Growth Talk

One of the newest WBT innovations is the use of growth talk on a daily basis in the classroom.  Growth talk comes as a result of research by Stanford's Carol Dweck and others, which demonstrates that when we use phrases such as "you're great... wonderful... fantastic" the effect on our students is often the opposite of what we are looking for.  Instead of increasing student performance, they will often avoid academic challenges for fear that it will make them less than "great".  This is known as a Fixed Mindset classroom (praising for ability).

In a Growth Mindset classroom students are praised for improvement, effort, and determination.  The language used in these classrooms is referred to as Growth Talk  We want our students to understand that growth comes as a result of effort and determination. It is all about very specific praise:  You beat your previous score by 10 words, you never indented your paragraphs before, but now you do it all of the time.  Your gestures are very large.  Everyone can see them.  You are showing me hands and eyes just like a fourth grader would (two grade levels above your own.).  The Super Improver Team is a perfect use of the growth mindset because students are rewarded for effort and not ability.

One of the best ways to teach a growth mindset is with examples of this mindset from our own lives.  I recently had the opportunity to share one such example with my students. This spring I was taking a Chalk Talk class for professional development credit.  This might sound like a fun and easy class, but it terrified me.  I only took it because it was the only class available at times I could attend.  To say that it terrified me is not an exaggeration.  Art is a definite weakness for me.  The combination of no natural talent, no desire to learn, and a number of very bad and embarrassing experiences with art have led me to avoid it at all costs.  I was the teacher who, before so much could be made on the computer, would pay someone to decorate my classroom.  And let's just say that bulletin boards have always been my nemesis.  I would rather speak in front of a group of 1,000 people with five minutes notice or write a 20 page paper than make a bulletin board.  So, as you can probably tell, I did not enter the class feeling very good about it.

After the first night I had a new appreciation for how many of our lowest students must feel when they sit in our classrooms and try, but know that they can not do what everyone else can.  The second night of class was even worse.  We were asked to give a very short five sentence chalk talk introducing ourselves.  Writing the chalk talk was not a problem, but no matter how hard I tried I could not figure out anything to draw that looked even close to what I wanted it to be.  My goal was to draw a dog's face, since I am the owner of three beautiful Papillons, but no matter how hard I tried I just couldn't do it.  As people started sharing I became more and more panicky.  I kept trying to draw a dog, but I just couldn't do it.  I found myself beginning to shake and tears started to well up in my eyes.  Fortunately, the instructor noticed, and she quietly skipped over me.  I was very thankful, but I was also very humiliated.

I did a lot of self-reflecting over the next few days.  It was just a few short weeks prior that I had read all that Coach B. had sent us on Growth Talk, and I began to realize that maybe part of my problem was that I did not have a Growth Mindset when it came to art.  I had spent so many years telling myself how bad I was at it, that I was getting exactly what I was expecting.  So, I decided that I would go to the next class with a Growth Mindset.

The next class I came to with a different attitude.  I told myself that my drawing may not look like the instructor's or the other students, but it could be better than what it is now.  With this new attitude I really payed attention and did my best to follow the instructor's instructions as she taught us how to draw people, animals' faces, and even cubes.  This class was the first time that I had ever received any instruction in how to draw anything.  After a little practice I discovered that I could draw legs and arms on people.  I knew how to make a simple animal's face, and with a ruler, I could draw a pretty decent cube.  For the first time ever, I wasn't embarrassed by what I had drawn.  I found that I was actually having fun, something that I never thought I would say about drawing.  The last thirty minutes we were given art paper, black markers, and chalk, and asked to draw anything that we wanted.  I was pleased with the end result, and I will confess to you that it was the first time that I ever saved a piece of art.  Usually, when forced to do anything artistic, my work went straight in the garbage can when I was done.

This piece I not only took home with me, but realizing what a powerful example it could be for my students, I took it to class that day and shared it with them.  I also shared with them the same story that I just shared with you, and I let my students know that this was the first time that I had ever shared anything that I had drawn with anyone.  The story had a powerful impact upon the students.  We talked about the importance of not only using Growth Talk with each other, but speaking Growth Talk to ourselves.  As part of this discussion I asked students to identify any negative thinking that they had,  anything that began with the words, "I'm not good at,,," and replace that with Growth Talk instead.

I am now very thankful that I took the Chalk Talk Class.  It taught both myself and my students a very powerful lesson in Growth Talk.  I hope that you are able to share similar experiences with your own students.