The highest reward for a person’s toil is not what
Meaningful learning tasks give students a clear sense of
progress leading to mastery.
assumptions about intelligence. Students with a growth mindset may tackle
such work with excitement, whereas
students with a fixed mindset may feel
threatened by learning tasks that require
them to stretch or take risks.
To prepare students to benefit from
meaningful work, therefore, teachers
need to create a growth-mindset culture
in the classroom. One way to create
such a culture is by providing the right
kinds of praise and encouragement. My
research has shown that praising students for the process they have engaged
in—the effort they applied, the strategies they used, the choices they made,
the persistence they displayed, and so
on—yields more long-term benefits
than telling them they are “smart” when
they succeed.
Teachers should also emphasize that
fast learning is not always the deepest
and best learning and that students
who take longer sometimes understand
things at a deeper level. Students can
learn about many historical figures who
were not regarded as “fast” learners in
childhood. Albert Einstein swore that
he was slow to learn and that’s why
he pondered the same questions year
after year—with, as we know, excellent
results.
18 EDUCATIONAL LEADERSHIP / SEPTEMBER 2010
© SUSIE FITZHUGH
In one class, for example, the students were astounded to learn that the
school’s baseball star used to be inept
at baseball and only became proficient
after much practice. Such discussions
encourage students not to be ashamed
to struggle with something before they
are good at it.
Teachers can also ask their students
to choose an area in which they would
like to improve and then to establish a
personal goal that would be a big reach
for them. For example, a student who is
typically afraid of criticism might decide
to seek critical feedback on her next art
project; an algebra student struggling
to understand absolute values might
commit to watching a You Tube video
on how to solve linear absolute value
equations, and then teach the process
to his classmates; a student who lacks
