros Mascogos are not what my students immediately think of when they think of Mexico, so these stories are an opportunity for me to complicate students' ideas of what it means to be Mexican. In the documentary Gertrudis Blues, Patricia Carrillo Carrera interviews Doña Gertrudis, one of the town's former matriarchs. Doña Gertrudis was a mix of cultures; her parents escaped slavery in the United States along with the Seminole and Kickapoo peoples. They passed down their songs, songs reminiscent of spirituals, songs that Doña Gertrudis sang in English.

Doña Gertrudis' identity cannot be summarized into a neat, one-sentence description. She was Mexican, part African, and part African-American. She spoke Spanish, sang in English, and cooked food influenced by soul food and indigenous recipes. Doña Gertrudis' story adds layers of complexity to my students' ideas of Mexico as the white sandy beaches and mariachi bands they see on postcards or during family vacations. Doña Gertrudis' story is a Mexican story, and as such, deserves a place in our Spanish classroom.

In order to use this documentary in my novice-level Spanish class, I had to make adjustments to how I presented the material because the actual Spanish in the documentary is too complex for my students at that level to understand. First, students spent two minutes drawing what they think of when they think of Mexico. Then, they watched a 1-2 minute segment of the documentary and used sentence frames such as, "In my drawing, there is __________, and in the documentary, I saw ____________," to compare what they saw in the documentary to their drawings of "Mexico."

Casa Coyolillo, A New Generation of Activists

Though I traveled to several Mexican states, the state of Veracruz was home base. Twice a week, I traveled from the capital (Xalapa) to the town of Coyolillo, a town recognized for its Afro-Mexican ancestry.

There, a new generation of activists welcomed me to participate in their collective, Casa Coyolillo, a group of about 15 community leaders dedicated to promoting nonprofit and multidisciplinary alternative activities in Coyolillo, Veracruz, that contribute to solving socio-cultural problems and encourage participation, integration, and exchange of knowledge between different age groups, in a responsible and empathic manner. Casa Coyolillo creates initiatives of community interest that strengthen the collective identity of African descent and works at the national level to gain recognition and defense of the rights of Afro-Mexicans. To date, Casa Coyolillo has succeeded in forming an African dance troupe, a theater troupe, and African drumming classes. They have organized community events that preserve traditions such as Day of the Dead and Carnaval.

Daniela López Carreto, one of Casa Coyolillo's leaders, told me that in order to awaken the interest of the people in their own heritage, she showed a series of video documentaries about the history of their town and the African presence there.

This is just one example of the creativity of the new generation of Casa Coyolillo activists. There are already plans for an anti-racism forum, a town mural depicting its African history, collecting oral testimonies, historical research projects, and school presentations that promote justice and anti-racism.

Classroom Connections

With the help of Casa Coyolillo, I was able to make connections with the local middle and high schools. I set up a letter exchange between my students in Portland and the students in Coyolillo. (For advice on how to set this up and avoid pitfalls, check out my blog post.) While letter exchanges are generally seen as an activity that is appropriate for world-language classrooms, I invite teachers of other subjects to seek out this type of cultural exchange, too. There is no better way to better understand a place, historical event, or group of people than through the collective stories of those who experience it.

In addition to the letter exchange, I again used images from Coyolillo's most important celebration, Carnaval, to challenge students' ideas about Mexican identity. I explained that in Mexico, a person's phenotype was not always the best indicator of African ancestry because genetic mixing has been happening for the past 500 years. For this reason, anthropologists look to other clues, such as specific rhythms in music, versions of "traditional" Mexican food with a distinctly African twist, and cultural celebrations. After we looked at the images and watched a few videos posted to Casa Coyolillo's Facebook page, we wrote, "I Am From," poems in Spanish, using Coyolillo students' poems as examples.
From Research and Reflection to Action
This summer, I will spend some time reflecting:

Where do my lessons tell empowering stories?

Where do they disempower students by confirming stereotypes?

How else can I include the stories of los Negros Mascogos, Doña Gertrudis, and Casa Coyolillo into the Spanish World Language Curriculum?

What other stories do my students need to hear?

The importance of educators making room for diverse, empowering stories cannot be underrated. While working with the high school students in Coyolillo, I printed five different images of José María Morelos, a Mexican war hero whose African ancestry was hidden for some time. I asked, "If you had to choose, which image do you think is closest to what the real Morelos looked like?" The majority of the class chose an incorrect image, one in which Morelos looks the whitest, saying, "That's what most resembles our history books." The stories we tell in our classrooms guide students' understanding of the truth about the world, and when we make room for stories that complicate ideas of identity, we open the door for students to see themselves in the people and places of the past and envision their lives in powerful ways in the future.
Connect with Michelle, Heather, and the Center for Global Education on Twitter. Quote image created on Pablo. Photo image of students from Casa Coyolillo practicing African dance, taken by and used with permission of the author.

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Identity, Storytelling, and Culturally Responsive Teaching (Opinion)

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Michelle Nicola is a Spanish teacher and instructional specialist in the Portland public schools in Oregon and a Fulbright Distinguished Awards in Teaching recipient. This year, I've become particularly captivated with the idea of telling empowering stories as one way to infuse culturally responsive teaching into my classroom.

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1. What it is

1. Focusing and teaching to student's strenghts.

2. Why you found it so impactful

1. I think that it is easy to see student deficits. But there is so much that students can bring to a class. It is important to help students see their assests and show them that they are able to contribute to a classroom.

3. How it will impact your practice

1. I will allow students autonomy over their education and will allow them to do assignments in a way they feel confident in the results.

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The new question-of-the-week is:
What can teachers do to help highlight student assets and not their deficits? In other words, what can teachers do to help create that mindset for themselves when they look at students and what can they do to help students develop the same view?
In Part One, Adeyemi Stembridge, Ph.D., Dr. Larry J. Walker, Carmen Nguyen, Julie Jee, Shawna Coppola, Kevin Parr, and Andrew Sharos share their responses. You can listen to a 10-minute conversation I had with Adeyemi, Larry, and Carmen on my BAM! Radio Show. You can also find a list of, and links to, previous shows here.

Today, Lisa Westman, Salome Thomas El, T.J. Vari, Joseph Jones, Amber Chandler, Michelle Shory, Ed.S., Irina V. McGrath, Ph.D., Rita Platt, Cheryl Mizerny, and Adria Klein, Ph.D., contribute their commentaries.
Response From Lisa Westman
Lisa Westman is a writer, speaker, and consultant who works with school systems across the country to implement student-driven differentiation, standards-based learning, and instructional-coaching programs. She has over 15 years of experience as a teacher and an instructional coach specializing in differentiation. She is the author of Student-Driven Differentiation: 8 Steps to Harmonize Learning in the Classroom (Corwin). Connect with Lisa on Twitter: @lisa_westman:
Two years ago, I wrote a blog post entitled The greatest deficiency in education is our obsession with showcasing deficits As I have grown in my role, I have found the most efficient and effective way to ensure teachers focus on students' strengths is for administrators to focus on teachers' strengths first. When administrators model this behavior for teachers and embody a strengths-based mindset, this lens quickly spreads to teachers doing the same in their classrooms and then to students focusing on strengths in themselves and others.
The following are three ways administrators can model a highly contagious strengths-based mindset that quickly leads to teachers embodying the same principles in their classrooms: 1) Give nonattribute praise: This is a method I learned from Jim Knight 2) Replace walk-throughs with look-fors: Nothing kills a teacher's spirit quicker than a walk-through looking for "missing" things. And, oftentimes, these walk-throughs are well-intended yet poorly implemented (more on that here 3) Use internal capacity to build capacity: Recently, I was working with a teacher in a school who said, "I was planning on leaving this school, and then our new principal started." When I asked her what the new principal did, she said, "He noticed I needed a challenge and presented me with an opportunity to build a mindfulness program for our students. This is something I am passionate about and have experience doing. Now, I am so excited to come back next school year." The key here was the new principal noticed what his teachers needed and proactively approached the situation before his teacher was "burnt out" beyond repair. When administrators go "first" using strategies like the ones suggested above, teachers will feel more supported and excited about their roles. Teachers will then then emulate those behaviors resulting in a full educational community focused on strengths rather than deficits. Response From Salome Thomas El, T.J. Vari & Joseph Jones
). Instead of walk-throughs, conduct "look-fors" and highlight the things teachers are doing. The pendulum is swinging back again, and fortunately, it's going in the right direction. For far too long, those who control the pendulum, within and outside of education, were focused on highlighting deficits to enact change. This narrow view of striving toward improvements is actually counter-intuitive. We can't lift people while we're holding them down. Now, the emphasis is moving toward efficacy, grit, and resilience. Recent research and efforts toward teaching students to have a growth mindset and re-examining grading practices that lean toward mastery have emerged as the change agents for a strength-based approach to developing a view of ourselves and others. We call this a learning culture, which is a deviation from the traditional teaching culture that most of us knew as students ourselves. This shift in school culture creates a fundamental change that highlights our students' dispositions as learners, connections in the classroom with the content, and precise, compassionate feedback as the mechanism for making learning gains. It means that we are building upon strengths and capitalizing on value instead of identifying weaknesses. The best way to translate this into practice at the student level is for school leaders to support teachers through professional growth and development. When passionate leaders apply strategic initiatives to improve the culture of the school for the adults who work there, the staff members are far more likely to do the same for the students. As we focus on the self-efficacy of our teachers, they, in turn, will help students to see learning as a way to uncover their assets, not just highlight their mistakes. The key is to change the way we view growth for teachers and rely more on feedback as a catalyst for change. But the feedback has to change as well. Typical feedback and evaluation methods don't produce desired change because they highlight general weaknesses in a particular area. But filling gaps is only half of the equation. The new shift in professional dialogue is toward focusing on learning as a process, not an outcome. This demands real candor and requires leaders to prioritize every teachers' assets in the classroom so that they repeat, with pride, what they do individually that makes a difference for student learning. In a culture of growth and support, students and teachers see themselves as learners, not just doers, taskmasters, or, worse than anything, time fillers. A new model for school culture, a learning culture versus a teaching culture, is on the horizon. The key is that everyone sees themselves as learners. With a clear focus on learning dispositions, mindset, and relationships, along with feedback (for teachers and students) that demonstrates candor around how we can grow, a new age of learning in schools is finally here. Passionate educators know that it takes a desire to be better, the work ethic necessary to make it a reality, and a positive outlook as we make the change.
Response From Amber Chandler while studying to become an instructional coach. Instead of saying, "You're good at that," give teachers and students specific feedback about a commendable effort: "I noticed how you have been taking steps to ensure your students have the majority of the talk time during class discussions. You use some really creative turn and talk strategies. Kudos to you!" If you want to take this a step further, you can ask teachers to demonstrate a strategy at a staff meeting or take a quick video of them in action (if they are comfortable ... and by consistently focusing on strengths, teachers WILL become more comfortable). Deficit grading-the practice of grading student work based on errors and mistakes as opposed to grading based on evidence of learning-is an outdated educational norm that I predict will continue to be very difficult to dismantle, even in light of research and shifts to embrace a growth mindset. I try to remember that people have different ways of seeing the world and learning can take many forms, filtered through their individual experiences. Yes, there are "non-negotiables" that our students must learn, but when you really think about it, there is far more wiggle room, allowing students to truly absorb what is happening in your class versus simply regurgitating what you, an adult not living their particular life, deems noteworthy instead of asking them what they learned. . As I transitioned from the classroom after 15 years to a full-time consultant visiting schools across the country, I was struck by how focused many education stakeholders are on deficits rather than strengths.
In my own practice, due to many experiences such as the one with Issac, I've taken to a "show what you know" approach to students demonstrating their learning. For every unit, I create a list of Essential Learnings that I'm expecting everyone to know and understand. I create a checklist for students who can then keep track of when they master a certain requirement. I'll give a test, just like everyone else, but I'll include a section where they are instructed to "tell me anything else you learned that is not on this test." If students meet the expectations set forth in the Essential Learnings, it is completely OK if they have told me in a different way. In theory, this sounds more radical than it actually becomes in practice. I simply allow students to "show what they know" as often as possible. Encouraging students to value what they have learned, not just what I have taught, allows them leadership in the classroom and ownership over their own experience of school. In a world where our students can learn whatever they want, seek out expertise, and share their own ideas all with the device in their pocket, it seems to me that the best use of our time as educators is to utilize a Constructivist approach in our classrooms. I think back to Issac and I realize that if I hadn't been so busy making sure that everyone knew the "right answer," he could have exposed my class to a level of learning that I hadn't even considered. As I approach students now, I'm trying to begin units with asking them what they know and building from there. In this way, we are making the learning authentic, participatory, and socially relevant, which seems to me the best way to leave deficit grading behind and embrace the future of learning, recognizing that it is an organically evolving schema. Response From Michelle Shory, Ed.S., & Irina V. McGrath, Ph.D.
T.J. Vari, Salome Thomas El and Joseph Jones are district and school leaders in Delaware:

Amber Chandler is the 2018 AMLE Educator of the Year, author of books on differentiation and SEL, and a teacher on special assignment as an alternative learning and intervention coordinator. She is a frequent education blogger and speaker. @MsAmberChandler:

I remember a student a few years ago who showed me just that. Issac was an eccentric kiddo, deeply into computers, cubing, fantasy fiction, and easily lost track of both time and his belongings. He frequently made other teachers nuts because he was late and couldn't find things, but I always focused on the fact that he was actually thinking more than anyone I knew. You just had to scratch the surface to find out that he did online book reviews, belonged to a global community of game designers, and took care of his two younger siblings every day after school. No wonder he didn't care that much about some of the more mundane aspects of school. One day, after we'd finished The Outsiders, students were asked to respond to the question, "Why do you think Ponyboy has such a hard time accepting Johnny's death?" We had discussed this question thoroughly, and I was sure that all students had a good idea of "the answer." Issac, though, showed me quite clearly that the best learning in my class will occur when students experience the literature and make it relational, not a recanting of what I thought was important. Issac wrote an essay explaining that Ponyboy was suffering from PTSD due to his parents' deaths, and Johnny's death simply set him back a few stages in the Stages of Grief. He didn't give me "the answer," but instead he gave me a better one. How could I possibly take points off because he hadn't hit the "right answer" I'd expected?
Mindsets affect outcomes. A positive mindset can impact our ability to grow and appreciate others. A negative mindset sets up for failure and disappointment by clouding our views of ourselves and others. In order to create optimal learning environments, teachers must adopt a positive mindset of learning and the learners in his/her classroom. Teachers Can adopt a positive mindset by Paying attention to the language used when referring to English-learners. Capitalizing on students' "funds of knowledge."---------- Teachers should avoid Response From Rita Platt The concept of "funds of knowledge," developed by In The Most Powerful 3-Letter Word a Parent or Teacher Can Use, Daniel Coyle writes that "kids love to announce they're not good at something." One of the cures for this type of defeatism, says Coyle, is to teach children to add the word yet to the end of any such declarations. If, for example, one of my kindergartners says, "I can't tie my shoes" or a 5th grader says, "I can't do long division," I encourage her or him to add yet to that statement: "I can't tie my shoes yet" or "I can't do long division yet." It's a small but powerful addition that almost forces the speaker into a growth mindset. The "power of yet" and growth mindset are tools for helping students develop the self-efficacy needed to see themselves already able to do incredible things and capable learners with even more greatness in their futures. In other words, it helps learners to develop an asset-based approach when looking at themselves. As I watch my students learn, I give feedback focused on helping them to see learning as a process, which is often hard and messy. I want them to see every learning success as a metaphor for all that is possible in their lives. In addition to saying "yet" over and over again, I find myself encouraging with other growth-mindset-focused ideas. "If you can learn to do this, you can do anything!" "You must feel so proud of yourself for continuing to try even when it was really hard!" "I know it's hard! I am here for you! Don't give up!" "Can you believe how hard you worked to make this happen?" "Don't worry if you don't learn it this year; we'll work on it next year, too! You will do this!" When students see themselves meeting goals, it can have a powerful ripple effect on their sense of themselves from an asset-based rather than a deficit-based perspective because they have proof that they learn, grow, change, and get better when they try to.
I would add teacher expectations to that as well. When teachers share the power of "yet," support kiddos as they set and meet goals, and see students begin to focus on their assets, a teacher cannot help but do the same. Watching students grow helps teachers to see them through an asset-based lens, have high expectations for them, and truly believe students can achieve. When teachers believe in students and students believe in themselves, together they can move mountains!
For a detailed example of how I work with kiddos to build growth mindset, read Once Around the Bunny's Ear: Learning to Tie Shoes as a Metaphor for All That is Possible. Response From Cheryl Mizerny Moll, Amanti, Neff, & Gonzalez (2001), refers to the skills and practices that are central to students' cultures. By integrating ELs' funds of knowledge into school curriculum, teachers create meaningful learning experience for students and boost pride in their cultural and linguistic backgrounds. When I taught special education students, one of the most frustrating parts of my job was seeing the absolute defeat on one of their faces when they had earned a low grade on something they'd worked extremely hard to complete. Often, the low grade was directly related to a manifestation of their learning difference such as poor spelling, inadequate vocabulary, or not being able to do math facts in their head in order to show their work. In reality, my students and I both knew they were capable of so much more if just given the proper accommodations and opportunities. It was heartbreaking because I'd witnessed their moments of brilliance. I've heard similar stories from colleagues who teach students with physical limitations or English-language learners. Students were not able to perform to their potential because their needs weren't being met. Happily, in the decade since I moved out of a resource position to teaching English, teachers are now much more aware of the importance of focusing on strengths over weaknesses. Our students come to us with myriad unique attributes, and capitalizing on this allows them to achieve at higher levels than in the past. As a result of asset- or strengths-based teaching, they are more motivated, confident, and happy and less likely to be earn yet another label: "at-risk."
Recently, I had the privilege of attending a PD session led by author Andrew Smith. He said something that struck home. He encouraged us to tell our students, "Once they have personal goals, I provide choice as much as possible, incorporate collaborative activities, and minimize competition. In addition, I practice culturally responsive teaching so I make sure that the cultural background my students bring to the table is something to be celebrated beyond just the tokenism of holidays, foods, and clothing by designing a classroom that showcases and honors all backgrounds. Finally, I have high expectations of all of my students and believe it is my duty to provide what they need to reach their full potential. My end goal is a classroom of confident, creative, lifelong learners. Response From Adria Klein, Ph.D. Highlighting student assets means building on their strengths to support them. Students bring a wealth of experiences that should be celebrated to enhance learning. Here are three examples from my experience that show how highlighting student strengths benefits their learning.
One of the students in our intervention services was learning English as a newcomer. English was his fourth language and his first experience with the Roman alphabet. He was in upper-elementary, and it would have been easy to see his needs over his strengths. His world wisdom, knowledge of other languages, and representational writing systems were extraordinary. He came to school with a positive, can-do attitude but was tentative, and his responses were very limited. What were his assets? In terms of his knowledge of languages, cultures, foods, and experiences, he was far beyond everyone at the school. And he was eager to learn even though so much was new. So the teacher took it step by step, first by sharing the alphabet with picture support, then by using additional visuals and videos to build upon vocabulary learning, all while tapping into the cognitive frame for this work he already had from his experience learning in other languages. He continued to learn quickly, smiled often, was eager to try, and I am certain a big part of this was the assets-based view of his teachers. (Clay, 2016; Briceño & Klein, 2019) Earlier in my teaching, I was a reading specialist at the secondary level. I saw many students who had gained less than a year of growth for one year in school, losing about two to three months on assessments every year. By 10th grade, they were at least two to three years behind-not low enough to suggest a special education referral but unable to benefit from classroom instruction without intervention. Our goal was to focus on student assets by helping them find high-interest books that they would want to and be able to read, while teaching them needed skills. Once we viewed them as readers who wanted to read, they began to see themselves as readers, too, carrying books around and visiting the library often. Their test-score gains doubled in one year over previous yearly results. (Afflerbach, 2016; Afflerbach & Klein, 2019). What happens when there are fewer obvious strengths? As an interventionist, I recently worked with a kindergartner who spoke English as her home language; she would draw pictures but only wrote her name and random strings of letters all year during independent writing. She had a knowledgeable teacher who had clear, focused mini-lessons and conferred often, but even more scaffolding intervention was needed. So I evaluated her assets and built on what she already knew to target instruction (Clay, 2016; Dorn & Soffos, 2011, 2017). During independent writing, we conferred and shared the pen for a short time, writing sentences together, and I reminded her where she could look for resources in the room, including a word wall and a dictionary. During sharing time, she transferred those new skills by volunteering to share her writing with the class. Her hand went up to share before the teacher even asked!
When we highlight students' strengths during teaching in any situation, they will do better because we can target our scaffolding approach. We can find all students' assets when we build on knowns. This means that students can use what they already know to solidify information and become faster at recognizing new words. We also have to teach for transfer. This requires working from strengths and this starts when we see all children as having unlimited possibilities open to them. By being mindful of students' strengths, we will help to close the opportunity gaps! See References here.
Being good at the thing that makes you different is what makes you irreplaceable. Be the light and not the lightbulb." This is exactly how I want my students to feel and what I want them to internalize. Fortunately, there are many ways classroom teachers can help students view themselves as talented, capable, included, and even essential. Look for Part Three in a few days. Diction is powerful. A line from a famous quote states, "Watch your thoughts, they become words; Watch your words, they become actions. ..." Consequently, it's imperative for educators to substitute words such as "low level," "struggling," "limited English proficient" with "emerging bilingual/multilingual," "striving," and "linguistically and culturally diverse."
Michelle Shory, Ed.S., is a district instructional coach and Google Certified Trainer in Jefferson County public schools, Louisville, Ky. She serves five high schools in the district. In addition to coaching, Michelle designs and implements professional learning experiences for teachers across the district. She is passionate about literacy and helped establish Dolly Parton's Imagination Library in Louisville.

Irina V. McGrath, Ph.D., is a district instructional coach and Google Certified Trainer in Jefferson County. She facilitates online and face-to-face. She is also a co-director of the Louisville Writing Project (LWP) and the University of Louisville adjunct who teaches Literacy and ESL methods courses.

Michelle and Irina are passionate about good books, meaningful tech integration, andragogy, and classroom joy. They share resources on Twitter and at bit.ly/ell2point0:

Rita Platt (@ritaplatt) is a national-board-certified teacher and a proud #EduDork! Her experience includes teaching learners of all levels from kindergartner to graduate student. She is currently the principal of St. Croix Falls and Dresser Elementary Schools in Wisconsin, teaches graduate courses for the Professional Development Institute, and writes for MiddleWeb:

Cheryl Mizerny has been teaching for over 20 years, is passionate about middle-level education, and serves on the faculty of the AMLE Leadership Institute. Her practice is guided by her belief in reaching every student and educating the whole child. She currently teaches 6th grade English in Michigan and writes an education blog, It's Not Easy Being Tween, for Middleweb.com:

Thanks to Lisa, Salome, T.J., Joseph, Amber, Michelle, Irina, Rita, Cheryl, and Adria for their contributions.

Please feel free to leave a comment with your reactions to the topic or directly to anything that has been said in this post.

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The Importance of Focusing on Students' Assets (Opinion)

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The new question-of-the-week is: What can teachers do to help highlight student assets and not their deficits? In other words, what can teachers do to help create that mindset for themselves when they look at students and what can they do to help students develop the same view?

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1. What it is

1. You have to find ways to teach students with trauma and be sensitive to their triggers and needs.

2. Why you found it so impactful

1. We all have trauma so I think that it is particularly important that we keep in mind things that could trigger students. I had a teacher who helped me with some of my trauma and it was little things like giving me extensions on assignments, but I felt like she cared and that I was seen.

3. How it will impact your practice

1. I will make sure that I am being sensitve to triggers. I will be adaptive with my students and be flexible when they are just having a really bad day.

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For some students, school is not just a place of learning and growth but also a refuge from abuse.

Data suggest that, on average, every classroom has at least one student affected by trauma. According to the National Child Traumatic Stress Network, close to 40 percent of students in the U.S. have been exposed to some form of traumatic stressor in their lives, with sexual assault, physical assault, and witnessing domestic violence being the three most prevalent.

These types of stressors, known as complex trauma, have the added wound of being perpetrated by a person with whom the child or teen has an ongoing relationship. The very people who are supposed to support and protect are those who wound and abuse. This leads to continuing states of grief, loss, abandonment, and neglect as well as persistent anxiety, fear, and depression-all at a time when the brain is in crucial stages of development.

For some young people, school is the only place in their lives where they know they are safe and can form trusted, enduring relationships. It is, therefore, a cruel irony that many students who are affected by trauma also have trouble engaging at school. They may attend school with the best of intentions, hoping to form friendships, feel connected to their teachers, and succeed at the day's tasks. Yet they can find themselves defiant, demanding, and disengaged -unable to learn and confused about why they can't relate and bond with others.

What do the latest scientific findings from the fields of traumatology, neuroscience, and positive education tell us about how to best help students who are affected by trauma? Below, we highlight some of the new practices that teachers can use to not only help students heal but also help them grow.

Healing and repair

The new field of "trauma-informed learning" has made great strides in helping teachers to better understand the developmental, emotional, and social challenges that students who are impacted by trauma face at school. While teachers are not mental health professionals, trauma-informed learning trains teachers in therapeutic approaches that can be woven into the classroom to redress the delayed development, underdeveloped neural pathways, and over-regulated nervous systems that students experience as a result of trauma.

For example, teachers can directly teach students about their body's own stress activation response and help them find techniques to regulate their heart rate, body temperature, and blood pressure. Teaching through rhythm-for example, learning about math to the beat of a drum, reading an English text while riding an exercise bike, or having a disciplinary conversation while walking around the school yard together-is now an accepted classroom technique that assists trauma-affected students to regulate their nervous system through rhythmic movement.

Feeling calmer in class has the knock-on effects of helping students get along better with others, think more clearly, and stay on task. These approaches nurture students' stamina and persistence, allowing them to better deal with frustration, which benefits their social behavior in class and their capacity to take on greater academic challenges. This is indeed a hopeful approach.

Growth and strength

Trauma-informed education has helped teachers to evolve from the question of "What is wrong with this student?" to "What has this student been through?" In the field of positive psychology, we add a further question: "What does this student need to reach their potential?" This allows teachers to extend the focus from what is wrong, to what is needed, to what is possible. Building the mental health and academic capacities of students affected by trauma requires more than repairing psychological disorder and developmental delays-it requires the dual mantra of healing and growth. Of repairing and rising up.

Research by Corey Keyes shows us that healing and growth can be simultaneous processes. We don't always need to wait until something is fixed before we work on building our strengths. Indeed, growing the psychological strengths of a student affected by trauma can be a core part of healing their psychological struggles.

Working with students who are affected by trauma requires schools to assist in providing individual counseling services, safety and crisis planning, behavior plans, self-care plans to address triggers, and case management. Most of these services are not provided by the classroom teacher, yet the teacher is the person who spends the most time with trauma-affected students. A key way in which positive psychology adds to the trauma-informed strategies above is by empowering teachers in the classroom to help their students on a daily basis.

Here are five teaching techniques that you can use in your class, knowing that these approaches also assist your mainstream students.

1. Positive relationships. Trauma-affected students have more relationship challenges to navigate than most. These students can be dealing with harmful relationships at home and then come to school to manage relationships not only with their teachers but also with social workers, police officers, and clinicians-all while living out their daily lives.

It is critical that we help these students feel safe and trusting where possible, so they learn to develop social intelligence and seek out positive bonds with others. Teachers may be the only people who help these students learn what a healthy, supportive relationship feels like. Building relational trust involves simple teaching practices such as smiling, sharing parts of your life with your students, getting to know your students as individuals, and using yourself as a role model of a reliable and regulated adult.

2. Positive physical space. The physical layout and look of your classroom can be used to build positive emotions. Putting up positive visuals and quotes can inspire creative thinking and teamwork in your students. Increased natural light or soft lighting can enhance an open, warm, and relaxing environment.

Consider how the furniture and seating is arranged in your class. Is it helping students to feel safe and connected? You could also bring plants into the room or create a mindfulness corner, a dedicated space that students can visit when they need to regulate their stress response. The corner can include a bean bag, mindful coloring books, squeeze toys, noise-cancelling headphones, and more.

3. Positive priming. Following the research of Barbara Frederickson, you can use simple priming techniques to foster positive emotions such as contentment, pride, awe, and wonder in class.

Brain breaks are one helpful technique. The teachers who work with us have found that brain breaks are most effective when students reflect on the type of energy they need at that moment for learning: Escalating brain breaks build positive energy and emotions such as joy, happiness, and wonder (e.g., clapping games, thumb wars, laughter yoga, racing around the desk), while de-escalating brain breaks build calm emotions such as contentment and serenity, which help a student to feel safe and focused (e.g., silently tracing the movements of a partner, triangle breathing, playing music or repeating mantras, and body movements such as shoulder shrugging or pumping your toes inside your shoes).

You can also use positive primers to boost positive emotion when students first enter the classroom (such as by greeting them with the healthy touch of a handshake or a high five), during transitions (by turning transition routines into a silent game such as "follow the leader"), or during independent work breaks (by having students deliberately savor their accomplishment and share with a peer).

According to Fredrickson's theory, helping your students build up their bank account of positive emotions over time changes their brain to help them learn more effectively, form better relationships, and become more resilient. Next time you are planning a lesson, think about how you can use positive primers throughout the learning experience.

4. Using character strengths. Teaching strengths in schools has been shown to increase achievement and well-being. All students, especially trauma-affected students, need opportunities to identify, recognize, practice, and use their character strengths, which include qualities like kindness, humor, creativity, and bravery.

Ways to help students learn about their own strengths and the strengths of others include strengths surveys (if their literacy skills allow), strengths cards, and strengths spotting exercises-like identifying strengths in their heroes or playing a secret agent game where they are invited to "spy" on a fellow student to identify the strengths of that student. To teach about particular strengths, you could focus on stories in English and Humanities curriculums where characters or historical figures displayed those strengths. Strengths can also be developed through performing arts, sports, and other co-curricula.

5. Building resilience. Sadly, you cannot always impact the life of a student outside of school, but you can teach resilience strategies that help a student affected by trauma to gain a better understanding of their situation and to counteract the negative messages of shame they often internalize.

Students can practice resilience skills through role plays that help them to act out skills such as setting boundaries and verbalizing their feelings, all while in the safety of a classroom. Literature, poetry, and song lyrics can help students identify examples of resilient thinking-for example, Ariana Grande's song "No Tears Left to Cry" following the London terrorist attack at her concert. Analyzing the ways in which media figures, sports heroes, and other high-profile people explain their successes and failures showcases the difference between optimism and pessimism.

Teachers can also use moments in the learning process when students feel frustration or self-doubt to coach them on how to dispute their pessimism and automatic negative thinking ( "I can't do this"; "I'm dumb") to make room for optimism and constructive thinking ( "Maybe I'm tired and I need a break"; "I solved the problem last week and I can do it again"; "It takes me a little longer than others, but I've come a long way"). Learning resilience skills can provide an internal psychological buffer for students when they are outside of school, as well as providing empowering experiences at school.

Every teacher wants to positively impact the lives of their students. For students who are affected by trauma, the teacher plays an even more vital role. The introduction of positive psychology into the classroom has huge potential to change the trajectories of the lives of many of these young people by moving beyond repair to also inspire growth.

Greater Good wants to know: Do you think this article will influence your opinions or behavior?

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Five Ways to Support Students Affected by Trauma

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Teachers can help students recognize their strengths and build resilience.

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1. What it is

1. The development of physical skills and movement.

2. Why you found it so impactful

1.  I think that it is important to get them moving so they can associate certain activities with concepts.

3. How it will impact your practice

1. History is boring and I know that students tend to fall asleep if they are just being lectured at. There are so many opportunities in history to get up and move around the classroom. I want my students up and moving so they are excited by history and not just falling asleep.

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Some of the most important times for any person are the years she spends growing up. They can determine who she is, how well she performs, and the foundation of her personality for the rest of her life. That's why parents want their children to meet developmental milestones.

When you know the stages of physical development in early childhood , you can see where your child is and if there's anything that needs to be worked on. When you know average height, weight, and head size at different ages, you know if your child is above or below average in each category.

An important part of childhood development and education that can't be overlooked is cognitive, emotional, and social development. It's great if your son is able to get to a sitting position without help before he's twelve months old, but what about his speech development or logic and reasoning? Parents need a fuller picture.

As a parent, you want your kids to be the best, but you often don't know what's normal or what to expect. Use this quick guide to educate yourself.

The Five Categories of Child Development

Looking at only one category of development is like trying to decide if your daughter is doing well at school and only looking at her math scores. These five categories show a fuller developmental picture.

For many children, these areas often develop at the same time. Helping your child grow in one area can facilitate his development in other areas.

1. Cognitive

This is your child's ability to use logic and problem-solving skills, including the skill of thinking about thinking. Cognitive development can include areas like information processing, reasoning, memory, and language development.

It is theorized there are four major stages of cognitive development, each with its own milestones. But these stages aren't about the amount of knowledge a kid knows. Rather, they're about how children process and think about that information. A child in an earlier stage might have more information and knowledge than one in a later stage but lack the skills to process that information.

2. Social and Emotional

Your child needs to know how to interact with himself and others in a healthy and manageable way. You need to make sure that he is able to be socially aware and an active member of society.

For an infant, a social and emotional milestone can be as simple as a sociable smile. But you should watch an older child to see the more complex ways she interacts with other kids, adults, and people of authority like teachers and coaches.

3. Speech and Language

Being able to communicate is a major developmental skill for every child. This can include an infant babbling and practicing basic vowel noises or a grade-schooler using basic vocabulary to create a fictional story.

Language development can start as soon as a 12-month-old starts to say his first words and should continue into adulthood. The goal is to empower your child to have the words she needs to understand the world and express herself in that world.

4. Fine Motor Skills

Physical development in early childhood is the groundwork to important lifelong skills like writing and self-care. These movements use the small muscles in the hand, fingers, and thumb and are involved in tasks like getting dressed, eating, and writing.

If your child is struggling to develop fine motor skills, play can help, which might include drawing with chalk, building with legos, or putting together puzzles.

5. Gross Motor Skills

Gross motor skills aren't "gross." Actually, this stage refers to milestones involving whole-body movements and core muscles. Children develop skills using large muscles in the arms, legs, and torso. Movements include walking, running, throwing, kicking, and lifting, and they're closely related to balance and strength.

What Happens in Early Childhood Development?

When a child is under the age of one, the biggest focus should be on the basics. Skills that you take for granted, like lifting and moving your head or saying meaningless gibberish, are major milestones for early childhood education and development .

By one year of age, a child should cry when his parents leave the room, have a favorite thing, play some games like "peek-a-boo," find hidden objects, say "mama" and "dada," and be able to get into a sitting position without help.

Which Developmental Milestone Is Most Important?

No developmental milestones are more important than others, and often they help each other. For example, a child can only reach higher levels in cognitive development if she has the language and communication skills needed.

If you notice that your child is not hitting developmental milestones, consult your pediatrician immediately. Before you stress out too much, remember that childhood development is complicated. Every child grows and develops at her own rate.

Although some of these stages have suggested age ranges when they should happen, it's okay for a child to be a few weeks or months earlier or later than expected. For example, just because it's suggested that by two months your kid should be able to hold up his head when lying on his tummy, you shouldn't worry if it's day 62 and your son is still struggling to hold up his head.

Physical and Mental Development

There is also a connection between body and mind. Working out, swimming, or dancing can help a child improve both her gross motor skills and her social and emotional development. Contact SwimJim to learn more about how swimming can help your child reach developmental milestones.

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5 Stages of Physical Development in Early Childhood | SwimJim

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Some of the most important times for any person are the years she spends growing up. They can determine who she is, how well she performs, and the foundation of her personality for the rest of her life. That's why parents want their children to meet developmental milestones.

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1. What it is

1. Children develop though language.

2. Why you found it so impactful

1. History has a unique language and vocabulary that you must learn and develop to fully understand. The best way to learn is to use the vocabulary and to talk about history.

3. How it will impact your practice

1. I will make sure that my students are using historical language in their writing assignments. I will make sure that they are familiar with vocabulary at the beginning of a unit and build upon each unit.

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Vygotsky's Theory

The work of Lev Vygotsky (1934, 1978) has become the foundation of much research and theory in cognitive development over the past several decades, particularly what has become known as sociocultural theory.

Vygotsky's theory comprises concepts such as culture-specific tools, private speech, and the zone of proximal development.

Vygotsky believed cognitive development is influenced by cultural and social factors. He emphasized the role of social interaction in the development of mental abilities e.g., speech and reasoning in children.

Vygotsky strongly believed that community plays a central role in the process of "making meaning."

Cognitive development is a socially mediated process in which children acquire cultural values, beliefs, and problem-solving strategies through collaborative dialogues with more knowledgeable members of society.

The more knowledgeable other (MKO) is someone who has a higher level of ability or greater understanding than the learner regarding a particular task, process, or concept.

The MKO can be a teacher, parent, coach, or even a peer who provides guidance and modeling to enable the child to learn skills within their zone of proximal development (the gap between what a child can do independently and what they can achieve with guidance).

The interactions with more knowledgeable others significantly increase not only the quantity of information and the number of skills a child develops, but also affects the development of higher-order mental functions such as formal reasoning. Vygotsky argued that higher mental abilities could only develop through interaction with more advanced others.

According to Vygotsky, adults in society foster children's cognitive development by engaging them in challenging and meaningful activities. Adults convey to children how their culture interprets and responds to the world.

They show the meaning they attach to objects, events, and experiences. They provide the child with what to think (the knowledge) and how to think (the processes, the tools to think with).

Vygotsky's theory encourages collaborative and cooperative learning between children and teachers or peers. Scaffolding and reciprocal teaching are effective educational strategies based on Vygotsky's ideas.

Scaffolding involves the teacher providing support structures to help students master skills just beyond their current level. In reciprocal teaching, teachers and students take turns leading discussions using strategies like summarizing and clarifying. Both scaffolding and reciprocal teaching emphasize the shared construction of knowledge, in line with Vygotsky's views.

Vygotsky highlighted the importance of language in cognitive development. Inner speech is used for mental reasoning, and external speech is used to converse with others.

These operations occur separately. Indeed, before age two, a child employs words socially; they possess no internal language.

Once thought and language merge, however, the social language is internalized and assists the child with their reasoning. Thus, the social environment is ingrained within the child's learning.

Effects of Culture

Vygotsky emphasized the role of the social environment in the child's cognitive development.

Vygotsky claimed that infants are born with the basic abilities for intellectual development called "elementary mental functions" (Piaget focuses on motor reflexes and sensory abilities). These develop throughout the first two years of life due to direct environmental contact.

Elementary mental functions include -

Eventually, through interaction within the sociocultural environment, these are developed into more sophisticated and effective mental processes, which Vygotsky refers to as "higher mental functions."

Tools of intellectual adaptation

Each culture provides its children with tools of intellectual adaptation that allow them to use basic mental functions more effectively/adaptively.

Tools of intellectual adaptation is Vygotsky's term for methods of thinking and problem-solving strategies that children internalize through social interactions with the more knowledgeable members of society.

For example, memory in young children is limited by biological factors. However, culture determines the type of memory strategy we develop.

For example, in Western culture, children learn note-taking to aid memory, but in pre-literate societies, other strategies must be developed, such as tying knots in a string to remember, carrying pebbles, or repeating the names of ancestors until large numbers can be repeated.

Vygotsky, therefore, sees cognitive functions, even those carried out alone, as affected by the beliefs, values, and tools of intellectual adaptation of the culture in which a person develops and, therefore, socio-culturally determined.

Therefore, intellectual adaptation tools vary from culture to culture - as in the memory example.

Social Influences on Cognitive Development

Like Piaget, Vygotsky believes that young children are curious and actively involved in their own learning and discovering and developing new understandings/schema.

However, Vygotsky emphasized social contributions to the development process, whereas Piaget emphasized self-initiated discovery.

According to Vygotsky (1978), much important learning by the child occurs through social interaction with a skillful tutor. The tutor may model behaviors and/or provide verbal instructions for the child.

Vygotsky refers to this as cooperative or collaborative dialogue. The child seeks to understand the actions or instructions provided by the tutor (often the parent or teacher) and then internalizes the information, using it to guide or regulate their performance.

Shaffer (1996) gives the example of a young girl given her first jigsaw. Alone, she performs poorly in attempting to solve the puzzle. The father then sits with her and describes or demonstrates some basic strategies, such as finding all the corner/edge pieces, and provides a couple of pieces for the child to put together herself, and offers encouragement when she does so.

As the child becomes more competent, the father allows the child to work more independently. According to Vygotsky, this social interaction involving cooperative or collaborative dialogue promotes cognitive development.

To understand Vygotsky's theories on cognitive development, one must understand two of the main principles of Vygotsky's work: the More Knowledgeable Other (MKO) and the Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD).

More Knowledgeable Other

The more knowledgeable other (MKO) is somewhat self-explanatory; it refers to someone who has a better understanding or a higher ability level than the learner, concerning a particular task, process, or concept.

Although the implication is that the MKO is a teacher or an older adult, this is not necessarily the case. Often, a child's peers or an adult's children may be the individuals with more knowledge or experience.

For example, who is more likely to know more about the newest teenage music groups, how to win at the most recent PlayStation game, or how to correctly perform the newest dance craze - a child or their parents?

In fact, the MKO need not be a person at all. To support employees in their learning process, some companies are now using electronic performance support systems.

Electronic tutors have also been used in educational settings to facilitate and guide students through learning. The key to MKOs is that they must have (or be programmed with) more knowledge about the topic being learned than the learner does.

Zone of Proximal Development

The concept of the more knowledgeable other relates to the second important principle of Vygotsky's work, the zone of proximal development.

This important concept relates to the difference between what a child can achieve independently and what a child can achieve with guidance and encouragement from a skilled partner.

Vygotsky consequently focuses much more closely on social interaction as an aid to learning, arguing that, left alone, children will develop - but not to their full potential.

He refers to the gap between actual and potential learning as the zone of proximal development (ZPD) - and argues that it is only through collaboration with adults and other learners that this gap can be bridged.

The zone of proximal development is the gap between the level of actual development, what the child can do on his own, and the level of potential development, what a child can do with the assistance of more advanced and competent individuals.

Social interaction, therefore, supports the child's cognitive development in the ZPD, leading to a higher level of reasoning. It is generally believed that social dialogues have two important features.

The first is intersubjectivity, where two individuals who might have different understandings of a task, arrive at a shared understanding by adjusting to the perspective of the other.

The second feature is referred to as scaffolding. Adults may begin with direct instruction, but as children's mastery of a task increases, so the adult tends to withdraw their own contributions in recognition of the child's increasing success.

For example, the child could not solve the jigsaw puzzle (in the example above) by itself and would have taken a long time to do so (if at all), but was able to solve it following interaction with the father, and has developed competence at this skill that will be applied to future jigsaws.

ZPD is the zone where instruction is the most beneficial, as it is when the task is just beyond the individual's capabilities. To learn, we must be presented with tasks just out of our ability range. Challenging tasks promote maximum cognitive growth.

As a result of shared dialogues with more knowledgeable others, who provide hints, instructions, and encouragement, the child can internalize the 'how to do it' part of the task as part of their inner or private speech. The child can then use this on later occasions when they tackle a similar task on their own.

Vygotsky (1978) sees the Zone of Proximal Development as the area where the most sensitive instruction or guidance should be given - allowing the child to develop skills they will then use on their own - developing higher mental functions.

Vygotsky also views peer interaction as an effective way of developing skills and strategies. He suggests that teachers use cooperative learning exercises where less competent children develop with help from more skillful peers - within the zone of proximal development.

Evidence for Vygotsky and the ZPD

Freund (1990) conducted a study in which children had to decide which items of furniture should be placed in particular areas of a doll's house.

Some children were allowed to play with their mother in a similar situation before they attempted it alone (zone of proximal development) while others were allowed to work on this by themselves (Piaget's discovery learning).

Freund found that those who had previously worked with their mother (ZPD) showed the greatest improvement compared with their first attempt at the task.

The conclusion is that guided learning within the ZPD led to greater understanding/performance than working alone (discovery learning).

Vygotsky and Language

Vygotsky believed that language develops from social interactions for communication purposes. Vygotsky viewed language as man's greatest tool for communicating with the outside world.

According to Vygotsky (1962), language plays two critical roles in cognitive development:

1. It is the main means by which adults transmit information to children.

2. Language itself becomes a very powerful tool for intellectual adaptation.

Vygotsky (1987) differentiates between three forms of language:

1. Social speech, which is external communication used to talk to others (typical from the age of two);

2. Private speech (typical from the age of three) which is directed to the self and serves an intellectual function;

3. Private speech goes underground, diminishing in audibility as it takes on a self-regulating function and is transformed into silent inner speech (typical from the age of seven).

For Vygotsky, thought and language are initially separate systems from the beginning of life, merging at around three years of age.

At this point, speech and thought become interdependent: thought becomes verbal, and speech becomes representational.

As children develop mental representation, particularly the skill of language, they start to communicate with themselves in much the same way as they would communicate with others.

When this happens, children's monologues are internalized to become inner speech. The internalization of language is important as it drives cognitive development.

"Inner speech is not the interiour aspect of external speech - it is a function in itself. It still remains speech, i.e., thought connected with words.

But while in external speech thought is embodied in words, in inner speech words dies as they bring forth thought. Inner speech is to a large extent thinking in pure meanings."
(Vygotsky, 1962: p. 149)

Private Speech

Vygotsky (1987) was the first psychologist to document the importance of private speech.

He considered private speech as the transition point between social and inner speech, the moment in development where language and thought unite to constitute verbal thinking.

Thus, in Vygotsky's view, private speech was the earliest manifestation of inner speech. Indeed, private speech is more similar (in form and function) to inner speech than social speech.

Private speech is "typically defined, in contrast to social speech, as speech addressed to the self (not to others) for the purpose of self-regulation (rather than communication)."
(Diaz, 1992, p.62)

Private speech is overt, audible, and observable, often seen in children who talk to themselves while problem-solving.

Conversely, inner speech is covert or hidden because it happens internally. It is the silent, internal dialogue that adults often engage in while thinking or problem-solving.

In contrast to Piaget's (1959) notion of private speech representing a developmental dead-end, Vygotsky (1934, 1987) viewed private speech as:

"A revolution in development which is triggered when preverbal thought and preintellectual language come together to create fundamentally new forms of mental functioning." (Fernyhough & Fradley, 2005: p. 1)

In addition to disagreeing on the functional significance of private speech, Vygotsky and Piaget also offered opposing views on the developmental course of private speech and the environmental circumstances in which it occurs most often (Berk & Garvin, 1984).

Through private speech, children collaborate with themselves, in the same way a more knowledgeable other (e.g., adults) collaborate with them to achieve a given function.

Vygotsky sees "private speech" as a means for children to plan activities and strategies, aiding their development. Private speech is the use of language for self-regulation of behavior.

Therefore, language accelerates thinking/understanding ( Jerome Bruner also views language in this way). Vygotsky believed that children who engage in large amounts of private speech are more socially competent than children who do not use it extensively.

Vygotsky (1987) notes that private speech does not merely accompany a child's activity but acts as a tool the developing child uses to facilitate cognitive processes, such as overcoming task obstacles, and enhancing imagination, thinking, and conscious awareness.

Children use private speech most often during intermediate difficulty tasks because they attempt to self-regulate by verbally planning and organizing their thoughts (Winsler et al., 2007).

The frequency and content of private speech correlate with behavior or performance. For example, private speech appears functionally related to cognitive performance: It appears at times of difficulty with a task.

For example, tasks related to executive function (Fernyhough & Fradley, 2005), problem-solving tasks (Behrend et al., 1992), and schoolwork in both language (Berk & Landau, 1993), and mathematics (Ostad & Sorensen, 2007).

Berk (1986) provided empirical support for the notion of private speech. She found that most private speech exhibited by children serves to describe or guide the child's actions.

Berk also discovered that children engaged in private speech more often when working alone on challenging tasks and when their teacher was not immediately available to help them.

Furthermore, Berk also found that private speech develops similarly in all children regardless of cultural background.

There is also evidence (Behrend et al., 1992) that those children who displayed the characteristic whispering and lip movements associated with private speech when faced with a difficult task were generally more attentive and successful than their 'quieter' classmates.

Vygotsky (1987) proposed that private speech is a product of an individual's social environment. This hypothesis is supported by the fact that there exist high positive correlations between rates of social interaction and private speech in children.

Children raised in cognitively and linguistically stimulating environments (situations more frequently observed in higher socioeconomic status families) start using and internalizing private speech faster than children from less privileged backgrounds.

Indeed, children raised in environments characterized by low verbal and social exchanges exhibit delays in private speech development.

Children's use of private speech diminishes as they grow older and follows a curvilinear trend. This is due to changes in ontogenetic development whereby children can internalize language (through inner speech) to self-regulate their behavior (Vygotsky, 1987).

For example, research has shown that children's private speech usually peaks at 3-4 years of age, decreases at 6-7, and gradually fades out to be mostly internalized by age 10 (Diaz, 1992).

Vygotsky proposed that private speech diminishes and disappears with age not because it becomes socialized, as Piaget suggested, but because it goes underground to constitute inner speech or verbal thought" (Frauenglass & Diaz, 1985).

Educational Implications

Vygotsky's approach to child development is a form of social constructivism, based on the idea that cognitive functions are the products of social interactions.

Social constructivism posits that knowledge is constructed and learning occurs through social interactions within a cultural and historical context.

Vygotsky emphasized the collaborative nature of learning by constructing knowledge through social negotiation. He rejected the assumption made by Piaget that it was possible to separate learning from its social context.

Vygotsky believed everything is learned on two levels. First, through interaction with others, then integrated into the individual's mental structure.

Every function in the child's cultural development appears twice: first, on the social level, and later, on the individual level; first, between people (interpsychological) and then inside the child (intrapsychological).

This applies equally to voluntary attention, to logical memory, and to the formation of concepts. All the higher functions originate as actual relationships between individuals.
(Vygotsky, 1978, p.57)

Teaching styles grounded in constructivism represent a deliberate shift from traditional, didactic, memory-oriented transmission models (Cannella & Reiff, 1994) to a more student-centered approach.

Traditionally, schools have failed to foster environments where students actively participate in their own and their peers' education. Vygotsky's theory, however, calls for both the teacher and students to assume non-traditional roles as they engage in collaborative learning.

Rather than having a teacher impose their understanding onto students for future recitation, the teacher should co-create meaning with students in a manner that allows learners to take ownership (Hausfather, 1996).

For instance, a student and teacher might start a task with varying levels of expertise and understanding. As they adapt to each other's perspective, the teacher must articulate their insights in a way that the student can comprehend, leading the student to a fuller understanding of the task or concept.

The student can then internalize the task's operational aspect ("how to do it") into their inner speech or private dialogue. Vygotsky referred to this reciprocal understanding and adjustment process as intersubjectivity."

ZPD

Because Vygotsky asserts that cognitive change occurs within the zone of proximal development, instruction would be designed to reach a developmental level just above the student's current developmental level.

Vygotsky proclaims, "learning which is oriented toward developmental levels that have already been reached is ineffective from the viewpoint of the child's overall development. It does not aim for a new stage of the developmental process but rather lags behind this process" (Vygotsky, 1978).

Appropriation is necessary for cognitive development within the zone of proximal development. Individuals participating in peer collaboration or guided teacher instruction must share the same focus to access the zone of proximal development.

"Joint attention and shared problem solving is needed to create a process of cognitive, social, and emotional interchange" (Hausfather,1996).

Furthermore, it is essential that the partners be on different developmental levels and the higher-level partner be aware of the lower's level. If this does not occur or one partner dominates, the interaction is less successful (Driscoll, 1994; Hausfather, 1996).

Vygotsky's theories also feed into the current interest in collaborative learning, suggesting that group members should have different levels of ability so more advanced peers can help less advanced members operate within their ZPD.

Scaffolding and reciprocal teaching are effective strategies to access the zone of proximal development.

Reciprocal Teaching

A contemporary educational application of Vygotsky's theory is "reciprocal teaching," used to improve students" ability to learn from text.

In this method, teachers and students collaborate in learning and practicing four key skills: summarizing, questioning, clarifying, and predicting. The teacher's role in the process is reduced over time.

Reciprocal teaching allows for the creation of a dialogue between students and teachers. This two-way communication becomes an instructional strategy by encouraging students to go beyond answering questions and engage in the discourse (Driscoll, 1994; Hausfather, 1996).

A study conducted by Brown and Palincsar (1989) demonstrated the Vygotskian approach with reciprocal teaching methods in their successful program to teach reading strategies.

The teacher and students alternated turns leading small group discussions on a reading. After modeling four reading strategies, students began to assume the teaching role.

The results showed significant gains over other instructional strategies (Driscoll, 1994; Hausfather,1996).

Cognitively Guided Instruction is another strategy to implement Vygotsky's theory. This strategy involves the teacher and students exploring math problems and then sharing their problem-solving strategies in an open dialogue (Hausfather,1996).

Based on Vygotsky's theory, the physical classroom would provide clustered desks or tables and workspace for peer instruction, collaboration, and small-group instruction. Learning becomes a reciprocal experience for the students and teacher.

Like the environment, the instructional design of the material to be learned would be structured to promote and encourage student interaction and collaboration. Thus the classroom becomes a community of learning.

Scaffolding

Also, Vygotsky's theory of cognitive development on learners is relevant to instructional concepts such as "scaffolding" and "apprenticeship," in which a teacher or more advanced peer helps to structure or arrange a task so that a novice can work on it successfully.

A teacher's role is to identify each individual's current level of development and provide them with opportunities to cross their ZPD.

A crucial element in this process is the use of what later became known as scaffolding; the way in which the teacher provides students with frameworks and experiences which encourage them to extend their existing schemata and incorporate new skills, competencies, and understandings.

Scaffolding describes the conditions that support the child's learning, to move from what they already know to new knowledge and abilities.

Scaffolding requires the teacher to allow students to extend their current skills and knowledge.

During scaffolding, the support offered by an adult (or more knowledgeable other) gradually decreases as the child becomes more skilled in the task.

As the adult withdraws their help, the child assumes more of the strategic planning and eventually gains competence to master similar problems without a teacher's aid or a more knowledgeable peer.

It is important to note that this is more than simply instruction; learning experiences must be presented in such a way as to actively challenge existing mental structures and provide frameworks for learning.

Five ways in which an adult can "scaffold" a child's learning:

1. Engaging the child's interest

2. Maintaining the child's interest in the task e.g., avoiding distraction and providing clear instructions on how to start the task.

3. Keeping the child's frustration under control e.g., by supportive interactions, adapting instructions according to where the child is struggling.

4. Emphasizing the important features of the task

5. Demonstrating the task: showing the child how to do the task in simple, clear steps.

As the child progresses through the ZPD, the necessary scaffolding level declines from 5 to 1.

The teacher must engage students' interests, simplify tasks to be manageable, and motivate students to pursue the instructional goal.

In addition, the teacher must look for discrepancies between students" efforts and the solution, control for frustration and risk, and model an idealized version of the act (Hausfather, 1996).

Challenges to Traditional Teaching Methods

Vygotsky's social development theory challenges traditional teaching methods. Historically, schools have been organized around recitation teaching.

The teacher disseminates knowledge to be memorized by the students, who in turn recite the information to the teacher (Hausfather,1996).

However, the studies described above offer empirical evidence that learning based on the social development theory facilitates cognitive development over other instructional strategies.

The structure of our schools does not reflect the rapid changes our society is experiencing. The introduction and integration of computer technology in society has tremendously increased the opportunities for social interaction.

Therefore, the social context for learning is transforming as well. Whereas collaboration and peer instruction were once only possible in shared physical space, learning relationships can now be formed from distances through cyberspace.

Computer technology is a cultural tool that students can use to meditate and internalize their learning. Recent research suggests changing the learning contexts with technology is a powerful learning activity (Crawford, 1996).

If schools continue to resist structural change, students will be ill-prepared for the world they will live.

Critical Evaluation

Vygotsky's work has not received the same level of intense scrutiny that Piaget's has, partly due to the time-consuming process of translating Vygotsky's work from Russian.

Also, Vygotsky's sociocultural perspective does not provide as many specific hypotheses to test as Piaget's theory, making refutation difficult, if not impossible.

Perhaps the main criticism of Vygotsky's work concerns the assumption that it is relevant to all cultures. Rogoff (1990) dismisses the idea that Vygotsky's ideas are culturally universal and instead states that scaffolding- heavily dependent on verbal instruction - may not be equally useful in all cultures for all types of learning.

Indeed, in some instances, observation and practice may be more effective ways of learning certain skills.

There is much emphasis on social interaction and culture, but many other aspects of development are neglected, such as the importance of emotional factors, e.g., the joys of success and the disappointments and frustration of failure act as motivation for learning.

Vygotsky overemphasized socio-cultural factors at the expense of biological influences on cognitive development. This theory cannot explain why cross-cultural studies show that the stages of development (except the formal operational stage) occur in the same order in all cultures suggesting that cognitive development is a product of a biological process of maturation.

Vygotky's theory has been applied successfully to education. Scaffolding has been shown to be an effective way of teaching (Freund, 1990), and based on this theory, teachers are trained to guide children from what they can do to the next step in their learning through careful scaffolding.

Collaborative work is also used in the classroom, mixing children of different levels of ability to make use of reciprocal / peer teaching.

Vygotsky vs. Piaget

Unlike Piaget's notion that children's cognitive development must necessarily precede their learning, Vygotsky argued, "learning is a necessary and universal aspect of the process of developing culturally organized, specifically human psychological function" (1978, p. 90). In other words, social learning precedes (i.e., come before) development.

Vygotsky's theory differs from that of Piaget in several important ways:

Vygotsky places more emphasis on culture affecting cognitive development.

Unlike Piaget, who emphasized universal cognitive change (i.e., all children would go through the same sequence of cognitive development regardless of their cultural experiences), Vygotsky leads us to expect variable development depending on cultural diversity.

This contradicts Piaget's view of universal stages of development (Vygotsky does not refer to stages like Piaget does).

Hence, Vygotsky assumes cognitive development varies across cultures, whereas Piaget states cognitive development is mostly universal across cultures.

Vygotsky places considerably more emphasis on social factors contributing to cognitive development.

1. Vygotsky states the importance of cultural and social context for learning. Cognitive development stems from social interactions from guided learning within the zone of proximal development as children and their partners co-construct knowledge.
In contrast, Piaget maintains that cognitive development stems largely from independent explorations in which children construct knowledge.

2. For Vygotsky, the environment in which children grow up will influence how they think and what they think about.
The importance of scaffolding and language may differ for all cultures. Rogoff (1990) emphasizes the importance of observation and practice in pre-industrial societies (e.g., learning to use a canoe among Micronesian Islanders).

Vygotsky places more (and different) emphasis on the role of language in cognitive development.

According to Piaget, language depends on thought for its development (i.e., thought comes before language). For Vygotsky, thought and language are initially separate systems from the beginning of life, merging at around three years of age, producing verbal thought (inner speech).

In Piaget's theory, egocentric (or private) speech gradually disappears as children develop truly social speech, in which they monitor and adapt what they say to others.

Vygotsky disagreed with this view, arguing that as language helps children to think about and control their behavior, it is an important foundation for complex cognitive skills.

As children age, this self-directed speech becomes silent (or private) speech, referring to the inner dialogues we have with ourselves as we plan and carry out activities.

For Vygotsky, cognitive development results from an internalization of language.

According to Vygotsky, adults are an important source of cognitive development.

Adults transmit their culture's tools of intellectual adaptation that children internalize.

In contrast, Piaget emphasizes the importance of peers, as peer interaction promotes social perspective-taking.

Behrend, D.A., Rosengren, K.S., & Perlmutter, M. (1992). The relation between private speech and parental interactive style. In R.M. Diaz & L.E. Berk (Eds.), Private speech: From social interaction to self-regulation (pp. 85-100). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.

Berk, L. E. (1986). Relationship of elementary school children's private speech to behavioral accompaniment to task, attention, and task performance. Developmental Psychology, 22(5), 671.

Berk, L. & Garvin, R. (1984). Development of private speech among low-income Appalachian children. Developmental Psychology, 20(2), 271-286.

Berk, L. E., & Landau, S. (1993). Private speech of learning-disabled and normally achieving children in classroom academic and laboratory contexts. Child Development, 64, 556-571.

Cannella, G. S., & Reiff, J. C. (1994). Individual constructivist teacher education: Teachers as empowered learners. Teacher education quarterly, 27-38.

Crawford, K. (1996) Vygotskian approaches to human development in the information era. Educational Studies in Mathematics, (31),43-62.

Diaz, R. M., & Berk, L. E. (1992). Private speech: From social interaction to self-regulation. Lawrence Erlbaum.

Driscoll, M. P. (1994). Psychology of Learning for Instruction. Needham, Ma: Allyn && Bacon.

Frauenglass, M. & Diaz, R. (1985). Self-regulatory functions of children's private speech: A critical analysis of recent challenges to Vygotsky's theory. Developmental Psychology, 21(2), 357-364.

Fernyhough, C., & Fradley, E. (2005). Private speech on an executive task: Relations with task difficulty and task performance. Cognitive Development, 20, 103-120.

Freund, L. S. (1990). Maternal regulation of children's problem-solving behavior and its impact on children's performance. Child Development, 61, 113-126.

Hausfather, S. J. (1996). Vygotsky and Schooling: Creating a Social Contest for learning. Action in Teacher Education, (18),1-10.

Ostad, S. A., & Sorensen, P. M. (2007). Private speech and strategy-use patterns: Bidirectional comparisons of children with and without mathematical difficulties in a developmental perspective. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 40, 2-14.

Piaget, J. (1959). The language and thought of the child (Vol. 5) . Psychology Press.

Rogoff, B. (1990). Apprenticeship in thinking: Cognitive development in social context. Oxford university press.

Saettler, P. (1990). The Evolution of American Educational Technology . Egnlewood, Co: Libraries Unlimited.

Schaffer, R. (1996) . Social development. Oxford: Blackwell.

Vygotsky, L. S. (1962). Thought and language. Cambridge MA: MIT Press.

Vygotsky, L. S. (1978). Mind in society: The development of higher psychological processes. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Vygotsky, L. S. (1987). Thinking and speech. In R.W. Rieber & A.S. Carton (Eds.), The collected works of L.S. Vygotsky, Volume 1: Problems of general psychology (pp. 39-285). New York: Plenum Press. (Original work published 1934.)

Winsler, A., Abar, B., Feder, M. A., Schunn, C. D., & Rubio, D. A. (2007). Private speech and executive functioning among high-functioning children with autistic spectrum disorders. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 37, 1617-1635.

Wertsch, J. V., Sohmer, R. (1995). Vygotsky on learning and development. Human Development, (38), 332-37.

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Lev Vygotsky's Sociocultural Theory Of Cognitive Development

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Lev Vygotsky's theory of child development, known as the sociocultural theory, emphasizes the importance of social interaction and cultural context in learning and cognitive development. Vygotsky proposed the concept of the Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD), which is the gap between what a child can do independently and what they can achieve with guidance from a more knowledgeable person.

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1. What it is

1. The building blocks of knowledge

2. Why you found it so impactful

1. Kids are still developing so it is important to continue to give them building blocks to expand their knowledge and encourage development.

3. How it will impact your practice

1. I will use methods that will challenge thinking and require critical thinking. I will make sure that students are being pushed and challenged but helping them identify the challenges and build on what they already know to learn something new.

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Who was Piaget and what are his stages of development?

Jean Piaget was a Swiss developmental psychologist who studied children in the early 20th century. His theory of intellectual or cognitive development, published in 1936, is still used today in some branches of education and psychology. It focuses on children, from birth through adolescence, and characterizes different stages of development, including:

Piaget made several assumptions about children while developing his theory:

Children build their own knowledge based on their experiences.

Children learn things on their own without influence from adults or older children.

Children are motivated to learn by nature. They don't need rewards as motivation.

There are four stages in all:

sensorimotor stage

preoperational stage

concrete operational stage

formal operational stage

The stages cover a range of ages from birth to 2 years old to young adulthood.

Piaget's stages are age-specific and marked by important characteristics of thought processes. They also include goals children should achieve as they move through a given stage.

There are a variety of terms Piaget used in his theory to explain cognitive development and how it's achieved at different stages.

Schema is a term he used to represent the building blocks of knowledge. You may think of schemas as different index cards inside the brain. Each one informs the individual on how to react to new information or situations.

For example, picture a person visiting the grocery store to buy milk. In this event, the schema is a mentally stored pattern of behavior that can be applied to this situation. The person remembers how to go through the aisles, find the milk, select the preferred kind, and then pay at the register. Whenever the person is tasked with getting milk, this particular "script" or schema is recalled from memory.

Other important terms:

Assimilation is using an existing schema and applying it to a new situation or object.

Accommodation is changing approaches when an existing schema doesn't work in a particular situation.

Equilibration is the driving force that moves all development forward. Piaget didn't believe that development progressed steadily. Instead, it moved in leaps and bounds according to experiences.

How can caregivers use schemas?

Parents and teachers can help build a child's various schemas to promote learning and development throughout the stages. This can be achieved by giving children plenty of exposure to the outside world. Being exposed to a variety of learning-by-doing experiences from a young age may help build up those internal index cards. Then, as children get older, it's about broadening the experiences and applying them to new, even hypothetical, situations.

So, how exactly can Piaget's stages be applied to education? At the root, it's about recognizing the stage a child is currently in and catering to that developmental level.

Teachers and parents can help by providing children with different experiences or ways to explore and experiment with their environments. It's through these experiences that children may gain understandings of different concepts in a hands-on way.

For young children entering preschool and kindergarten, Piaget's theories align more with play-based school programs, or environments where kids are offered opportunities for trial and error, and interaction with the real world.

Piaget's philosophy can be incorporated into any education program.

Examples include:

Providing chances for trial and error. Focus on the process of learning versus the end result.

Providing children with visual aids and other props, like models, to illustrate different ideas and concepts.

Using real-life examples to paint complex ideas, like word problems in math.

Providing chances to classify or group information. Outlines and hierarchies are good examples and allow kids to build new ideas from previous knowledge.

Offering problems that necessitate analytical or logical thinking. Brain teasers can be used as a tool in this instance.

You can also help your child throughout the stages by catering to their specific learning style at the time:

Sensorimotor

Use real objects in play activities.

Connect play to the five senses.

Implement routines for the youngest children. They are predictable and may be highly useful with developing communication.

Preoperational

Children learn best by doing. Allow them to actively interact with a variety of things in their environments, including books, people, games, and objects.

Ask questions while children are engaged in daily routines and allow them to come up with their own ideas.

Point out new things and encourage children to question you about those things.

Concrete operational

Create timelines, three dimensional models, science experiments, and other ways to manipulate abstract concepts.

Use brain teasers and riddles to foster analytical thinking.

Focus on open-ended questioning.

Formal operational

Offer step-by-step explanations of concepts and utilize charts and other visual aids.

Explore hypothetical situations. You may relate them to current events or social issues.

Broaden concepts whenever possible. For example, if talking about the Civil War, discuss other issues that have divided the country since that time.

There are some criticisms of Piaget's stages. In particular, researchers in the 1960s and 1970s argued that Piaget may have underestimated children's abilities by using confusing terms and particularly difficult tasks in his observations. In other studies, children have been successful with demonstrating knowledge of certain concepts or skills when they were presented in a simpler way.

Piaget's theory also expects children of a certain stage to primarily be at that stage across the board with all tasks presented to them. Other researchers uncovered that there is a range of abilities with cognitive tasks. In other words, some children may excel or struggle in one area over another.

Piaget's theory also explains that trying to teach children particularly advanced concepts would be unsuccessful. Yet in some cases, children may be able to learn advanced ideas even with brief instruction. Children may be more adaptable and competent than Piaget's stages give them credit for.

Last, Piaget primarily examined white, middle-class children from developed countries in his work. As a result, his findings may be skewed to this subset of people, and may not apply as directly to other groups or locations.

Lev Vygotsky developed his theory on child development at the same time Piaget was developing his own theory. Like Piaget, Vygotsky believed that children develop through stages. Unlike Piaget, Vygotsky believed that learning and development were tied to social interactions and culture. Whereas Piaget believed that children learn through doing, Vygotsky believed that they learn through being shown.

Maria Montessori shared some ideas with Piaget, including how children move through stages. Their theories are similar until children reach age 3. In school, Montessori classrooms are more child-directed. Piaget classrooms are more teacher-directed with a focus on routine, though there is flexibility and opportunity for child-directed activities.

Jean Piaget's work has helped people understand how knowledge is developed at different stages of childhood, starting at birth. His philosophy is still used in prekindergarten through 12th grade classrooms today. Understanding the different stages may help you better understand your own child and assist their learning development.

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Piaget Stages of Development: What Are They and How Are They Used?

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Piaget stages of development are the foundation of a well-known theory of early childhood development. We explain each of the four stages and explore strategies based on Piaget's theory for assisting in a child's learning development. We also examine why some researchers reject elements of this theory.

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1. What it is

1. Basically this is thinking about thinking. Planning, evaluating, and revising how you are thinking and in this case learning.

2. Why you found it so impactful

1. I think that it is so important to be aware of your learning. We must have autonomy over out education in life and you can't do that if you are not thinking about how you are learning.

3. How it will impact your practice

1. I will use self evalutations for students to see where they are at with topics in my class.

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Cite this guide: Chick, N. (2013). Metacognition. Vanderbilt University Center for Teaching. Retrieved [todaysdate] from https://cft.vanderbilt.edu/guides-sub-pages/metacognition/.

Thinking about One's Thinking | Putting Metacognition into Practice

Thinking about One's Thinking

Metacognition is, put simply, thinking about one's thinking. More precisely, it refers to the processes used to plan, monitor, and assess one's understanding and performance. Metacognition includes a critical awareness of a) one's thinking and learning and b) oneself as a thinker and learner.

Initially studied for its development in young children (Baker & Brown, 1984; Flavell, 1985), researchers soon began to look at how experts display metacognitive thinking and how, then, these thought processes can be taught to novices to improve their learning (Hatano & Inagaki, 1986). In How People Learn, the National Academy of Sciences' synthesis of decades of research on the science of learning, one of the three key findings of this work is the effectiveness of a "'metacognitive' approach to instruction" (Bransford, Brown, & Cocking, 2000, p. 18).

Metacognitive practices increase students' abilities to transfer or adapt their learning to new contexts and tasks (Bransford, Brown, & Cocking, p. 12; Palincsar & Brown, 1984; Scardamalia et al., 1984; Schoenfeld, 1983, 1985, 1991). They do this by gaining a level of awareness above the subject matter: they also think about the tasks and contexts of different learning situations and themselves as learners in these different contexts. When Pintrich (2002) asserts that "Students who know about the different kinds of strategies for learning, thinking, and problem solving will be more likely to use them" (p. 222), notice the students must "know about" these strategies, not just practice them. As Zohar and David (2009) explain, there must be a " conscious meta-strategic level of H[igher] O[rder] T[hinking]" (p. 179).

Metacognitive practices help students become aware of their strengths and weaknesses as learners, writers, readers, test-takers, group members, etc. A key element is recognizing the limit of one's knowledge or ability and then figuring out how to expand that knowledge or extend the ability. Those who know their strengths and weaknesses in these areas will be more likely to "actively monitor their learning strategies and resources and assess their readiness for particular tasks and performances" (Bransford, Brown, & Cocking, p. 67).

The absence of metacognition connects to the research by Dunning, Johnson, Ehrlinger, and Kruger on "Why People Fail to Recognize Their Own Incompetence" (2003). They found that "people tend to be blissfully unaware of their incompetence," lacking "insight about deficiencies in their intellectual and social skills." They identified this pattern across domains-from test-taking, writing grammatically, thinking logically, to recognizing humor, to hunters' knowledge about firearms and medical lab technicians' knowledge of medical terminology and problem-solving skills (p. 83-84). In short, "if people lack the skills to produce correct answers, they are also cursed with an inability to know when their answers, or anyone else's, are right or wrong" (p. 85). This research suggests that increased metacognitive abilities-to learn specific (and correct) skills, how to recognize them, and how to practice them-is needed in many contexts.

Putting Metacognition into Practice

In " Promoting Student Metacognition," Tanner (2012) offers a handful of specific activities for biology classes, but they can be adapted to any discipline. She first describes four assignments for explicit instruction (p. 116):

Preassessments-Encouraging Students to Examine Their Current Thinking: "What do I already know about this topic that could guide my learning?"

The Muddiest Point-Giving Students Practice in Identifying Confusions: "What was most confusing to me about the material explored in class today?"

Retrospective Postassessments-Pushing Students to Recognize Conceptual Change: "Before this course, I thought evolution was... Now I think that evolution is ...." or "How is my thinking changing (or not changing) over time?"

Reflective Journals-Providing a Forum in Which Students Monitor Their Own Thinking: "What about my exam preparation worked well that I should remember to do next time? What did not work so well that I should not do next time or that I should change?"

Next are recommendations for developing a "classroom culture grounded in metacognition" (p. 116-118):

Giving Students License to Identify Confusions within the Classroom Culture: ask students what they find confusing, acknowledge the difficulties

Integrating Reflection into Credited Course Work: integrate short reflection (oral or written) that ask students what they found challenging or what questions arose during an assignment/exam/project

Metacognitive Modeling by the Instructor for Students: model the thinking processes involved in your field and sought in your course by being explicit about "how you start, how you decide what to do first and then next, how you check your work, how you know when you are done" (p. 118)

To facilitate these activities, she also offers three useful tables:

Questions for students to ask themselves as they plan, monitor, and evaluate their thinking within four learning contexts-in class, assignments, quizzes/exams, and the course as a whole (p. 115)

Prompts for integrating metacognition into discussions of pairs during clicker activities, assignments, and quiz or exam preparation (p. 117)

Questions to help faculty metacognitively assess their own teaching (p. 119)

Weimer's " Deep Learning vs. Surface Learning: Getting Students to Understand the Difference " (2012) offers additional recommendations for developing students' metacognitive awareness and improvement of their study skills:

"[I]t is terribly important that in explicit and concerted ways we make students aware of themselves as learners. We must regularly ask, not only 'What are you learning?' but 'How are you learning?' We must confront them with the effectiveness (more often ineffectiveness) of their approaches. We must offer alternatives and then challenge students to test the efficacy of those approaches." (emphasis added)

She points to a tool developed by Stanger-Hall (2012, p. 297) for her students to identify their study strategies, which she divided into " cognitively passive" ("I previewed the reading before class," "I came to class," "I read the assigned text," "I highlighted the text," et al) and " cognitively active study behaviors" ("I asked myself: 'How does it work?' and 'Why does it work this way?'" "I wrote my own study questions," "I fit all the facts into a bigger picture," "I closed my notes and tested how much I remembered," et al). The specific focus of Stanger-Hall's study is tangential to this discussion, ¹ but imagine giving students lists like hers adapted to your course and then, after a major assignment, having students discuss which ones worked and which types of behaviors led to higher grades. Even further, follow Lovett's advice (2013) by assigning "exam wrappers," which include students reflecting on their previous exam-preparation strategies, assessing those strategies and then looking ahead to the next exam, and writing an action plan for a revised approach to studying. A common assignment in English composition courses is the self-assessment essay in which students apply course criteria to articulate their strengths and weaknesses within single papers or over the course of the semester. These activities can be adapted to assignments other than exams or essays, such as projects, speeches, discussions, and the like.

As these examples illustrate, for students to become more metacognitive, they must be taught the concept and its language explicitly (Pintrich, 2002; Tanner, 2012), though not in a content-delivery model (simply a reading or a lecture) and not in one lesson. Instead, the explicit instruction should be "designed according to a knowledge construction approach," or students need to recognize, assess, and connect new skills to old ones, "and it needs to take place over an extended period of time" (Zohar & David, p. 187). This kind of explicit instruction will help students expand or replace existing learning strategies with new and more effective ones, give students a way to talk about learning and thinking, compare strategies with their classmates' and make more informed choices, and render learning "less opaque to students, rather than being something that happens mysteriously or that some students 'get' and learn and others struggle and don't learn" (Pintrich, 2002, p. 223).

Metacognition instruction should also be embedded with the content and activities about which students are thinking. Why? Metacognition is "not generic" (Bransford, Brown, & Cocking, p. 19) but instead is most effective when it is adapted to reflect the specific learning contexts of a specific topic, course, or discipline (Zohar & David, 2009). In explicitly connecting a learning context to its relevant processes, learners will be more able to adapt strategies to new contexts, rather than assume that learning is the same everywhere and every time. For instance, students' abilities to read disciplinary texts in discipline-appropriate ways would also benefit from metacognitive practice. A literature professor may read a passage of a novel aloud in class, while also talking about what she's thinking as she reads: how she makes sense of specific words and phrases, what connections she makes, how she approaches difficult passages, etc. This kind of modeling is a good practice in metacognition instruction, as suggested by Tanner above. Concepción's " Reading Philosophy with Background Knowledge and Metacognition " (2004) includes his detailed "How to Read Philosophy" handout (pp. 358-367), which includes the following components:

What to Expect (when reading philosophy)

The Ultimate Goal (of reading philosophy)

Basic Good Reading Behaviors

Important Background Information, or discipline- and course-specific reading practices, such as "reading for enlightenment" rather than information, and "problem-based classes" rather than historical or figure-based classes

A Three-Part Reading Process (pre-reading, understanding, and evaluating)

Flagging, or annotating the reading

Linear vs. Dialogical Writing (Philosophical writing is rarely straightforward but instead "a monologue that contains a dialogue" [p. 365].)

What would such a handout look like for your discipline?

Students can even be metacognitively prepared (and then prepare themselves) for the overarching learning experiences expected in specific contexts. Salvatori and Donahue's The Elements (and Pleasures) of Difficulty (2004) encourages students to embrace difficult texts (and tasks) as part of deep learning, rather than an obstacle. Their "difficulty paper" assignment helps students reflect on and articulate the nature of the difficulty and work through their responses to it (p. 9). Similarly, in courses with sensitive subject matter, a different kind of learning occurs, one that involves complex emotional responses. In " Learning from Their Own Learning: How Metacognitive and Meta-affective Reflections Enhance Learning in Race-Related Courses" (Chick, Karis, & Kernahan, 2009), students were informed about the common reactions to learning about racial inequality (Helms, 1995; Adams, Bell, & Griffin, 1997; see student handout, Chick, Karis, & Kernahan, p. 23-24) and then regularly wrote about their cognitive and affective responses to specific racialized situations. The students with the most developed metacognitive and meta-affective practices at the end of the semester were able to "clear the obstacles and move away from" oversimplified thinking about race and racism "to places of greater questioning, acknowledging the complexities of identity, and redefining the world in racial terms" (p. 14).

Ultimately, metacognition requires students to "externalize mental events" (Bransford, Brown, & Cocking, p. 67), such as what it means to learn, awareness of one's strengths and weaknesses with specific skills or in a given learning context, plan what's required to accomplish a specific learning goal or activity, identifying and correcting errors, and preparing ahead for learning processes.

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1 Students who were tested with short answer in addition to multiple-choice questions on their exams reported more cognitively active behaviors than those tested with just multiple-choice questions, and these active behaviors led to improved performance on the final exam.
References

Adams, Maurianne, Bell, Lee Ann, and Griffin, Pat. (1997). Teaching for diversity and social justice: A sourcebook. New York: Routledge.

Bransford, John D., Brown Ann L., and Cocking Rodney R. (2000). How people learn: Brain, mind, experience, and school. Washington, D.C.: National Academy Press.

Baker, Linda, and Brown, Ann L. (1984). Metacognitive skills and reading. In Paul David Pearson, Michael L. Kamil, Rebecca Barr, & Peter Mosenthal (Eds.), Handbook of research in reading: Volume III (pp. 353-395). New York: Longman.

Brown, Ann L. (1980). Metacognitive development and reading. In Rand J. Spiro, Bertram C. Bruce, and William F. Brewer, (Eds.), Theoretical issues in reading comprehension: Perspectives from cognitive psychology, linguistics, artificial intelligence, and education (pp. 453-482). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.

Chick, Nancy, Karis, Terri, and Kernahan, Cyndi. (2009). Learning from their own learning: how metacognitive and meta-affective reflections enhance learning in race-related courses . International Journal for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, 3(1). 1-28.

Flavell, John H. (1985). Cognitive development. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.

Hatano, Giyoo and Inagaki, Kayoko. (1986). Two courses of expertise. In Harold Stevenson, Azuma, Horishi, and Hakuta, Kinji (Eds.), Child development and education in Japan, New York: W.H. Freeman.

Lovett, Marsha C. (2013). Make exams worth more than the grade. In Matthew Kaplan, Naomi Silver, Danielle LaVague-Manty, and Deborah Meizlish (Eds.), Using reflection and metacognition to improve student learning: Across the disciplines, across the academy. Sterling, VA: Stylus.

Salvatori, Mariolina Rizzi, and Donahue, Patricia. (2004). The Elements (and pleasures) of difficulty. New York: Pearson-Longman.

Schoenfeld, Alan H. (1991). On mathematics as sense making: An informal attack on the fortunate divorce of formal and informal mathematics. In James F. Voss, David N. Perkins, and Judith W. Segal (Eds.), Informal reasoning and education (pp. 311-344). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.

Weimer, Maryellen. (2012, November 19). Deep learning vs. surface learning: Getting students to understand the difference. Retrieved from the Teaching Professor Blog from http://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/teaching-professor-blog/deep-learning-vs-surface-learning-getting-students-to-understand-the-difference/.

This teaching guide is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.

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by Nancy Chick Print Version Cite this guide: Chick, N. (2013). Metacognition. Vanderbilt University Center for Teaching. Retrieved [todaysdate] from https://cft.vanderbilt.edu/guides-sub-pages/metacognition/. Thinking about One's Thinking | Putting Metacognition into Practice Thinking about One's Thinking Metacognition is, put simply, thinking about one's thinking. More precisely, it refers to the processes used to plan, monitor, and assess...

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1. What it is

1. This is a state of mind focused on becoming more and growing.

2. Why you found it so impactful

1. I think that it is so important to go into anything with the idea that you will grow from the expereince. I think that if we are not growing we are stagnant and eventually we will stay plateaued.

3. How it will impact your practice

1. I want my classroom to be a place of growth. I want to challenge students perceptions and help them expand their thoughts and ideas so that they will be able to think for themselves and form their own opinions.

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"If you imagine less, less will be what you undoubtedly deserve," Debbie Millman counseled in one of the best commencement speeches ever given, urging: "Do what you love, and don't stop until you get what you love. Work as hard as you can, imagine immensities..." Far from Pollyanna platitude, this advice actually reflects what modern psychology knows about how belief systems about our own abilities and potential fuel our behavior and predict our success. Much of that understanding stems from the work of Stanford psychologist Carol Dweck, synthesized in her remarkably insightful Mindset: The New Psychology of Success (public library) - an inquiry into the power of our beliefs, both conscious and unconscious, and how changing even the simplest of them can have profound impact on nearly every aspect of our lives.

One of the most basic beliefs we carry about ourselves, Dweck found in her research, has to do with how we view and inhabit what we consider to be our personality. A "fixed mindset" assumes that our character, intelligence, and creative ability are static givens which we can't change in any meaningful way, and success is the affirmation of that inherent intelligence, an assessment of how those givens measure up against an equally fixed standard; striving for success and avoiding failure at all costs become a way of maintaining the sense of being smart or skilled. A "growth mindset," on the other hand, thrives on challenge and sees failure not as evidence of unintelligence but as a heartening springboard for growth and for stretching our existing abilities. Out of these two mindsets, which we manifest from a very early age, springs a great deal of our behavior, our relationship with success and failure in both professional and personal contexts, and ultimately our capacity for happiness.

The consequences of believing that intelligence and personality can be developed rather than being immutably engrained traits, Dweck found in her two decades of research with both children and adults, are remarkable. She writes:

For twenty years, my research has shown that the view you adopt for yourself profoundly affects the way you lead your life. It can determine whether you become the person you want to be and whether you accomplish the things you value. How does this happen? How can a simple belief have the power to transform your psychology and, as a result, your life?

Believing that your qualities are carved in stone - the fixed mindset - creates an urgency to prove yourself over and over. If you have only a certain amount of intelligence, a certain personality, and a certain moral character - well, then you'd better prove that you have a healthy dose of them. It simply wouldn't do to look or feel deficient in these most basic characteristics.

[...]

I've seen so many people with this one consuming goal of proving themselves - in the classroom, in their careers, and in their relationships. Every situation calls for a confirmation of their intelligence, personality, or character. Every situation is evaluated: Will I succeed or fail? Will I look smart or dumb? Will I be accepted or rejected? Will I feel like a winner or a loser? . . .

There's another mindset in which these traits are not simply a hand you're dealt and have to live with, always trying to convince yourself and others that you have a royal flush when you're secretly worried it's a pair of tens. In this mindset, the hand you're dealt is just the starting point for development. This growth mindset is based on the belief that your basic qualities are things you can cultivate through your efforts. Although people may differ in every which way - in their initial talents and aptitudes, interests, or temperaments - everyone can change and grow through application and experience.

Do people with this mindset believe that anyone can be anything, that anyone with proper motivation or education can become Einstein or Beethoven? No, but they believe that a person's true potential is unknown (and unknowable); that it's impossible to foresee what can be accomplished with years of passion, toil, and training.

At the heart of what makes the "growth mindset" so winsome, Dweck found, is that it creates a passion for learning rather than a hunger for approval. Its hallmark is the conviction that human qualities like intelligence and creativity, and even relational capacities like love and friendship, can be cultivated through effort and deliberate practice. Not only are people with this mindset not discouraged by failure, but they don't actually see themselves as failing in those situations - they see themselves as learning. Dweck writes:

Why waste time proving over and over how great you are, when you could be getting better? Why hide deficiencies instead of overcoming them? Why look for friends or partners who will just shore up your self-esteem instead of ones who will also challenge you to grow? And why seek out the tried and true, instead of experiences that will stretch you? The passion for stretching yourself and sticking to it, even (or especially) when it's not going well, is the hallmark of the growth mindset. This is the mindset that allows people to thrive during some of the most challenging times in their lives.

This idea, of course, isn't new - if anything, it's the fodder of self-help books and vacant "You can do anything!" platitudes. What makes Dweck's work different, however, is that it is rooted in rigorous research on how the mind - especially the developing mind - works, identifying not only the core drivers of those mindsets but also how they can be reprogrammed.

Dweck and her team found that people with the fixed mindset see risk and effort as potential giveaways of their inadequacies, revealing that they come up short in some way. But the relationship between mindset and effort is a two-way street:

It's not just that some people happen to recognize the value of challenging themselves and the importance of effort. Our research has shown that this comes directly from the growth mindset. When we teach people the growth mindset, with its focus on development, these ideas about challenge and effort follow. . . .

As you begin to understand the fixed and growth mindsets, you will see exactly how one thing leads to another-how a belief that your qualities are carved in stone leads to a host of thoughts and actions, and how a belief that your qualities can be cultivated leads to a host of different thoughts and actions, taking you down an entirely different road.

[...]

The mindsets change what people strive for and what they see as success. . . they change the definition, significance, and impact of failure. . . they change the deepest meaning of effort.

Dweck cites a poll of 143 creativity researchers, who concurred that the number-one trait underpinning creative achievement is precisely the kind of resilience and fail-forward perseverance attributed to the growth mindset. She writes:

When you enter a mindset, you enter a new world. In one world - the world of fixed traits - success is about proving you're smart or talented. Validating yourself. In the other - the world of changing qualities - it's about stretching yourself to learn something new. Developing yourself.

In one world, failure is about having a setback. Getting a bad grade. Losing a tournament. Getting fired. Getting rejected. It means you're not smart or talented. In the other world, failure is about not growing. Not reaching for the things you value. It means you're not fulfilling your potential.

In one world, effort is a bad thing. It, like failure, means you're not smart or talented. If you were, you wouldn't need effort. In the other world, effort is what makes you smart or talented.

But her most remarkable research, which has informed present theories of why presence is more important than praise in teaching children to cultivate a healthy relationship with achievement, explores how these mindsets are born - they form, it turns out, very early in life. In one seminal study, Dweck and her colleagues offered four-year-olds a choice: They could either redo an easy jigsaw puzzle, or try a harder one. Even these young children conformed to the characteristics of one of the two mindsets - those with "fixed" mentality stayed on the safe side, choosing the easier puzzles that would affirm their existing ability, articulating to the researchers their belief that smart kids don't make mistakes; those with the "growth" mindset thought it an odd choice to begin with, perplexed why anyone would want to do the same puzzle over and over if they aren't learning anything new. In other words, the fixed-mindset kids wanted to make sure they succeeded in order to seem smart, whereas the growth-mindset ones wanted to stretch themselves, for their definition of success was about becoming smarter.

Dweck quotes one seventh-grade girl, who captured the difference beautifully:

I think intelligence is something you have to work for ... it isn't just given to you.... Most kids, if they're not sure of an answer, will not raise their hand to answer the question. But what I usually do is raise my hand, because if I'm wrong, then my mistake will be corrected. Or I will raise my hand and say, 'How would this be solved?' or 'I don't get this. Can you help me?' Just by doing that I'm increasing my intelligence.

Things got even more interesting when Dweck brought people into Columbia's brain-wave lab to study how their brains behaved as they answered difficult questions and received feedback. What she found was that those with a fixed mindset were only interested in hearing feedback that reflected directly on their present ability, but tuned out information that could help them learn and improve. They even showed no interest in hearing the right answer when they had gotten a question wrong, because they had already filed it away in the failure category. Those with a growth mindset, on the other hand, were keenly attentive to information that could help them expand their existing knowledge and skill, regardless of whether they'd gotten the question right or wrong - in other words, their priority was learning, not the binary trap of success and failure.

These findings are especially important in education and how we, as a culture, assess intelligence. In another study of hundreds of students, mostly adolescents, Dweck and her colleagues gave each ten fairly challenging problems from a nonverbal IQ test, then praised the student for his or her performance - most had done pretty well. But they offered two types of praise: Some students were told "Wow, you got [X many] right. That's a really good score. You must be smart at this," while others, "Wow, you got [X many] right. That's a really good score. You must have worked really hard." In other words, some were praised for ability and others for effort. The findings, at this point, are unsurprising yet jarring:

The ability praise pushed students right into the fixed mindset, and they showed all the signs of it, too: When we gave them a choice, they rejected a challenging new task that they could learn from. They didn't want to do anything that could expose their flaws and call into question their talent.

[...]

In contrast, when students were praised for effort, 90 percent of them wanted the challenging new task that they could learn from.

The most interesting part, however, is what happened next: Dweck and her colleagues gave the students a subsequent set of harder problems, on which the students didn't do so well. Suddenly, the ability-praised kids thought they weren't so smart or gifted after all. Dweck puts it poignantly:

If success had meant they were intelligent, then less-than-success meant they were deficient.

But for the effort-praised kids, the difficulty was simply an indication that they had to put in more effort, not a sign of failure or a reflection of their poor intellect. Perhaps most importantly, the two mindsets also impacted the kids' level of enjoyment - everyone enjoyed the first round of easier questions, which most kids got right, but as soon as the questions got more challenging, the ability-praised kids no longer had any fun, while the effort-praised ones not only still enjoyed the problems but even said that the more challenging, the more fun. The latter also had significant improvements in their performance as the problems got harder, while the former kept getting worse and worse, as if discouraged by their own success-or-failure mindset.

It gets better - or worse, depending on how we look at it: The most unsettling finding came after the IQ questions were completed, when the researchers asked the kids to write private letters to their peers relaying the experience, including a space for reporting their scores on the problems. To Dweck's devastation, the most toxic byproduct of the fixed mindset turned out to be dishonesty: Forty percent of the ability-praised kids lied about their scores, inflating them to look more successful. She laments:

In the fixed mindset, imperfections are shameful - especially if you're talented - so they lied them away. What's so alarming is that we took ordinary children and made them into liars, simply by telling them they were smart.

This illustrates the key difference between the two mindsets - for those with a growth one, "personal success is when you work your hardest to become your best," whereas for those with a fixed one, "success is about establishing their superiority, pure and simple. Being that somebody who is worthier than the nobodies." For the latter, setbacks are a sentence and a label. For the former, they're motivating, informative input - a wakeup call.

But one of the most profound applications of this insight has to do not with business or education but with love. Dweck found that people exhibited the same dichotomy of dispositions in their personal relationships: Those with a fixed mindset believed their ideal mate would put them on a pedestal and make them feel perfect, like "the god of a one-person religion," whereas those with the growth mindset preferred a partner who would recognize their faults and lovingly help improve them, someone who would encourage them to learn new things and become a better person. The fixed mindset, it turns out, is at the root of many of our most toxic cultural myths about "true love." Dweck writes:

The growth mindset says all of these things can be developed. All - you, your partner, and the relationship - are capable of growth and change.

In the fixed mindset, the ideal is instant, perfect, and perpetual compatibility. Like it was meant to be. Like riding off into the sunset. Like "they lived happily ever after."

[...]

One problem is that people with the fixed mindset expect everything good to happen automatically. It's not that the partners will work to help each other solve their problems or gain skills. It's that this will magically occur through their love, sort of the way it happened to Sleeping Beauty, whose coma was cured by her prince's kiss, or to Cinderella, whose miserable life was suddenly transformed by her prince.

This also applies to the myth of mind-reading, where the fixed mindset believes that an ideal couple should be able to read each other's minds and finish each other's sentences. She cites a study that invited people to talk about their relationships:

Those with the fixed mindset felt threatened and hostile after talking about even minor discrepancies in how they and their partner saw their relationship. Even a minor discrepancy threatened their belief that they shared all of each other's views.

But most destructive of all relationship myths is the belief that if it requires work, something is terribly wrong and that any discrepancy of opinions or preferences is indicative of character flaws on behalf of one's partner. Dweck offers a reality check:

Just as there are no great achievements without setbacks, there are no great relationships without conflicts and problems along the way.

When people with a fixed mindset talk about their conflicts, they assign blame. Sometimes they blame themselves, but often they blame their partner. And they assign blame to a trait - a character flaw.

But it doesn't end there. When people blame their partner's personality for the problem, they feel anger and disgust toward them.

And it barrels on: Since the problem comes from fixed traits, it can't be solved. So once people with the fixed mindset see flaws in their partners, they become contemptuous of them and dissatisfied with the whole relationship.

Those with the growth mindset, on the other hand, can acknowledge their partners' imperfections, without assigning blame, and still feel that they have a fulfilling relationship. They see conflicts as problems of communication, not of personality or character. This dynamic holds true as much in romantic partnerships as in friendship and even in people's relationships with their parents. Dweck summarizes her findings:

When people embark on a relationship, they encounter a partner who is different from them, and they haven't learned how to deal with the differences. In a good relationship, people develop these skills and, as they do, both partners grow and the relationship deepens. But for this to happen, people need to feel they're on the same side. . . . As an atmosphere of trust developed, they [become] vitally interested in each other's development.

What it all comes down to is that a mindset is an interpretative process that tells us what is going on around us. In the fixed mindset, that process is scored by an internal monologue of constant judging and evaluation, using every piece of information as evidence either for or against such assessments as whether you're a good person, whether your partner is selfish, or whether you are better than the person next to you. In a growth mindset, on the other hand, the internal monologue is not one of judgment but one of voracious appetite for learning, constantly seeking out the kind of input that you can metabolize into learning and constructive action.

In the rest of Mindset: The New Psychology of Success, Dweck goes on to explore how these fundamental mindsets form, what their defining characteristics are in different contexts of life, and how we can rewire our cognitive habits to adopt the much more fruitful and nourishing growth mindset.
Public domain photographs via Flickr Commons

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Fixed vs. Growth: The Two Basic Mindsets That Shape Our Lives

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"If you imagine less, less will be what you undoubtedly deserve," Debbie Millman counseled in one of the best commencement speeches ever given, urging: "Do what you love, and don't stop until you get what you love. Work as hard as you can, imagine immensities..."

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1. What it is

1. This is the essentials for humans to thrive. Each of the needs must be fulfilled in order for someone to feel complete.

2. Why you found it so impactful

1. This really made me think that there will be students who do not have someone in their life that meets their needs. I know that I cannot fulfill all the needs but if I can just fulfill one need I know that I will make a difference and impact in a child's life.

3. How it will impact your practice

1. I will be more concious of how I am talking and treating those around me. I will remember that when someone is distant and unresponsive it is probably because a need is not being met.

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Maslow’s hierarchy of needs is a motivational theory in psychology comprising a five-tier model of human needs, often depicted as hierarchical levels within a pyramid.