What is the most important factor in a student? Many people would say it’s talent, or effort, or persistence, or luck or some combination of these.
Behind all of this is something that is more important – the proper mindset. Recent research (Blackwell, Trzesniewski, & Dweck, 2007) has shown that there are two different mindsets among students:
1) intelligence as a fixed, static trait or you got what you got
2) intelligence is a changeable, flowing trait, in other words: you can learn whatever you put focus and effort to
Most of my music students do have a growth mindset, but may need some extra encouragement. To do this I need to use a specific way of communicating.
The Dangers of Praise and How To Do It Right
Researchers have discovered that if you just praise the intelligence of the child, there are negative consequences. So just being positive and saying “Good job!” is actually detrimental and has a backlash because given a new challenge, the child would rather not participate (quit) in order to “save face” and live up to the expected standard. Rather if the child was praised for their effort, the next harder challenge was met with more effort.
Communicating Learning Goals
Almost daily I have a student who complains
“That’s too hard! I want to just stay on the same song!”
Here’s some things I say and you can too in your classroom, studio or with your own children. Though I’ve made these specific to music, you can apply a variation of these to any subject.
- Learning music is like playing a video game. Once you achieved the last challenge, we’re on to the next level.
- You’re not supposed to know this already, this is brand new.
High Expectations For Forward Motion
- I KNOW that you can do this, that’s why I’m showing you this.
- This will be challenging, but I’ve seen you do amazing work before.
- Remember how hard _____ piece was? And now you can play it so well. This is like that one only better.
Struggling Even With Effort
- You are not there…YET (emphasis on the yet)
- If you’re feeling overwhelmed, just remind yourself that you can’t do it…YET.
- Let’s take a break and come back to this tomorrow.
- I admire your persistence.
- I appreciate your effort and focus on this.
- I love how you never gave up on that last piece. Let’s do it here too.
Struggling But May Need Help With Strategy
- Let’s work on just the one spot giving you trouble
- What part is giving you trouble? Let’s just look at that.
- How about we make a plan to learn this piece? You can do section A today and then section B tomorrow and then back to A…
By setting the proper belief system in place at an early age, we can guide our children to future success in music, and in life.
For more information, read this excellent article from Prinicipal Leadership, a magazine aimed at school principals.
For a free download on Growth Mindset Framing. You’ll have to register but it’s free and you can download a pdf.
