Growth Mindset
Is your intelligence fixed,
or can you develop it?
“No one is born smart. No one is born knowing
how to read, right? No one is born knowing how
to do math, or no one is born knowing how to
play the flute. All of that comes with a lot of hard
work... it's not about what you know, it's about
the effort you put in, the amount of work that
you're willing to do to get where you're going.“
- Michelle Obama
Alfred Binet – Inventor of IQ Test
“With practice, training, and above all,
method, we manage to increase our
attention, our memory, our judgment, and
literally to become more intelligent than
we were before.”
Robert Sternberg – Intelligence Author
The major factor to achieve intelligence “is
not some fixed prior ability, but purposeful
engagement.”
Guess Who?
On the following slides:
• Read each person’s obstacles and struggles
• Read what each person’s accomplished in
their lives/careers, despite those obstacles
• Ready? Let’s go…
Then
• Was diagnosed with
dyslexia
• Because of her dyslexia, she
struggled to learn English
• Had severe depression due
to skin problems
Now
• Most decorated actress in
Mexican cinema history
• Accomplished Hollywood
actress
• One of ET’s “25 Smartest
People in TV”
• Winner of multiple
humanitarian awards
Salma Hayek
Then
• Struggled with dyslexia
• Performed poorly on tests
in school
• Most didn’t foresee any
success in real world
Now
• 4th richest person in UK
• Owns record label
• Owns airline
• Owns mobile phone
company
• Has his own island
Richard Branson
Then
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Born to single teenage mom
Horrific home life as child
Lost child in infancy @ age 14
Used to wear dresses made
of potato sacks
Now
• One of the most influential
women in the world
• Owns her own media
empire
• Has fashion handbook with
no potato sack options
Oprah
Then
• Constantly beat at most
sports, especially basketball,
by his older brother
• During sophomore year of HS,
6’5” teammate picked instead
(was only 5’10” at the time)
Michael Jordan
Now
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NCAA Champion
Rookie of the Year NBA
Hall of Fame
6 NBA Championships
5 MVPs
10 Scoring Titles
14 All-Star Games
6 Finals MVP
2 Slam Dunk Titles
2 Gold Medals
#1 Top North American
Athlete of 20th Century by
ESPN
Mindset Analogy
Glass
Grass
Glass will always stay the same, while grass will always grow!
Difference in Thoughts
FIXED MINDSET
• THE FIXED-MINDSET says “Are you •
sure you can do it? Maybe you don’t
have the talent.”
• FIXED MINDSET: “What if you fail— •
you’ll be a failure”
• FIXED MINDSET: “If you don’t try, you•
can protect yourself and keep your
dignity.”
•
As you hit a setback:
• FIXED MINDSET: “This would have
been a snap if you really had talent.”
As you face criticism:
• FIXED MINDSET: “It’s not my fault. It •
was something or someone else’s
fault.”
GROWTH MINDSET
THE GROWTH-MINDSET answers,
“I’m not sure I can do it now, but I
think I can learn to with time and
effort.”
GROWTH MINDSET: “Most successful
people had failures along the way.”
GROWTH MINDSET: “If I don’t try, I
automatically fail. Where’s the
dignity in that?”
GROWTH MINDSET: “That is so
wrong. Basketball wasn’t easy for
Michael Jordan and science wasn’t
easy for Thomas Edison. They had a
passion and put in tons of effort.
GROWTH MINDSET: “If I don’t take
responsibility, I can’t fix it. Let me
listen—however painful it is– and
learn whatever I can.”
“If I knew then what I know now…”:
• Think back to the person you were when first entering an alternative
high school (either Sartori or SLC) and then write a letter or make a video
message for that person giving him/her the benefit of your current
knowledge. Here are some things you might want to include:
• Reassure yourself that things change and change is okay (maybe give
some specifics about things that have changed for the better for you, or
how you have changed as a person).
• What were some obstacles you faced and how did you overcome them?
• Was there an “aha” moment you had in a classroom where something
that had been unclear or difficult finally made sense? If so, describe that
moment.
• What were some of the relationships that you developed that
encouraged growth?
• What advice do you have for your younger self about how to be
successful in school/life?