Summer is a great time to catch up on reading, and Berkeley Math Coach Rebecca Burke suggests parents take a look at this piece out recently in聽the Atlantic:聽
Here’s the first two paragraphs to pique your interest:
At whatever age smart people develop the idea that they are smart, they also tend to develop vulnerability around relinquishing that label. So the difference between telling a kid 鈥淵ou did a great job鈥 and 鈥淵ou are smart鈥 isn鈥檛 subtle. That is, at least, according to one growing movement in education and parenting that advocates for retirement of 鈥渢he S 飞辞谤诲.鈥
The idea is that when we praise kids for being smart, those kids think: Oh good, I’m smart. And then later, when those kids mess up, which they will, they think:聽Oh no, I’m not smart after all. People will think I鈥檓 not smart after all. And that鈥檚 the worst. That鈥檚 a risk to avoid, they learn.鈥淪mart鈥 kids stand to become especially averse to making mistakes, which are critical to learning and succeeding…