When I was in elementary school, I was placed in the school's Gifted and Talented program, known as the 'LEAP' program. It was a program designed to help high-performing children get ahead by helping to teach them to think creatively and analytically. The teacher in the LEAP program used to give us all sorts of logic puzzles and we would spend hours working out the answers to various kinds of problems. I may not have known it at the time, but this was reinforcing a growth mindset and a love of learning that my parents had begun fostering years ago. Perhaps one of the most poignant things, though, that Mrs. Hagemeier ever said to us was "You're not any smarter or better than anyone else. You just think differently." What I didn't understand at the time is that Mrs. Hagemeier was teaching us that way of thinking in the same way that my parents taught it to me when they read me chapter books before bed and encouraged me to ask hundreds of questions about the parts that weren't making sense. I have a growth mindset because I was taught that a Mensa puzzle is a fun game and if I can't get an answer right then there's nothing wrong with raising my hand and asking my question - no matter if it may sound silly or irrelevant. I was taught to think rather than being taught to absorb.
I'm glad to have had the opportunity granted by such caregivers and I really do believe in the growth mindset as a rule. I have seen the difference it can make, and I want to help other people experience its benefits as well.
I really enjoyed this post as well! While I was in the Gifted and Talented program at my school too, I missed the reinforcement component from home. My parents both hated school, didn't enjoy reading much, and helped me by giving me the answer instead of analyzing what I wasn't understanding or helping me solve problems myself. I really like your comment about thinking to think vs. thinking to simply remember. We are never going to know everything, and seeking guidance/council from those who understand more than we do will always prove to be advantageous.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed reading this post. It is actually very interesting because I definitely was not in the Gifted and Talented program. I did however have parents that would motivate me to do better. I really like one thing that you said and that is the statement about thinking to think. I do believe this is really important because most of us just want to think to get the answer and then forget. I also liked the pictures that you added to this. It gave a lot of color to the post.
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