Going Beyond Growth Mindset to Teach Students Optimism

(Originally titled “Seeing Beyond the Glass Half-Full”)

In this Education Update article, Sarah McKibben reports on a curriculum designed to build a positive mindset. “Optimism is not about being happy all the time,” says Amy Lyon, a New Hampshire 5^th-grade teacher. “It’s about looking at a difficult situation realistically and figuring out which parts you own and which parts you can do something about.” It’s not about positive slogans or constantly focusing on winning, but rather analyzing what’s causing good and bad outcomes. 

A 2014 Gallup poll found that only half of grade 5-12 students were hopeful about succeeding in school and life. But a well-crafted curriculum can teach practical strategies that get students thinking about how their words and thoughts influence how they deal with challenges. “Practical optimists are positive thinkers,” says author Donna Wilson. “They are aware of the realities (the practical part) of learning – for example, that learning can be hard work – and they’re aware of the reality that life can be difficult.” 

The language that students use is important. Here are a two comparisons of pessimistic and optimistic language:

• My mom is the crabbiest mom in the entire world.
• My mom is in the crabbiest mood ever.
• Teachers are unfair.
• Ms. Carmine is unfair.

Lyon will catch herself using pessimistic language in class and say, “Whoa, did you just hear me say that? Who can help me phrase that in a more optimistic way?”

Lyon’s monthly lessons teach students to “catch their thoughts,” slow down their thinking, and avoid saying never and always. They may be too young to understand grit (persisting through long-term goals), but they can understand optimism, self-control, and perseverance and see setbacks as temporary. Students write about thoughts in terms of ABC: adversity, belief, and consequence. Lyon also uses children’s books like The Liberation of Gabriel King (Puffin Books, 2007), in which a boy learns how to deal with bullying that had paralyzed him with fear. Lyon’s school promotes four building blocks of optimism in all classrooms: fostering a sense of belonging; praising students for their efforts; giving students choices; and sharing success stories. Teachers also work with parents to encourage them to reinforce optimistic thinking at home.

Another avenue for developing optimism is giving students feedback on less-than-satisfactory work that shows a way forward, and explicitly teaching the importance of mistakes and failure. Chad Donohue, a 7^th-grade teacher in Washington, tells his students that if “you aren’t stumbling, you aren’t really learning” and “I’m not stuck in this place if I don’t want to be.” He models making a mistake and joyfully working through it, and uses humor to help students escape their fears of failure. 

“Seeing Beyond the Glass Half-Full” by Sarah McKibben in Education Update, November 2015 (Vol. 57, #11, p. 1, 4-5), available to ASCD members at http://bit.ly/1H4qqtx; McKibben can be reached at sarah.mckibben@ascd.org. 

From the Marshall Memo #612