Day 8 of the #28daysofwriting. Monday tomorrow and I feel like I have left this post a little late in the day. I am really enjoying the challenge of writing daily but sometimes it can be a real challenge to fit into a busy life!
For this post I want to write about something new and something old. The new thing is Growth Mindset (it may not be that new but only really came on my radar in the second half of last year). The old is the concept of Emotional Chips. This is an idea I heard while I was teaching in the King Country when Celia Lashlie came and spoke to our cluster.
Growth Mindset is probably more familiar to people. The idea that failure is never permanent and ever stumble is a change to learn and be better. It is something that many are saying is a hugely important factor in a successful life, and I completely agree. But I was thinking about this the other day and I am not sure that the whole Growth Mindset takes into account everything that has to go on in a child life for them to demonstrate it. It was during this train of thought that I remember something that Celia Lashlie talked about… Emotional Chips.
The idea of Emotional Chips is in essence a gambling reference. It states that any one person at any one time had Emotional Chips that they are able to ‘gamble’ and risk. Imagine yourself sitting at a casino table with whole stack of chips. You feel confident, you can put some money in, you win some, you lose some, it doesn't matter because you still have a decent pile of chips in reserve. You don’t feel the urgency of loss. But as the night goes on you lose, time and time again. Nothing you do seems to work or go your way and you pile is getting smaller and smaller. The weight of each gamble increases and you know you need to win some chips back. The harder you seem to try the worse it gets and you get desperate. In the end you just give up. You feel like you are a loser and nothing you can do will change that. Even a small win no longer matters when you see how small your pile is.
Now imagine a student feeling like that. How horrible it must feel to have you confidence eroded. It might have happened at home or at school. It might have been the child's parents yelling at them or being picked on in the playground. But for whatever reason some students just get so low on chips they can’t afford to take the risks they need to if they are to participate in everyday life and they definitely find it hard to take risks in something as unimportant as school.
As teachers we struggle with that idea, a student not understanding how important our awesome lessons are. But when you are worried about what you are going to eat next or if you are going to get hit when you get home, there is no way an algebra lesson is going to be anywhere on the radar of your life.
As teachers we need to be vigilant. That student who is always putting their hand up, or calling our with an answer or idea…. Yea, they probably have a tonne of Emotional Chips. But that student who never says a word, who is quiet and shy and unwilling to take risks. Who in their report we write “could participate in class more”... They are probably a little short on chips. Those students who withdraw, who are angry probably have nothing left in terms of emotional chips. They don’t want to hear about Growth Mindset, they actually need a win and we need to help them to get it. Because with enough chips in reserve they can't see our message when we try and teach them. So please take your time to give those kids a win… they desperately need it.
Equity doesn't always mean equal and as teachers we sometime need to give a little more to those who come to us with a little less and give them a few wins.
Thanks for reading my post today about Growth Mindset and the idea of Emotional Chips. I hope everyone has had a great Waitangi weekend and that you try to help at least one student this week experience a ‘win’.
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