More than a month has gone by since I have had both the time and inspiration to create a new post. My latest inspiration is Carol Dweck’s book Mindset: The New Psychology of Success.
My colleague Mark Szymanski and I have created a visual representation of the Positive Identity Development Process of gifted people (you can find it on our website: teachwithintention.net). At the first level, we begin with four of the commonly misunderstood innate aspects of many gifted people: the amplified ways of being. This includes sensitivity, introversion/extroversion, perfectionism, and curiosity. The next level of this model focuses on the Habits of Mind as proposed by Art Costa and Bena Kallik. And the final portion of our model includes three aspects of a life-long learner: information seeking, problem solving, and creative producing.
While reading Dweck’s book, it became obvious that in my workshops, I needed to add her concepts of the fixed mindset and growth mindset prior to talking about the Habits of Mind. As parents and teachers, we need to be aware of our own mindsets and the model we are providing for children. Dweck proposes that the growth mindset enables children and adults to fulfill their potential while the fixed mindset can cause people to plateau and never realize that potential. Some key findings of her research include:
Fixed Mindset: Intelligence is static. This might cause a gifted child to put little effort into their school work because that effort would make them seem as though they aren’t really gifted. After all, if they are that smart, why should they have to work hard?
Growth Mindset: Intelligence can be developed. Gifted children with this mindset are fortunate because they have a great desire to learn, and they see that their effort impacts their ability.
I appreciate that Dweck shows us examples of her own aspects of a fixed mindset and how she works hard to move her thinking to a growth mindset. For parents and teachers of gifted students, Dweck’s research in the area of praise is particularly important. She cautions us to praise effort rather than intelligence if we want to prevent fixed mindsets.
This book is a MUST for any parent or teacher, but it is vital for those of us who live with or teach children who are bright, sensitive, and intense. Our children deserve adults who can model a desire to learn, a willingness to embrace challenges, and an ability to be persistent in the face of obstacles. There is a greater chance that these wonderful children will develop positive identities if they are encouraged to embrace a growth mindset.
