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New Year, New (Growth) Mindset

New Year, New (Growth) Mindset

I have a question for our readers - How many of you have a bad habit?
Anyone?

Exactly! We all have them, but here's something important to remember: We can both curb old habits and create new, better habits using our brain.

I want you to think about your "bad" habits as these strong neural pathways that your brain has built up. They're those old familiar paths that you know how to do so well (and then you can be really hard on yourself when you do them). But they are habits because they are strong responses you have developed in your brain - it's so easy to keep doing them! And so are your established "good" habits. I know you have those too.

This new year, how about we all promise to be kinder to ourselves about our bad habits and see them for what they are: proof that we have grown strong neural pathways in the past to develop habits, and inspiration that we CAN DO SO AGAIN.

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I Am Not Impressed: Under-Achieving Learners in Our Schools

I Am Not Impressed: Under-Achieving Learners in Our Schools

While teaching in California, I had a unique teaching assignment: Honors English 9 and Reading 10. So my school day went from thinking about how to hold "high-achieving" students to a high level of challenge in an honors environment to actually doing the same thing for "underachieving" students in a remedial environment. I loved the challenge and experience of watching non-readers become successful readers, writers and speakers while also pushing the higher performing students to stretch themselves to reach greater heights.

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Veronica Berry
Hello, When I received an email from Just For Teachers Update, the quote from Ms. Deihl's latest post caught my attention. It sto... Read More
Thursday, 03 November 2016 16:00
Darlene Ab
My colleagues and I at my school talk about this all the time. And I actually was an under-achiever myself when I was a kid-just b... Read More
Wednesday, 23 November 2016 19:12
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Is Mindset Culture Shift Possible for Adults?

Is Mindset Culture Shift Possible for Adults?

This post was originally published on Houghton Mifflin Harcourt's Blog, The Spark (4.29.2016)

If you have had the pleasure of hearing Carol Dweck speak in the past few months, you will have heard what we have learned in recent years about cultivating a growth mindset in ourselves and in others. One of her slides that really resonated with the audience at the Learning and the Brain conference in San Francisco suggested that adults talk the talk, but don't walk the walk. On a stick figure graphic, a disembodied head is traveling in the opposite direction from its body. And this is a major issue: adults forget that we can't effectively cultivate or influence a growth mindset in others unless we are cultivating one in ourselves. We have to take the journey, walking in the same direction that we are talking.

This couldn't be truer for leaders. Leaders (whether that be by title or merely by influence) can influence the mindsets of other adults. No, you can't change another person. However, you can have great influence over others.

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nitika gupta
excellent article, thanks for sharing it
Tuesday, 05 July 2016 17:45
Imen Berrouaine
Very Interesting indeed! Another question may arise, along with the online intervention of brainology is it possible to implement... Read More
Sunday, 31 July 2016 10:59
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Why Is It That Some People Don’t Tend to Change?

Why Is It That Some People Don’t Tend to Change?

Helping People Tip Toward a Growth Mindset

It is really exciting to learn about the concept of a growth mindset at first; it makes so much sense! "Yes! When we believe we can improve, we take action to do so, and we get smarter - we change. It's so simple!"

Except it isn't. At some point, we find ourselves thinking, but wait a minute. If it's this simple, why is it that I know so many people who do not change at all? And how come, even when we share growth mindset concepts with some people, it does not seem to make any difference? What is going on here?

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Chad Lower
Ironically, I was talking with my wife about something very similar today at lunch. I asked her if she wanted me to pour her some ... Read More
Thursday, 28 April 2016 01:45
Cathie Cottle
A great read. Lately I have found myself wondering how many teachers are dropping the ball when it comes to growth mindset, relyin... Read More
Thursday, 19 May 2016 08:03
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Learning How to Learn Using a Growth Mindset

Learning How to Learn Using a Growth Mindset

Fiske Students, Parents, and Educators Learn Transferable Skills

Growth mindset movements may share a common foundation, but in practice, they can be a bit like snowflakes: no two are alike! Mindset interventions are teacher-led movements, and we love learning about new and evolving strategies developed by educators on the ground.

Julie Verret, music teacher at Fiske Elementary and elementary band leader for all of the Wellesley, MA School District, wrote to us describing how a growth mindset helped her band students tackle a challenging piece of music. Julie applied the malleable mind concept to her music students because of multi-year, school-wide growth mindset work led by the principal. Verret introduced the idea that a musician's brain can grow with effort and practice. To put this concept into action, Julie and her 4th and 5th grade students worked on a piece of music that would typically be played at the middle school level.

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David Falade
I agree with the statement that the concept and the strategies used in the above scenario is applicable to other subject matters. ... Read More
Thursday, 03 March 2016 22:17
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