180 likes | 324 Views
Emphasizing Effort over outcome. Facilitated by Alex Lindsey and Michelle Stout. This evening’s agenda . How can we parents help our perfectionistic students embrace, develop, and emphasize: growth effort failure change flexibility. What does perfectionism look like?.
E N D
Emphasizing Effort over outcome Facilitated by Alex Lindsey and Michelle Stout
This evening’s agenda How can we parents help our perfectionistic students embrace, develop, and emphasize: • growth • effort • failure • change • flexibility
What does perfectionism look like? • Tendency to become highly anxious, angry or upset about making mistakes • Chronic procrastination and difficulty completing tasks • Easily frustrated and gives up easily • Chronic fear of embarrassment or humiliation • Overly cautious and thorough in tasks (ex: spending 3 hours on homework that should take 20 minutes) • Tries to improve things by rewriting • Frequent catastrophic reactions or meltdowns when things don’t go as expected • Refusal to try new things and risk making mistakes
Let’s take a quick quiz…. • Take 2-3 minutes to complete the quiz on how you believe YOUR CHILD would answer the questions.
Now you! • Take 2-3 minutes to complete the quiz: To what extent do YOU agree or disagree with these statement?
“I wonder what I can do today to undermine my children, turn off their learning and limit their achievement?”
Messages we send to our children What we say to our children…. What our children hear…… “You learned that so quickly! You’re so smart!” “If I don’t learn something quickly, I’m not smart.” “Look at the drawing. Martha, is he the next Picasso or what?” “I shouldn’t try drawing anything hard or they’ll see I’m no Picasso.” “You’re so brilliant, you got an A without even studying!”
Let’s start with a story • Nine-year-old Elizabeth was on her way to her first gymnastics meet. Lanky, flexible and energetic, she was just right for gymnastics, and she loved it. Of course, she was a little nervous about competing, but she was good at gymnastics and felt confident of doing well. She had even thought about the perfect place in her room to hang the ribbon she was sure to win. • In the first event, the floor exercises, Elizabeth went first. Although she did a nice job, the scoring changed after the first few girls and she lost. Elizabeth also did well in the other events, but not well enough to win. By the end of the evening, she had received no ribbons and was devastated.
What would you do if you were Elizabeth's parents? • Tell Elizabeth you thought she was the best. • Tell her she was robbed of a ribbon that was rightfully hers. • Reassure her that gymnastics is not that important. • Tell her she has the ability and will surely win next time. • Tell her she didn’t deserve to win.
Where are we heading with this? Carol Dweck: Discovering the Importance of Mindset Carol Dweck: The Effect of Praise on Mindset http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2jDVd-nCEYc http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TTXrV0_3UjY
Scoring our Quiz Key Scoring Ability mindset – fixed Ability mindset – growth Ability mindset – growth Personality/character mindset – fixed Personality/character mindset – growth Ability mindset – growth Ability mindset – fixed Ability mindset – fixed Ability mindset – growth Personality/character mindset – growth Ability mindset – fixed Personality/character mindset – fixed Ability mindset – growth Ability mindset – fixed Ability mindset – growth Ability mindset – fixed Personality/character mindset – fixed Personality/character mindset – growth Ability mindset – growth Ability mindset - fixed Growth Questions 1. Strongly Agree – 3 pts Agree – 2 pts Disagree – 1 pt Strongly Disagree – 0pt Fixed Questions Strongly Agree – 0 pt Agree – 1 pt Disagree – 2 pts Strongly Disagree – 3 pts Are you surprised?
A Perfectionist has developed a fixed mindset: Outcome over Effort
What if I’m a Perfectionist, too? • How can parents shift their emphasis and praise to support growth and effort over outcome with their children? • Let’s revisit Elizabeth’ story… • Tell Elizabeth you thought she was the best. • Tell her she was robbed of a ribbon that was rightfully hers. • Reassure her that gymnastics is not that important. • Tell her she has the ability and will surely win next time. • Tell her she didn’t deserve to win.
Model Self Talk Some examples of positive statements: • “Nobody’s perfect!” • “All I can do is my best” • “Believing in myself -- even when I’m making mistakes -- will help me do better!” • “I can’t do it…………….yet.” Now you try….
Emphasize Effort and growth • What’s a typical scenario in your home? • Let’s practice creating growth/effort oriented statements and praise?
Perfection Perspective http://www.ted.com/talks/brian_goldman_doctors_make_mistakes_can_we_talk_about_that.html
Thank you Contact Information: Michelle Stout 970-613-5057 Michelle.stout@thompsonschools.org Alex Lindsey 970-613-6249 Alex.lindsey@thompsonschools.org