- Researchers have known for some time that the brain is like a muscle; that the more you use it, the more it grows. They’ve found that neural connections form and deepen most when we make mistakes doing difficult tasks rather than repeatedly having success with easy ones.
I recently started teaching music through AmeriCorps to K-8th grade kids in rural Oregon. I've been working with praising the process over the result. It's certainly required a mentality shift, but I can see it working with students (especially those who might not grasp a concept as quickly as others).
I've adopted this mentality for myself as well. Growing up, I had never been good at math. I would make mistakes and fall behind in class and wasn't really ever able to catch up. I've recently started learning math again (starting at Algebra I) and have been loving it. Yes I move slow and still make mistakes. But I've been noticing that overcoming those mistakes is one of the most rewarding feelins ever. More than that, it motivates me to continue. I plan to tackle Geometry, Calc, and Physics next.
I was also bad at math as a youth, had a bit of undiagnosed dislexia and a bad attitude. Went back to school and placed into math 60. By the time I left colledge I had worked my way up to linear algebra and enjoyed most the journey I took to get there (not the hard work but the satisfaction of revealing the world with the tools I had earned). Music is an incredible thing to teach kids. They learn to make something greater than themselves. It teaches how to be a good follower and for many good leaders and team members. It helps to train kids to anticipate and prepare for the near future both the next class or performance and the next note it bar. It builds phisical and mental dexterity and it shows the elegance of a complex system and how it can be ordered to create usefulness and beauty.
Agrees one very level. I live in Fossil now, south of The Dalles. I'll be in Portland this weekend though. Are you working?
Agrees one very level. I live in Fossil now, south of The Dalles. I'll be in Portland this weekend though. Are you working?
I have a 3 year old daughter and people tell her she's "smart" often. -She really is. I tell her that she's a hard worker and that she's really good at solving problems. I try and emphasize how important it is to "create" things and so "solve" things. We do a lot of puzzles. She sees me exercise and understands that I'm "making muscles" and we have begun telling her that we also need to "exercise our minds," and I think she understands. -It's a fun and exciting time in her development. Next up: Teaching her to set goals. We'll start small...
Your children are lucky to have such a thoughtful parent.
thank you, that's nice of you to say. I'm far from perfect, I loose my patience with my kid too often. Need to work on that.
"But hey, admitting is the first step. And hey, you know ain't nobody perfect." - Kanye West
Awesome article. Anyone that's interested should also check out Dweck's book "Mindset: The New Psychology of Success". I haven't read it yet, but it's on my list, and I know quite a few people who say it changed their life (a dubious claim, I know, but give it a try. I trust these people). Good luck with Geometry, Calc and Physics, by the way. I'm taking Calc & Physics right now, and they're both pretty difficult, but also really cool once you "get" them.