Neva Muzammil :
In a society where from the onset we scaffold children with praise and reward whether they have had success or not, we have skewed the meaning of accomplishment. We are not teaching them about the effort it takes to be triumphant. We are not nurturing the character strengths needed to be successful in all areas of their lives, not just education. Character is essential to the way in which we deal with situations that occur in our lives. It identifies whether we easily give up in challenging situations, or whether we plough through head first. Character defines us, and how we approach life. For this reason schools and educators should make it a point to promote the teaching of character to not only create positive classrooms, but also to instill a ‘Growth Mindset’ (C. Dweck) in their students.
Character strengths such as curiosity, social intelligence, self-control, zest, optimism and grit along with a list of others should be identified, explored and nurtured in order to create an environment where children not only learn to challenge themselves, but also give challenging situations a chance. There is a strong link between the emotional state of mind and the academic, that is to say, the cognitive skills such as learning a language, mathematical formulae, etc are complimented by our non-cognitive skills, i.e. our character strengths. For example, a child who is optimistic, can persevere and has a modicum of self-control will be able to take on a mathematics challenge more effectively than a child who is not able to identify those character strengths (non-cognitive skills) within himself. It is important to understand that character strengths are a part of who we are and therefore we can identify, reveal, elicit and nurture them within ourselves (Peterson & Parks (2009)).
The challenge for educators remains on creating an effective way in which to nurture the right set of character strengths in schools. According to Dr Martin Seligman there are 7 important strengths that impact learning. They are: Hope (Optimism), Curiosity, Zest, Gratitude, Social Intelligence, Grit and Self-control.(Definitions of these and other character strengths can be found on the VIA Institute on Character website: www.viacharacter.org) It is important to note that these are strengths and NOT character traits, as ‘traits’ would imply that these skills cannot be nurtured or taught.
Furthermore, Seligman stresses that in order for students to flourish in a learning environment, the environment itself must remain positive, engage students, foster good relationships, have meaning and purpose, and provide a sense of accomplishment. Therefore creating a program that nurtures the strengths required to have a positive impact on children must itself hold a positive and meaningful approach.
A positive and meaningful approach will nurture students who have fixed mindsets towards having a growth mindset. For example, student ‘a’ is learning the concept of long division, but has hit a point where he feels he is not ‘intelligent’ enough to understand how to work out the answer and so he gives up while student ‘b’ is having similar issues but decides to ask for help. Student ‘a’ has displayed a fixed mindset, whereas student ‘b’ has shown possibilities of a growth mindset. The question to ask in this scenario is, ‘How can we bring student ‘a’ into the same mindset and way of positive thinking as student ‘b’?” In order to create a ‘can-do’ approach in students, it has to be acknowledged that a more practical and frequently practiced method is necessary.
The first step to changing mindsets is to talk to children about it in terms that they will understand. Intelligence is quantitative and so can be grown with increase in effort. Teaching children the names of character strengths and what they mean is the perfect way to begin. Turning it into a reflection exercise in which the teacher talks about personal experiences is a wonderful way to elicit interest from the students.
Turning it over to them, and allowing them to reflect on their own experiences gives them the confidence to share their findings and allows practice in using appropriate character behaviour language. For example, “I displayed ‘gratitude’ when, ‘A’ helped me find a different word for ‘said’ for my story.”
The second step is to respond to displays in character behaviours constructively. By praising effort and using positive verbal language (“I loved how you persevered and asked for help when things got tough!”) as well as positive body language (smiling, high-fiving, pats on the back, etc) a teacher can re-enforce the character behaviour language in step 1. These positive moments of feedback not only help in fostering good relationships with students but also leave the student feeling confident and therefore ready for another challenging task.
The third step is to challenge students to use their character strengths to help themselves.
The following is a breakdown of how to teach students who are not particularly good when working in a team with others. The idea is to give the student a chance to develop and nurture the character strengths needed to be able to accomplish team work tasks:
Step 1:
Identify the character strengths required to work well with a team.
Identify when you have used these strengths in a good way in other areas of your life.
Identify how you can make use of those examples and fit them into the task at hand.
Step 2:
Encourage the student by praising effort made, and character strengths used for displaying good teamwork in a monitored teamwork session.
Encourage students to praise each other for their combined efforts for a successful team building session.
Step 3:
Organise a teamwork activity.
Discuss and recap the character strengths needed to complete the task successfully.
Have a one-to-one discussion with each student to evaluate the highs and lows of the teamwork activity.
It is important to note that the third step is a plenary step which enables students and teachers to bring their learning into a self-reflective zone thus allowing ownership for any successes as well as areas for improvement in the future.
Fundamentally, if educators and educational institutes take the time to incorporate a well thought out and planned system of teaching character in schools they can create a combination of students who are optimistic, take time to make an effort to succeed and possibly more conscientious of the world around them. This is in contrast to the youth today who is in constant need of attention and praise whether there has been a conscious use of effort or not on their part.
In a society where from the onset we scaffold children with praise and reward whether they have had success or not, we have skewed the meaning of accomplishment. We are not teaching them about the effort it takes to be triumphant. We are not nurturing the character strengths needed to be successful in all areas of their lives, not just education. Character is essential to the way in which we deal with situations that occur in our lives. It identifies whether we easily give up in challenging situations, or whether we plough through head first. Character defines us, and how we approach life. For this reason schools and educators should make it a point to promote the teaching of character to not only create positive classrooms, but also to instill a ‘Growth Mindset’ (C. Dweck) in their students.
Character strengths such as curiosity, social intelligence, self-control, zest, optimism and grit along with a list of others should be identified, explored and nurtured in order to create an environment where children not only learn to challenge themselves, but also give challenging situations a chance. There is a strong link between the emotional state of mind and the academic, that is to say, the cognitive skills such as learning a language, mathematical formulae, etc are complimented by our non-cognitive skills, i.e. our character strengths. For example, a child who is optimistic, can persevere and has a modicum of self-control will be able to take on a mathematics challenge more effectively than a child who is not able to identify those character strengths (non-cognitive skills) within himself. It is important to understand that character strengths are a part of who we are and therefore we can identify, reveal, elicit and nurture them within ourselves (Peterson & Parks (2009)).
The challenge for educators remains on creating an effective way in which to nurture the right set of character strengths in schools. According to Dr Martin Seligman there are 7 important strengths that impact learning. They are: Hope (Optimism), Curiosity, Zest, Gratitude, Social Intelligence, Grit and Self-control.(Definitions of these and other character strengths can be found on the VIA Institute on Character website: www.viacharacter.org) It is important to note that these are strengths and NOT character traits, as ‘traits’ would imply that these skills cannot be nurtured or taught.
Furthermore, Seligman stresses that in order for students to flourish in a learning environment, the environment itself must remain positive, engage students, foster good relationships, have meaning and purpose, and provide a sense of accomplishment. Therefore creating a program that nurtures the strengths required to have a positive impact on children must itself hold a positive and meaningful approach.
A positive and meaningful approach will nurture students who have fixed mindsets towards having a growth mindset. For example, student ‘a’ is learning the concept of long division, but has hit a point where he feels he is not ‘intelligent’ enough to understand how to work out the answer and so he gives up while student ‘b’ is having similar issues but decides to ask for help. Student ‘a’ has displayed a fixed mindset, whereas student ‘b’ has shown possibilities of a growth mindset. The question to ask in this scenario is, ‘How can we bring student ‘a’ into the same mindset and way of positive thinking as student ‘b’?” In order to create a ‘can-do’ approach in students, it has to be acknowledged that a more practical and frequently practiced method is necessary.
The first step to changing mindsets is to talk to children about it in terms that they will understand. Intelligence is quantitative and so can be grown with increase in effort. Teaching children the names of character strengths and what they mean is the perfect way to begin. Turning it into a reflection exercise in which the teacher talks about personal experiences is a wonderful way to elicit interest from the students.
Turning it over to them, and allowing them to reflect on their own experiences gives them the confidence to share their findings and allows practice in using appropriate character behaviour language. For example, “I displayed ‘gratitude’ when, ‘A’ helped me find a different word for ‘said’ for my story.”
The second step is to respond to displays in character behaviours constructively. By praising effort and using positive verbal language (“I loved how you persevered and asked for help when things got tough!”) as well as positive body language (smiling, high-fiving, pats on the back, etc) a teacher can re-enforce the character behaviour language in step 1. These positive moments of feedback not only help in fostering good relationships with students but also leave the student feeling confident and therefore ready for another challenging task.
The third step is to challenge students to use their character strengths to help themselves.
The following is a breakdown of how to teach students who are not particularly good when working in a team with others. The idea is to give the student a chance to develop and nurture the character strengths needed to be able to accomplish team work tasks:
Step 1:
Identify the character strengths required to work well with a team.
Identify when you have used these strengths in a good way in other areas of your life.
Identify how you can make use of those examples and fit them into the task at hand.
Step 2:
Encourage the student by praising effort made, and character strengths used for displaying good teamwork in a monitored teamwork session.
Encourage students to praise each other for their combined efforts for a successful team building session.
Step 3:
Organise a teamwork activity.
Discuss and recap the character strengths needed to complete the task successfully.
Have a one-to-one discussion with each student to evaluate the highs and lows of the teamwork activity.
It is important to note that the third step is a plenary step which enables students and teachers to bring their learning into a self-reflective zone thus allowing ownership for any successes as well as areas for improvement in the future.
Fundamentally, if educators and educational institutes take the time to incorporate a well thought out and planned system of teaching character in schools they can create a combination of students who are optimistic, take time to make an effort to succeed and possibly more conscientious of the world around them. This is in contrast to the youth today who is in constant need of attention and praise whether there has been a conscious use of effort or not on their part.
