INTRODUCTION TO SEL WORKSHOP

© 2014 Transforming Education

Getting Started2

Objectives

In this session, you will • Build a deeper understanding of growth mindset, one example of a social-

emotional competency that can help students succeed• Leave with at least one specific technique or idea that you could try in the

classroom to support your students in developing a growth mindset• Be introduced to a pilot project our school is participating in related to social-

emotional learning that will support the development of our new school accountability system

In this session, you will not• Be asked to implement a new program or trendy curriculum related to growth

mindset and other social-emotional skills

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Introduction

• Skills beyond academic knowledge are crucial to college and career readiness

o E.g., perseverance, motivation, social awareness, self-control, etc.

o Teachers have long known the importance of these skills and have taught them to their students

o They are often referred to as social-emotional skills or non-cognitive skills

• But current standardized tests don’t assess these skills

o We don’t always acknowledge the importance of these skills or give teachers the credit they deserve for the work they’re already doing in this area

Our school is part of a pilot project to help develop a way to measure these skills, so we can better support our students moving forward

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Warm Up: Stories From Your Classrooms

Turn to a partner (3 minutes each)

• Can you think of a student who didn’t think he or she could learn something at first but was eventually successful?

• What was the process that led to his or her success?

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© 2014 Transforming Education

• Some of the stories we shared (and two videos we will see) relate to the concept of growth mindset

• Many teachers encourage growth mindset in their students without putting a label on it

• Making it more explicit can be a powerful tool to improve student outcomes

Growth Mindset6

Two Mindsets: Fixed vs. Growth

Students with a fixed mindset believe that their own intelligence and talent are innate traits that don’t change. Students with a growth mindset believe that ability can change as the result of effort, perseverance, and practice.

• Mindset affects all students regardless of achievement level

• Differences in mindset can lead to achievement gaps in class behavior, grades, test scores, and other student outcomes that last for years

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Source: Yeager, D. S., Walton, G., & Cohen, G. L. (2013). Addressing achievement gaps with psychological interventions. Phi Delta Kappan, 94, 62-65;

Fixed Mindset “I just can’t learn math, I’m not good at it”

Growth Mindset“Math is hard, but if I keep trying,

I can get better at it”

Believe intelligence is something you’re born with…or not

Believe intelligence is the result of effort and continued work

Desire to look smart, to avoidlooking dumb Desire to learn, even if it takes effort

Tend to see challenges as threatening Tend to embrace challenges as fun and exciting

Tend to give up when things get hard Tend to persist in the face of setbacks

Ignore criticism Learn from criticism

Feel threatened when others are successful Find inspiration and lessons in others’ successes

See the path to success as something out of their control See their own effort as the path to success

What Do These Mindsets Look Like?

Source: Dweck, C.S., (2010). Even geniuses work hard. Educational Leadership, v. 68 (1). Pp. 16-20. Carol Dweck, Mindset: The New Technology of Success (2006).

© 2014 Transforming Education

• We’re going to hear from a 10th grader talking about a time when effort was crucial to her success

Teri’s Story9

10 Video_1_Teri_Student_Voice.mp4

A Brief Look at Teri’s Growth

Let’s quickly identify a few things you saw or heard that are consistent with a growth mindset

• Something Teri did?

• Something Teri said?

• A strategy that she used?

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Growth Mindset Matters

Studies have shown that students with a growth mindset

• Are more motivated and engaged, even when work is challenging

• Are more likely to review or revise their work

• Score better on math and verbal standardized tests

• Fail fewer classes and have higher GPAs

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Sources: Aronson, J., Fried, C. B., & Good, C. (2002). Reducing the effects of stereotype threat on African American college students by shaping theories of intelligence. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 38(2), 113-125; Blackwell, L. S., Trzesniewski, K. H., & Dweck, C. S. (2007). Implicit theories of intelligence predict achievement across an adolescent transition: A longitudinal study and an intervention. Child development, 78(1), 246-263; Dweck, C. S., Walton, G. M., & Cohen, G. (2011). Academic tenacity. White paper prepared for the Gates Foundation. Seattle, WA.; Yeager, D. S., Walton, G., & Cohen, G. L. (2013). Addressing achievement gaps with psychological interventions. Phi Delta Kappan, 94, 62-65.

Growth mindset can be taught and encouraged in a variety of ways

© 2014 Transforming Education

• The Power of Praise

One Way to Encourage Growth Mindset13

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Source: Trevor Ragan, Championship Newsletter, 2014: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NWv1VdDeoRY

Video_2__the_Impact_of_Praise.mp4

© 2014 Transforming Education

Growth Mindset in Class15

• Time to share some activities you currently use, or that you could use, in your classroom

• Please pair up again

Creating a Growth Mindset Classroom

Picture a classroom where growth mindset is the underlying philosophy (in other words, students and teachers believe that exerting effort, facing challenges, and learning from mistakes can make us smarter)

• Please turn to your partner and discuss (8 to 10 minutes)

o What is the teacher saying and doing?

o What are the students saying and doing?

o What artifacts and other things do you see around the classroom?

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© 2014 Transforming Education

Sample Growth Mindset Practices

• Here are some ideas other educators developed

Praising Effort Over Results18

Praise effort and process, not results: “You did great on that. You must have worked really hard.”

Nurture a culture that tolerates risk: “We value taking on tough challenges more than we value easy success.”

Emphasizing Process and Perseverance

Instead of displaying only finished student work, post work in progress or drafts so students can see how work evolves with effort and feedback.

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Thinking of the Brain as Something That Grows

Work with your students to create posters or other reminders that the brain, like a muscle, grows and gets stronger with effort.

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Encouraging Students to Share Advice

Have students write tweets, blog posts, or letters giving advice to a struggling student who doesn’t think he is smart enough to succeed.

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Framing Mistakes as Part of the Learning Process

When introducing new material or setting a learning goal, say something like:

“After you do this lesson, I’m going to ask each of you to share a mistake you made while doing your work, because mistakes can help us learn.”

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Specifically Rewarding Effort and Process

Create a grading rubric focusing on effort or process in addition to one focusing on outcomes.

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Communicating High Expectations

As part of written feedback to students (especially those who are underperforming), explicitly communicate high expectations:

“I’m giving you these comments because I have high standards, and I know that you can meet them.”

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© 2014 Transforming Education

The Survey and the Project25

The Pilot Project: Redefining Success

Our district and seven other California school districts are collaborating to develop a more holistic definition of student and school success.

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The Pilot Project: Redefining Success

The districts believe that student success goes beyond academic test scores to include other factors that we know matter in college, career, and life

• To that end, we are exploring ways to incorporate measures of student social-emotional competencies into our new school accountability system

• We are still early on in determining how to measure these competencies effectively

• This pilot is an opportunity for you to provide input on some of the measures we are considering and directly shape our new school accountability system

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Benefits of Participating in the Pilot Project

In addition to shaping our new accountability system we will

• Learn how to quickly and accurately assess student social-emotional competencies so that we can use this information to support students more effectively

• Explore specific practices that can help students make progress on specific social-emotional competencies, such as growth mindset

• Receive specific, actionable data about how our students’ social-emotional competencies relate to other measures of student success (e.g., grades, test scores, etc.)

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What to Expect as a Participating School

This spring, we will be testing two preliminary surveys about four social-emotional competencies: growth mindset, self-efficacy, self-management, and social awareness

1. A student self-report survey (one class period in May)

2. A teacher survey about student behavior (one hour in May)

Survey responses will be confidential and will have no bearing on student grades or teacher evaluations

• Results from the surveys will be shared with you in school- and grade-level reports

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© 2014 Transforming Education

Time for Some Feedback

• Check your email now to see if you’ve received a link to a survey about this session to help us improve it

• The survey is also at: TinyURL.com/SELTeacherSurvey

• Please fill it out before you leave

• We also have handouts for you

Want to Know More?

Social-Emotional Learning• Social-Emotional Learning

• A National Teacher Survey on How Social and Emotional Learning Can Empower Children and Transform Schools

• Smart Hearts: Social and Emotional Learning Overview

• Emotional Intelligence Is the Missing Piece

• Can Emotional Intelligence Be Taught?

• The Heart-Brain Connection: The Neuroscience of Social and Emotional Learning

Growth Mindset• Mindset

• Even Geniuses Work Hard

• Students’ View of Intelligence Can Help Grades

• ‘Growth Mindset’ Gaining Traction as School Improvement Strategy

• The Power of Mistakes: Creating a Risk-Tolerant Culture at Home and School

• Mindsets and Success

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Thank You

© 2014 Transforming Education

Appendices33

Growth Mindset Research

• Lower failure rates: Low-achieving students at 13 California high schools failed 7% fewer courses and improved their GPAs by .18 grade points after a one-period class designed to boost growth mindset

• Improved scores: After a group of struggling 7th graders in New York City learned to 1) think of their brains as muscles that grow with exercise and 2) visualize new connections developing within their brains, their motivation and math scores improved at a time when math achievement typically declines

• Increased effort: Seventh-grade students receiving growth-mindset feedback (“I’m giving you these comments because I have high standards and know that you can meet them”) were twice as likely to revise and resubmit an assignment

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Sources: Blackwell, L. S., Trzesniewski, K. H., & Dweck, C. S. (2007). Implicit theories of intelligence predict achievement across an adolescent transition: A longitudinal study and an intervention. Child development, 78(1), 246-263; Dweck, C. (2008). Mindsets and math/science achievement. Prepared for the Carnegie Corporation of New York-Institute for Advanced Study Commission on Mathematics and Science Education ; Yeager, D. S., Walton, G., & Cohen, G. L. (2013). Addressing achievement gaps with psychological interventions. Phi Delta Kappan, 94, 62-65.

Four Social-Emotional Competencies

Competency Definition

Growth MindsetThe belief that you can grow your talents with effort. Students with a growth mindset see effort as necessary for success, embrace challenges, learn from criticism, and persist in the face of setbacks.

Self-EfficacyThe belief you can succeed in achieving an outcome or reaching a goal. Self-efficacy reflects confidence in your own ability to control or manage your motivation, behavior, and environment.

Self-ManagementThe ability to manage your emotions, thoughts, and behaviors effectively in different situations. This includes managing stress, delaying gratification, motivating yourself, and setting and working toward personal and academic goals.

Social AwarenessThe ability to take the perspective of and empathize with others from diverse backgrounds and cultures, to understand social and ethical norms for behavior, and to recognize family, school, and community resources and supports.

Source: CASEL, Blackwell, Trzesniewski & Dweck (2007), Bandura (1997), American Psychological Association

The eight school districts collaborating on this effort have prioritized exploring the following four social-emotional competencies:

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• CORE is a non-profit organization that seeks to improve student achievement by fostering highly productive, meaningful collaboration and learning among its member districts. The member districts engaged in this effort to develop a more holistic definition of student success include Fresno, Long Beach, Los Angeles, Oakland, Sacramento City, San Francisco, Sanger, and Santa Ana unified school districts. To learn more about this effort and related collaborations among California school districts, visit coredistricts.org/school-quality-improvement-system.

• Transforming Education is a non-profit that helps districts develop policies and practices that support student social-emotional development. For more information about Transforming Education, please contact team@transformingeducation.org.