Carol Dweck, who is an expert on self-esteem, recognized a framework which has given teachers access to the years of study about how children feel about themselves and their learning. There are some factors that matter the most, especially in terms of motivation in the classroom. This includes self-motivation in the classroom, whereby learners have a certain mindset towards their own learning. This can be classed as a ‘fixed’ or a ‘growth ‘mindset. In a nutshell, pupils with a ‘fixed’ mindset will only tackle tasks which they know well and will succeed at them. On the other hand the ones with a ‘growth’ mindset will not only attempt what they know but also thrive on challenge and attempt more difficult tasks and thrive on the challenges. A…show more content… Children do love to be praised a lot but if this becomes the norm then as soon as they encounter a challenge or obstacle their confidence drops dramatically. Experience states that when a child is praised for good but acknowledged when failing this can make them feel a failure themselves. Therefore when commenting we must maintain a focus on effort and achievement rather than ability as this will help create that ‘growth ‘mindset. Comments such as ‘mistakes help us learn’, ‘remember you don’t know yet’, and ‘every time you work hard you are growing your brain a little more’ are all positive growth comments and help the child work towards success and not…show more content… By involving children in the planning stage of your lessons you are their increasing their interest and motivation and in return their achievement as they feel they have some ownership of their learning too. There are some key elements that can be used to involve the pupils in your planning. These include; what they know or can do; immersing them into the subject matter; presenting them with the skills to cover; and what they would like to learn. This may sound as though you are allowing your pupils to plan or you but having them involved gives them an importance and a better chance of positive successes. Immersion is a very important factor and this can be done in many ways to involve your learners. You can have an afternoon of various inputs, possibly in the classroom or an open area such as the gym. An example would be possibly to use an afternoon to explore science where they are given material to explore which would lead to them seeing what skills they need to be taught (e.g. can you make a plant grow sideways). Presenting skills coverage is great idea, or else you can end up with lots of ideas rather than associations with the skills you want to
