Growth Mindset
A growth mindset is defined as:
“In a growth mindset, people believe that their most basic abilities can be developed through dedication and hard work—brains and talent are just the starting point. This view creates a love of learning and a resilience that is essential for great accomplishment.” ( Dweck, 2015)
At Keble, we believe developing a growth mindset is one of the most important skills our boys can learn. Moving away from the restrictions of a fixed mindset, boys need to embrace this ethos from Reception right through to Y8. Boys are taught about the magic of the word “yet”. Any skill that is out of reach at the moment is only something we cannot do yet.
Boys this year will focus across the school on developing a growth mindset and embedding it as the school ethos. They will be encouraged to take measured risks by embracing challenges and exploring problems. Boys will build the confidence to change their mindset to appreciate the value of getting something wrong in the process of learning. In getting something wrong, truly understanding why, and embracing this as a positive, we continue to develop.
Seeing learning in a different way, and turning negative approaches into positive experiences can help boys to reprogram their learning experience. We have already embraced much of this instinctively, talking about the “learning pit” amongst other things. But by making it an overt process across the whole school, and reinforcing it in assemblies, we hope to help our boys to flourish even further. The boys will be encouraged to take part in more challenges in lessons, in the wider school, and in their houses.
Some examples of a growth mindset include :
“I can’t do this.” becomes “What can I do to improve?”
“This will do” becomes “Is this my best work?”
“I’ll never do this! It’s too hard!” becomes “It make take some time and effort.”
“I just can’t do this!” becomes “I am going to try a different strategy.”
“How come my friend can do this?” becomes “I will learn from and with them.”
“I am not clever enough.” becomes “I will learn how to do this!”
“I made a mistake” becomes “Mistakes help me learn and improve.”
The Juniors have continued to use Seesaw throughout lockdown and much of last year to showcase excellent work. They will continue to use Seesaw to demonstrate good work and reflect on their work and targets.
The senior boys will now be using Seesaw in a similar way. They will continue to have an Art and PE class but they will now have a form class in Seesaw. During Form periods, the boys will be using Seesaw to think about targets. Targets are set in subjects but this will give the boys more time to reflect more on all kinds of targets, posting work they are proud of and reflecting on what they felt they did well and what could be improved. This could be any subject or aspect of their learning. The boys will also peer-to-peer assess each other’s work. The idea is to help all boys across the year groups improve their work through teamwork and reflection. Boys will be, amongst other things, filming presentations and analysing their performance. Mr Gill’s focus this term, reinforced in assemblies, is communication. We are all working towards helping our boys improve in this area, in all its different forms. As this develops parents will be invited to the new Seesaw classrooms so they can share in this process.
