4 ms·
That's probably not a good thing to tell students. A belief in fixed abilities ("either I have this skill or I don't") causes students to try less and encourage
by tdaltonc 11y ago
That's probably not a good thing to tell students. A belief in fixed abilities ("either I have this skill or I don't") causes students to try less and encourages people to believe that people that are superficially similar to them posses the same fixed abilities they do.
- rbanffy 11y agoI don't think many of them actually believed me (context is important), but many felt challenged. The encouragement, the promise I'd make them able to fend for themselves, was what made most of them take the effort to learn. When you see something as your "gift", it's easier to help others to succeed - this had a nice side effect of motivating the really gifted ones to teach their colleagues outside the classroom. I also directed questions to the class and threw sweets to those who answered. It was fun to watch adults jumping competing for candies.