Effective learners and changing the
mindset
Habit is a cable; we weave a thread of it each day,
and at last we cannot break it.
Horice Mann, American Educator 1796 - 1859
Learning to be an effective
learner.
• WALT- Understand how habits of mind
can make students effective,
successful life long learners
• WILF- Take an active role in your own
learning
A good practice?
Good notes?
Evidence of……….?
What do good learners do?
• How do they like to learn?
• What engages them and motivates
them?
• How do they behave?
• What skills do they constantly use to
help them learn?
• What do they do when they get stuck?
What are the main barriers to learning
that students impose on themselves?
• What barriers do you create?
• What switches you off learning?
• What do you get stuck on?
• What do you do to get unstuck?
Good learners worksheet
• Highlight your strengths / weaknesses
• Which are the most important?
• Pick 3 that you want to improve on and
complete an action plan.
Reviewit
Tweet
it
SPIN
MCQ
it
Explain it
Post it
Spin to select
the learning
review
Map it
1 - stop
Q - start
Checkpoint it
Traffic Light it
Report it
Tweet it
Write a short tweet about what you have
learned at this stage in the lesson.
Remember you can only use 140
characters...
MCQ it
Create 3 multiple choice questions based
on your learning so far ready to have a
team quiz...
Explain it
You have 2 minutes to chat with the person
next to you about the key themes
discussed so far. Your teacher will choose
who needs to address the whole class...
Post it
On your post it note write both a sentence
about your learning so far and a question to
test the rest of the class. When you have
done stick it on the board...
Map it
Create a concept map of the learning to
this point. You can do a basic spider
diagram or you can try to link concepts
together to show your geographical
understanding.
Report it
Write a 30 second news report on the
topics we have gone through. You can
create this either to be presented on TV or
on the radio.
The Three Musketeers
All For One And One For All
Fixed and Growth Mindsets
Rate your mindset
Your Mindset
What you need to do
Read the following statements and pick one
statement in each section that best reflects your
view about ability.
Remember the score associated with the statement
and add them up as you go.
You need a total score at the end.
Section A - Intelligence
• 1 Intelligence is something you are born with – you
either have as lot of it or you don’t
• 2 You can learn new things but you can’t change your
intelligence
• 3 Intelligence is something you can largely change with
effort
• 4 Intelligence is totally shaped by effort and learning
Section B -Personality
• 1 Some people have personalities that are sociable and others are
shy – these are qualities that you either have or you don’t
• 2 Everyone is born with a personality such as being sociable or shy
and life experience can change your personality a little
• 3 Personality can be shaped a lot by experience – if you want to be
more sociable you need to work at it
• 4 Personality is something someone shapes for themselves – you
can change your personality to be sociable or shy
Section C - Organisation
• 1 People are either highly organised or not – there is not a lot you
can do about it
• 2 People tend to be naturally highly organised – but people can
learn to be a little more organised
• 3 Organisation can be developed through sustained effort – however
some people are better at it than others
• 4 Organisational ability is something that is completely within
someone’s control and is an ability that can be developed through
effort
Section D - Examination results
• 1 Some people seem to be naturally good at taking examinations –
they have always been good taking tests
• 2 Some people seem naturally good exam takers but it is possible to
slightly improve exam performance with effort – but within a limit
• 3 Performing well on tests and exams is technique that can be
improved significantly with effort but there is a limit to what can be
achieved
• 4 Examination performance is a skill that can be developed entirely
through a lot of effort – there is no ceiling to what it possible
Section E - Sporting ability
• 1 Sports stars need a natural talent to be successful in their chosen
area.
• 2 Sports stars have natural talent for their chosen spot but it also
takes hard work.
• 3 Sports stars are people that were not always the best, but they
were relatively good, but they persevered at the sport to become
successful.
• 4 Hard work , drive, and determination are the key ingredients to
sporting success, not natural talent.
Section F -Leadership
• 1 Leaders are charismatic – an aptitude that is part of your
personality that you either have or you haven’t.
• 2 Leadership is a skill that, in the main, people have but aspects of
good leadership can be learned.
• 3 People develop leadership skills through experience but some
people have a basic aptitude to be effective leaders.
• 4 People develop into good leaders through experience – failing,
failing again and eventually, through perseverance, succeeding.
YOUR MINDSET – ‘FIXED’ OR ‘GROWTH’?
If you scored 6…
Very strong - ‘Fixed Mindset’
Your score means that you are strong in this
view that ability is natural – there is little that
experience and hard work can do to develop
talent and skill
YOUR MINDSET – ‘FIXED’ OR ‘GROWTH’?
If you scored 7-12
Weak ‘Fixed Mindset’
Your score means that in many areas ability is natural – there is little
that experience and hard work can do to develop talent and skill.
However, there are some areas where you feel talent is natural and in
others you think hard work can develop talent. The closer the score to
7, the stronger the view that you think talent is natural and experience
has effect.
The close the score to 12, the more you believe that in some areas,
hard work can affect talent.
YOUR MINDSET – ‘FIXED’ OR ‘GROWTH’?
• If you scored 13-18
Weak ‘Growth Mindset’
You believe, the closer you score 18 than 12, that
talent can be developed through hard work.
However, you also think natural talent also plays a
key role in some areas – maybe it does.
YOUR MINDSET – ‘FIXED’ OR ‘GROWTH’?
• If you scored 19-24
Very strong ‘Growth mindset’
You believe, that talent can be developed through
hard work in nearly all areas of life.
You might also think natural talent also plays a key role in
Some areas – but the closer your score to 24, the more
you believe all talent can be developed through
hard work.
Discussion
• Did you answer the questions honestly?
• What do you genuinely believe about ability –
how much is fixed and growth?
• Which mindset do you think you tend to adopt
most?
• Which mindset do you wish to be more like?
Fixed and Growth Mindsets
Myth of genius
Myth of genius
Thomas Edison – inventor of the light bulb
Edison is sometimes viewed as an eccentric inventor, alone in
a workshop discovering things.
Far from the case, Edison was not a loner – he was supported by
30 well trained scientist in a corporate sponsored well- equipped lab.
He had very good relations with journalists and could spin
stories that made Edison shine as the ‘lone inventor’.
Edison received a huge amount of support to become successful.
35
Myth of genius
Mozart – composer
In his book Genius Explained by Michael Howe, a psychologist at
University of Exeter, Mozart is portrayed as child genius.
Mozart’s father was composer & performer who domineered Mozart –
training him intensively from the age of three. His father wrote a book on
learning the violin – he was interested in how children learn.
Mozart did not produce anything exceptional or unique until he was in his
late teenage years – young, yes – but by this time, Mozart had clocked
up a huge amount of hours of intense practice and personal tuition from
his father.
Mozart needed support and guidance to get to be so successful.
36
Source: M. Howe, ‘Genius Explained’
(199
Myth of genius
• Lewis Terman, Psychologist at Stanford University, USA,
believed in genius. He tracked 1470 children with very
high IQs, throughout their life. Average IQ = 100. Terman
studied those with an IQ between 140-200.
• Those who ended up successful were mainly those from
middle class backgrounds – parents took them to clubs,
got them tuition, taught them social skills (this seemed to
be key).
• Many genius children ended up in poor, low level jobs or
even unemployed. Genius is not enough!
Source: M. Gladwell, Outliers (2008)
Research
• Benjamin Bloom – studied 120 outstanding
student achievers – sculptors, pianists,
Olympians, mathematicians
• None of them stood out when young
• However they shared one common factor –
their motivation, continued commitment,
and network of support
Source: M. Gladwell, Outliers (2008)
38
OVER TO YOU
Let’s look at Bloom’s conclusions
- motivation
how can you tell if you are motivated? Are you motivated?
- continued commitment
what does commitment look like? Are you committed?
- network of support
what access have you got to support? How can you increase
it?
Bloom’s quote - Over to you
• “After 40 years of intensive research on
schools and learning…my conclusion is: what
any person in the world can learn, almost all
persons can learn, if provided with
the…conditions for learning”
• Not counting bottom 3% or top 3% - extremes
• What’s your view on Bloom’s conclusion?
Source: M. Gladwell, Outliers (2008) 40
Traffic Light it
Where is your learning at?
Red = I have misunderstood some of the topics. (write down 2
questions that you need help with)
Amber = I have understood most of the topics so far (write down 1
question and 1 key theme you have understood)
Green = I have understood the topics so far (write down 2 key
themes from the lesson to show your understanding)
Checkpoint it
•Where is your learning at?
•What do you know?
•What are you unsure about?
•What are we yet to find out?
Action Research
Complete your own personal action research on
the sheets provided.
If time have a look at the video. It discusses how
we can change our body language to make us
successful.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ks_Mh1QhMc