Lauren

1. LEARNING AND TEACHING
WORKSHOP – GROWTH
MINDSET
BY LAUREN DALEY
21st November 2016
This research was completed as part of a practitioner
enquiry during the South Lanarkshire Council NQT
programme 2015-2016.

2. What happens when I praise
effort in the classroom?
A small-scale classroom research project
PRACTITIONER ENQUIRY

3. RATIONALE
 Cross sector group
 Learner centred
 Recognising the learning process
 Raising achievement
 A need for a more positive mindset in the
classroom: changing “I can’t” to “I can”
 Exploring a “Growth Mindset”

4. WHAT IS A GROWTH MINDSET?
 Developed by Carol Dweck (2006)
 Centers around the belief that abilities and
intelligence are malleable and not fixed.
 Focuses a lot on the attitude of learners and how
adjusting that attitude can have profound impacts
on outcomes.
 Opposite of growth mindset is fixed mindset.
 Adopting a growth mindset can impact goals,
reaction to failures, beliefs about effort and overall
feeling of self-worth.

5. "In a fixed mindset students believe their basic
abilities, their intelligence, their talents, are just fixed
traits. They have a certain amount and that's that, and
then their goal becomes to look smart all the time and
never look dumb. In a growth mindset students
understand that their talents and abilities can be
developed through effort, good teaching and
persistence. They don't necessarily think everyone's
the same or anyone can be Einstein, but they believe
everyone can get smarter if they work at it.”
- Carol Dweck (in interview with OneDublin)

6. AIMS: WHAT DO I WANT TO FIND OUT?
 What actually happens when I praise effort in the
classroom?
 How do I effectively praise effort in the classroom?
 What strategies and language should I use?
 What kind of mindsets do my pupils have?
 How will pupils respond to being praised for their
efforts?
 Could raising pupil awareness of their
achievements lead to raising their attainment?

7. METHODS OF DATA COLLECTION
 Survey
 Reflective journal
 Listening to pupil voice
STRATEGIES
 Use of a classroom wall display
 Use of growth mindset vocabulary
 Use of encouraging praise cards

8.  Classroom Display
 Praise Cards

9. IMPLEMENTATION
 S2 elective class
 Voice Unit
 Learning voice terminology & skills
 4 week cycle (now ongoing)
 Use of Starter task to introduce and explore what a
Growth Mindset is and to conduct a survey.
 Pupil self and peer assessment throughout lessons.
 Use of teacher vocabulary and praise.

10. FINDINGS - INDIVIDUAL
 Increased confidence & more resilience
 Recognising process
 Pupils using encouraging language
 Pupils understanding importance of
“trying”
 Strategies used were effective

11.  Finishing more work
 Improved persistence and resilience: trying
repeatedly and not giving up
 Huge improvement in lowest ability pupils’
confidence
 Higher achievers were recognising when they
needed something more challenging
 Handwriting improved, more time spent on work.
 Positive experience but could be improved through
a whole school focus on Growth Mindset.
FINDINGS - GROUP

12. PERSONAL REFLECTION: STRATEGIES USED
o Use of praise cards
 pupils recognised when they were praised for
their effort in the process of creating drama
 Lower ability pupils were being praised more
regularly, leading to developed confidence.
 Most pupils responded well to public praise, but
some found it embarrassing.
 Increased resilience and determination to develop
skills, pushing pupils out of their comfort zone,
such as trying a new accent.

13. PERSONAL REFLECTION: STRATEGIES USED
 Use of Wall Display
 Effective visual reminder for pupils to take a
positive approach to tasks.
 Encourage pupils to think about their vocabulary.
 Pupils changed their own vocabulary and
recognised when their peers were using Fixed
Mindset language.

14. PERSONAL REFLECTION: STRATEGIES USED
 Observations
 Increased confidence, particularly with lower
ability pupils
 Increased resilience
 Increased engagement in tasks
 Pupil use of Growth Mindset language
 Pupils taking more ownership over their learning
 Self and Peer Assessment feedback was more
reliable and constructive as pupils recognised
what they could improve and the steps they
should take to ensure they are successful.

15. EVIDENCE – WHAT DID THE PUPILS THINK
BEFORE?
“I don’t know what I have
achieved.”
“We only get praised
for participating in a
final performance”
“People who are really
clever always get
praised”
“I’ve not made any achievements”

16. EVIDENCE – WHAT DO THE PUPILS THINK
NOW?
“You might not be good at
something but at least you
tried.”
“Different voices and accents –
when I tried them and rehearsed
them I succeeded.”
“I got better at using
different accents though
focusing in my rehearsal”
“When I was doing the radio
performance, I had the role of
playing a deep voice. I never thought
I could do this but when I tried I
succeeded.”
“more confident in
performance”
“I’m not scared to try different
voices or voice terms (accent)”

17. IMPLICATIONS FOR FUTURE PRACTICE
 Target high achieving pupils to help them continue
to challenge themselves.
 More regular use of praise cards and sharing praise
with parents/carers.
 More variety of praise cards to ensure these can be
used for any activity.
 Regular use of “Mindset Moments”, encouraging
pupils to take ownership for updating their wall
display.
 Build into lesson routine from beginning of year.
 More consistent approach.

18. REFERENCES
 https://onedublin.org/2012/06/19/stanford-
universitys-carol-dweck-on-the-growth-mindset-
and-education/
 DWECK, C. S. (2006). Mindset: the new
psychology of success. New York, Random House.

19. TRY IT OUT:
 On the green post it, write something you would
usually say to pupils when praising them.
 On the yellow post it, consider what you would say,
using growth mindset language.