Promoting Grit, Growth Mindset,

and Metacognition
in Our Students
Kentucky Exceptional Children’s Conference
Dr. Cindy Clemson
Murray State University
November 20, 2017
 Questions to Think About:
1. What do you already know about:
– Grit
– Growth Mindset
– Metacognition

2. Please share with your neighbor

Why Discuss These Three Together?
What do Metacognition, Growth Mindset
and Grit all have in common?

• All can be taught

• All correlate with academic success
• Metacognition and Growth Mindset support
Grit
 Grit
“Perseverance to accomplish long-term or
higher-order goals in the face of challenges and
setbacks, engaging the student’s psychological
resources, such as their academic mindsets,
effortful control, and strategies and tactics.”

Angela Duckworth
 Grit
Looking at all factors of success…social intelligence,
physical health, IQ….it is grit that is a significant
predictor of success (Duckworth, 2013).
 Grit
Angela Lee Duckworth’s work:
Grit is the power of passion
and perseverance

https://youtu.be/H14bBuluwB8
 Angela Duckworth’s Grit Scale
• How Gritty Are You?

• Angela Duckworth’s Grit Scale

https://www.dropbox.com/s/2pzjz1v0dadmr8r/1
2-item%20Grit%20Scale.pdf?dl=0
 To Develop Grit –
Teach a Growth Mindset
• Fixed mindset - Students believe their basic abilities,
their intelligence, their talents, are just fixed traits.
They have a certain amount and that’s that.
• Growth mindset - Students understand that their
talents and abilities can be developed through effort,
good teaching and persistence. They don’t
necessarily think everyone’s the same or anyone can
be Einstein, but they believe everyone can get smarter
if they work at it.
Carol Dweck, Stanford University
 Growth Mindset
Carol Dweck: The Power of Yet!

https://youtu.be/hiiEeMN7vbQ

“Test scores and measures of achievement tell you

where a student is, but they don’t tell you
where a student could end up.”
 Growth Mindset
• Fixed – Students believe intelligence is fixed, you are
born with a certain amount of intelligence.
• Growth – Students believe intelligence is like a muscle
and the more you challenge it and work it the more
intelligence you will have
• How a person attributes failure: those who attribute
failure to their own inability-“I’m not Intelligent” become
helpless because it is something they CAN’T control
• Those who interpret failure as a result of insufficient
effort or an ineffective strategy dig deeper and try
different approaches. This is something the student CAN
control
 Developing a Growth Mindset
• Teach about Failure – What did you learn? How can you
improve?
• 5 Great Questions to Ask Yourself After a Failure

• Examples of famous people who failed before they

succeeded

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=U0lGcESiLWM (Links to an external site.)Links to
an external site.
Developing a Growth Mindset
 To Develop Grit and Growth Mindset
Teach Metacognition Strategies

• Metacognition is a tool to support grit –

perseverance to reach a goal.
– i.e. assess the demands of the task, evaluate their own
knowledge and skills, plan their approach, monitor their
progress and adjust their strategies as needed
• Having a growth mindset supports
perseverance
 Metacognition
• Knowledge about one’s own knowledge, thinking
about one’s own thinking, and learning about one’s
own learning
• Set of processes involved in monitoring and directing
one’s own thinking
• One’s ability to monitor, evaluate, and make plans
for one’s learning…. effective learning involves
planning and goal-setting, monitoring one's
progress, and adapting as needed
 Metacognition
• Students don’t know what they know or don’t know
• Teach how to: Plan, monitor, and evaluate one’s
learning
Metacognitive Strategies for
Elementary Students
 Metacognitive Strategies for
Elementary Students
• Begin with explicit lesson on metacognition:
driving a brain car
• Super Powers for Learning – Super3 teaches
plan, do, and review. Turkey Trouble
(Silvano, 2009)
• To teach selective attention – Calm Cool, the
Listening Rabbit.
• To teach working memory – use Memory Pegs
 Metacognitive Strategies for
Middle and High School Students
• Metacognitive Assignment Wrapper
• Evidence based study strategies
• Exam planning
• Exam wrappers (reflection)
• Metacognitive Reading
• Modeling
– Think like a _____ e.g. biologist
• Reflection
– Muddiest Point
– 2 minute paper
How Are You Teaching Metacognition
• Currently doing? Any planning or reflective
activities?
• What might we create to support metacognition?
 Takeaways

• How might you leverage anything that we

have discussed today?

• Share with one other person.

 References

• Ambrose, S. A., Bridges, M. W., DiPietro, M., Lovett, M. C.,

& Norman M. K. (2010). How learning works: Seven
research-based principles for smart teaching. San Francisco,
CA: Jossey-Bass.
• Arthur, P. (2017). Enhancing metacognition, grit, and growth
mindset for students. Atlanta: National First Year Experience
conference
• Bjork, R., Dunlosky, J., and Kornell, N. (2012). Self-regulated
learning: Beliefs, techniques, and illusions. Annual Review of
Psychology.
 References (cont.)
• Duckworth, A.L. (2016). Grit: The power of passion and
persistence. New York: Scribner.
• Dweck, C.S. (2007). Mindset: The new psychology of
success. New York: Random House.
• Nilson, L. (2013). Creating self-regulated learners: Strategies
to strengthen students’ self-awareness and learning skills.
Sterling, VA: Stylus Publishing.
• Tanner, D. (2012). Promoting student metacognition. CBE
Life Science Education, 11, 113–120
• Wilson, D. & Conyers, C. (2016). Teaching students to drive
their brains. ASCD. Alexandria, VA.