How to Help Your Child Develop a “Growth Mindset”

Posted on August 21, 2020October 1, 2020 by addwebseo

Every one of us has a mindset about our own abilities and potential. And this mindset is so powerful that it will strongly influence how we approach learning and problems in life, and can even predict success.

Psychologist Carol Dweck coined the idea of “fixed mindset” and “growth mindset”.

An individual with a fixed mindset gets stuck in the face of a challenge and has trouble moving ahead. An individual with a growth mindset, on the other hand, welcomes challenges as learning experiences and believes they can evolve with each one.

Which one do you think is likely to achieve more success in life? Which one do you want to develop in your child?

The answer is pretty obvious. What Dweck refers to as a “growth mindset” in a distinctive trait that she observed in people who are more successful in life and just happier in general.

Fortunately, Dweck informs us that no one is stuck in one mindset or another. Such a mindset develops based on our experiences. But the qualities of a growth mindset can be cultivated in an individual through reinforcement and practice.

It’s extremely important to cultivate these qualities in a child because it’s easier for people to be molded when they are younger. Further, the more practice they have with it, the better equipped they will be to face challenges when they grow up. And it all starts with their learning in school.

This post is going to talk about just how to teach growth mindset to kids.

What are Growth and Fixed Mindsets?

First, let’s take a quick look at the characteristics of each mindset. As you will see, there is a general difference in perspective between these them.

Fixed mindset characteristics:

They believe that intelligence, creativity, and personality are things we are born with and set in stone. They believe these qualities cannot be developed.
They fear failure. They view mistakes as failures rather than opportunities to grow and learn. In fact, hitting an obstacle becomes proof to them that they are incapable of overcoming it.
They may fear new experiences and avoid risks.
They look for external rewards to drive performance and feel the need to repeatedly prove ourselves over and over again.
A fixed mindset sounds like this: “I’m just not smart”, “I’m not good at this”, “I’m not going to get it, so why even try”.

Growth mindset characteristics:

They believe that intelligence, creativity, and personality can be cultivated through effort.
They are not afraid of failing. They view failure as a springboard for growth.
They show a willingness to confront challenges and.
They exhibit a passion for learning and are self-motivated to find out new things.
A growth mindset sounds like this: “I wonder what else I could find out about this”, “I know I can figure this out”, “I get what I did wrong and can fix it”, “That was tough, but I’ll do better next time”.

Now let’s get into what you can do to develop a growth mindset in your child. If your child already strongly exhibits growth mindset qualities, then you can use these tips to make sure you reinforce them.

Talk about the brain

Teach your kids that the brain is pliable and it can change with effort and practice. Download this idea into them! You don’t need to be a neuroscientist to do this, and neither do they. You can even instill a growth mindset in early learners by telling them in a way that is appropriate to their age that the brain is like a muscle, and we can make it stronger with dedication, practice, and consistency.

Avoid labeling your child and others

From the outset avoid giving labels, whether it’s a good label (You are so smart!) or a negative one (Don’t be a lazy bones!). Labels put them inside a box and promote a fixed mindset.

Let them make mistakes

Be comfortable with allowing your child to make mistakes, it’s good growth mindset parenting. No one likes to see their child fall, but sometimes that’s what is required for them to learn. It’s like the proverbial “letting go when teaching them to ride a bike”. You can’t run with them forever!

Give them permission to fail

This sounds like the previous point, and in fact, it ties in closely with it. But while the previous point is more for you, this is more for your child. Giving them permission to fail means taking the anxiety out of learning. It will help expand their creativity and grow their readiness to embrace challenges and take risks. Because failing is a natural part of learning anything. Be cool with it.

The power of “YET”

It’s a tiny, three-letter word with a huge impact. Studies have shown that using the words “yet” and “not yet”, when a child encounters a setback, increases their confidence and persistence.

How does it work? It simply transforms fixed mindset phrases to growth mindset phrases. So, “I am not good at this” becomes “I am not good at this YET.” The word “yet” indicates that there is a learning curve, and points to the importance of the process rather than the outcome.

Praising the process, not the child

Praising your child is important, but it is important to praise in the right way.

Simply praising your child for doing well reinforces a fixed mindset. You must resist the temptation to just say, “Great job, you are smart!”

It is also ineffective to blindly praise the effort. This will lead your child to believe that if they try hard enough, they will succeed no matter their strategies. This could lead them to repeat the same futile strategies over and over again. Resist the urge to be reconciliatory and just say, “At least you tried!”

Process Praising:This is the kind of praise that we want to aim for. It focuses on the way your child approached a challenge, and not how smart they are or how well they did. It shifts the focus from the end result to the process. So look at what your child did, how they did it, and praise that. You might say something like, “I really like how you checked your textbook for solutions, then asked your teacher, and then tried these two methods to solve this problem.”

This is not to say that effort and outcome are completely unimportant. But by giving importance to the process, you encourage your child to be more experimentative and to face failures.

Teaching them to watch their emotions

Learning is an emotional experience – and it’s not always a joyous one. Help your child understand their emotions, even the negative ones. Let them know that they are bound to feel frustrated at some point or the other in any learning process and that it’s OK. Children need to learn how to handle their emotions. This is a key factor in building resilience and reinforcing a growth mindset.

When they do well without effort

For a student who does really well without putting in any effort, it’s still important to resist making it all about their cleverness. Instead, Dweck suggests saying something like, “OK, that was too easy for you. Let’s see if there’s something more challenging that you can learn from.”Be balanced and wise with your praise!

Seek out challenges

Encouraging your children to find new challenges, and not stop at their school work. You can help by actively looking for growth mindset challenges for them to do. It doesn’t have to be difficult, and it can be tangential to school learning. Maybe you can buy them a book of Sudoku or crosswords, or something that is aligned with their interests. You might also want to contact your child’s teacher and ask if they are using growth mindset lesson plans.

Set a growth mindset example

Kids imitate their parents. So let them see you persisting with difficult tasks, trying to learn something new, and taking on challenges with enthusiasm. They will observe how you deal with obstacles and how you face failure, and they will imbibe at least some of these habits.

Developing a growth mindset is an ongoing process. Facing challenges in life is not easy, but it’s something that we have to do, and being equipped with a growth mindset is a great boon.

The effort will come from your kids, but it is important that we do what we can to encourage them and give them guidance.

Be wary of boxing them into a fixed mindset, whether through positive or negative statements. This might take an effort on your own part to start focusing more on process than outcome, but it’s well worth it for the effect it will have on your child.

Remember, in the end, growth mindset and fixed mindset applies to all of us, throughout our life. One of the best things we can do for our kids is taking this concept to heart and exemplifying it in our own lives.

How Edtech can Bridge the Achievement Gap in America

Posted on August 11, 2020October 1, 2020 by addwebseo

Achievement gap is a major problem plaguing education systems in America. It refers to the disparity in academic performance or educational attainment between different groups of students based on socioeconomic status, race, or gender.

There is a clear difference in schooling and learning opportunities for students based on wealth. There is even a term known as “90-10 gap” – so called because it compares students in the 90th and 10th percentiles of family wealth – and it equals about a 4-year difference in learning (Reardon, 2011).

Although efforts are being made to bridge the gap at national and local levels, children from poorer socioeconomic backgrounds are still falling behind their peers.

Fortunately, education technology is helping to close the achievement gap by becoming an ally to teachers. This is not just a gut instinct either – research from Standford University has found that technology can help boost test scores for low-income students when used correctly.

This post is going to look at exactly how Edtech can play a significant role in closing the achievement gap in America.

Using Edtech the right way – to complement class learning

Technology in the classroom is not a cure-all in itself, its value lies in the way it is used.

Low-income schools typically use technology in a “drill and kill” approach, where students are presented with the information they are expected to memorize and are later tested on. The results of this kind of approach are less than favorable.

Technology is not a replacement for good old classroom tutoring. However, combining technology with teacher training can prove to be very effective.

As a case in point, a two-year study was conducted in Maine to find the efficiency of using an online homework tool along with classroom learning for seventh graders. The results showed that end-of-year standardized test results were boosted 80% over the anticipated performance.

Further, students who were below the median on the previous year’s state math test gained the equivalent of over two years of learning in a single year.

Self-paced Edtech is good, but it’s better in the hands of the teachers

Self-paced education technology can be great for students. However, it can actually make the achievement gap worse, because typically high-performing students progress quickly while underperforming students are left behind, as found by a Duke University study. This is simply counterproductive.

A better way to improve results and close the achievement gap is to give teachers effective Edtech tools that empower them to better focus their time and resources. This will allow them to give more attention to students that need more help, which will then make self-paced learning more positive for them.

Edtech is most effective when it aligns to curriculum

One of the biggest concerns among teachers regarding Edtech tools is that often they don’t align with the curriculum set by their school district. So even if the tool is a good learning companion, it is not preparing students for what ultimately matters: the standards tests.

What teachers need to look out for are Edtech tools that are created with this in mind. Georgia Test Prep is a tool specifically designed to be aligned with Georgia school curriculums. It is made in Georgia, by Georgia teachers, especially for Georgia students.

While currently Georgia Test Prep is aimed towards parents, we are in the process of developing a solution specifically for the teachers of Georgia that will help them support their students to greatly improve their math and ELA Skill.

Edtech can make life easier for teachers

Teachers have their plates full at all times. Further burdening them with having to check assessment tests in the digital age is completely unnecessary.

Edtech solutions can reduce teacher workload with automated marking and sophisticated reporting. They can help lift the burden of these administrative tasks, thereby freeing up more of their time to spend with their students.

Remember, the results of an Edtech tool for underprivileged students is only as good as the teacher training they receive.

The achievement gap in America today is the result of a complex set of multiple factors, and it isn’t going to be bridged overnight. But educators are taking steps.

Edtech providers are helping in this process too. What they need to do next is to listen to school districts to understand their pain points and curriculum requirements, and modify their offering to cater to individual school district demands. They may need to pay particular attention to the needs of low-income students.

Edtech has a lot of potential in the digital age to help students from all socioeconomic backgrounds get the help they need to excel. It will take the right application of Edtech to release that potential.

Preparing Your Children For the New School Year With The COVID-19 Situation

Posted on July 27, 2020October 1, 2020 by addwebseo

The coming school year will be unlike any new school year that kids – or parents – have ever faced. Schools in Georgia will be reopening for the new year come fall, but counties are doing it their own way. In-person instruction, virtual learning, and a combination of these are the possibilities.

The prospect of a new school year is exciting and anxiety-inducing for children as it is. But this year will have the added anxiety of being the first school year since the COVID-19 pandemic shook the world.

As a parent, you must be prepared for whatever protocol is to be followed. No matter what it is, it’s going to be different for your kids for sure. Here’s what you can do to prepare your child for getting back to school this fall.

Establish New Routines

Start getting them into the rhythms of the school day at least a week in advance of the reopening.

This will be especially pertinent for children who will be doing distance learning. It will be very important for them to mentally separate time allotted for learning and school work from regular home time. Many kids will just not be used to attending classes without the direct supervision of their teachers, especially when all the comforts of home are right at hand.

Involve your children and make the process positive. Discuss with them the issue of homework, and establish when would be the best time for them to study. Help them set up their virtual-learning area. Activities like these will help kids prepare mentally for the coming school year.

Just remember that there is no one-size-fits-all solution for this. Be flexible and patient with your kids while they figure it out.

Limit Technology After Certain Hours

Phones, tablet, PCs, and gaming devices are always a ready distraction. Since kids will need to get back into the flow of school time, start limiting their use of technology after certain hours.

This will help them be rested and mentally ready for school the next day. Also, it will help them get reacquainted to the practice of focusing and not relying on the constant instant gratification of their devices that they have enjoyed over the summer break.

You set the pace. But start slow, and gradually keep winding down. It’s better not to start with a sudden and strict cutoff. Make the process easy for them.

Make Sure They Understand The Need For Safety

Only very young children would be unaware or not understand the gravity of the COVID-19 situation by now. But no matter what age your kids are, start strongly reinforcing personal safety protocols. It may sound like repetition, but it is very important to emphasize their importance.

Encourage them to wash their hands often and be wary of touching their face. They should carry a mask at all times. Implore them to tell a teacher if they feel anything like a symptom of the flu.

These are good practices for all children, and not just those who will be attending school in-person. With the country testing the waters with reopening, this is a good opportunity to reinforce these practices with your kids.

Address Their Feelings

Things are going to be different. Class sizes might be reduced to allow for social distancing and certain activities might be restricted. Even seemingly simple things, like the sight of everyone wearing masks, will be a major departure from normality.

Change can often be difficult for a child.Help them navigate these changes. Have open and honest discussions with them, understand how they feel about this situation and its implications. Remember that adolescents will have the added burdens of puberty to deal with. Really listen to them instead of just offering your own opinions. Talking to them can do a great deal to put them at ease.

Participate In Safe Back-to-School Activities

Check whether your child’s school organizes virtual get-togethers. A lot of anxiety can be assuaged by meeting their new teacher, having a look at their classroom, and maybe even getting to know some of the other kids.

If such get-togethers are not an option, you can always help your child review their school’s website for information and pictures.

For Those Starting A New School

Your kids are probably already talking to their friends about starting school again. But if your child is joining a new school at this time, then it’s important to take extra care to make them as comfortable as possible.

Give a little more time for transition talk to address their back-to-school worries. You and your child could look for pictures of the school online, or on their official social media account if the school has one. Reassurance is the key.

Make Back-to-school Fun

Don’t lose out on the fun element of getting back to school. One of the activities that kids love most at this time of year is picking out their new school supplies and new clothes, and needn’t be missed. Help them plan what kind of things they would like to take for lunch. And remember, always keep up the positivity!

Learning Is Still The Priority

Make sure this is not lost on your children. The reason that schools are reopening in spite of the current situation is because of the importance of their education. Classwork, homework, and study are the priority. Help your children come back to this mind-state, and to maintain it throughout the school year.

It’s going to be a challenging time for children and parents. The school districts are doing their best, but it is up to everyone to stay vigilant. The most important thing to remember is to keep an open dialogue with your children, actively listen, and keep giving them positive reinforcement.

How Georgia Test Prep Can Help

It’s going to be difficult for children to adjust to the new modes of learning in this very novel time. And although the State of Georgia will not be having standardized tests like Georgia Milestones this year, Georgia Test Prep can still help. Repetition and practice is the key to establishing a good foundation. With Georgia Test Prep, children can practice GSE questions based on their math and language curriculum online and from the comfort and safety of their home, giving them an edge in their schoolwork.

How to strengthen parent-child communication-relationship?

Posted on July 7, 2020February 22, 2022 by addwebseo

Parenting is a tough job in and by itself. There is a long list of decisions that a parent has to make, never really knowing if the choice that they made is going to be the right one. From ensuring that their kids get healthy food to eat, good friends to play with, a good education, the right career path, developing critical thinking skills, and so much more; parents need to think about everything.

Many might agree that there has always been a generational gap between parents & their kids. This gap seems to have widened with the children in the 21^st century. Kids nowadays might not be very open about things that bother them or be verbose of the peer pressures that they have to deal with because they might feel that they would not be understood or would be judged. To close this gap and to gain better understanding of what children have to deal with, parents need to develop a stronger relationship and a safe haven where kids feel they can talk about anything and everything. To be able to accomplish this there has to be good communication between parents & their children.

Understand how your child communicates

Knowing how your child communicates will help you strengthen your bond with them and encourage them to be open with you. Some kids are open while others a little bit more reserved. Taking the time to learning their style will help you bring the best out in them. Be mindful that not all communication is verbal and pay close attention to body language. Sometimes a cheerful child that seems quiet could have had a tough day at school and might just need a nudge to share it with you.

Be a good listener

Listening is so much more than just hearing what is being said; it is to understand the meaning behind the words. We have all been guilty of listening half-heartedly while trying to finish cooking dinner or while responding to a work email or taking care of the endless things that have to be taken care of. Give full attention to your child when he or she is talking about something. Make eye contact and let them know that what they are saying is important, that they are important.

Turn off the TV and any other distractions or interruptions as you intently listen to them and respond thoughtfully when they ask for your opinion. Things that seem trivial or silly to you might actually be challenging for them to process. So make sure you empathize without judging and look at it from their perspective. When your child feels like they can talk to you about anything and everything you have created a strong foundation of a loving relationship.

Narrate positive stories and personal experiences

Children love to hear stories. Remember the times where we read bedtime stories to our kids when they were younger. It was a ritual that made them feel so special and loved. Depending on your kid’s age and maturity level, you choose the best stories for them. As the kids get older let those stories evolve to you sharing your personal life experiences with them. Talk about yourself if you want them to talk about themselves. You don’t need to be perfect to inspire them. You just need to be real. As they start to realize that you have experienced a lot of what they are going through now, it creates this bond where they feel comfortable sharing and asking for opinion on things that matter most to them.

Spend some time with them every day

We all live in a busy world and finding time can seem difficult. Sometimes with both parents working different shifts it might even get trickier. Find time on a daily basis to intentionally spend with your kids. Little kids might want you to play with them. Remember it’s not what you want to do, its what they want you to do with them that matter. Develop a routine that works for your family. As kids get older they love to help. Let them contribute by helping you with chores like preparing dinner together or going shopping. Schedule some family time and plan a picnic or a vacation and create memories. To children love is often spelt as TIME.

Use the Whale-done approach

Everyone wants a perfect child. We use criticism and manipulation as tools to get them to doing what we think they should do which actually back fires in most cases. In his book “Whale done” Ken Blanchard talks about accentuating the positive and redirecting energy when mistakes happen. This approach helps build confidence & self esteem. Kids also need to know that we are their biggest cheerleaders at all times. They need to know that we have their back. It is important for them to celebrate their wins but also to know that making mistakes and failing is part of life and learning to handle failure is perhaps the most important lesson that can help them develop resilience.

Help build confidence by strengthening learning

We all know that education provides the basic building block, which is the foundation to creating a successful future. Inculcate the love of learning in your child. Children tend to love what they understand and are comfortable with. Enrolling your child in online practice for Math and ELA can help them practice what they learn in school and become more comfortable with the subject material. It helps them gain confidence in their own ability to perform, sharpens their skills, and creates a winning culture. Georgia Test Prep offers a wide range of practice for the students to enhance their performance and create great results.

Some parting thoughts

Make a lot of deposits in your child’s life. Give them all the tools necessary to succeed in life. Love them unconditionally. Make sure to tell them often that you believe that they are the most magical and wonderful beings in this world; that they are capable of accomplishing anything that they set their hearts to and that is exactly what they will go on to do!

What is the story behind Georgia Test Prep?

Posted on June 26, 2020February 22, 2022 by addwebseo

Being parents of young children it was evident that our work was cut out for us in order to support our children’s learning journey. We knew that the teachers at school were doing a great job in teaching them the Georgia standards. But just like anything else, without repetition of the material they could not retain a lot of what they had just learnt. In order to help them we had to search for the relevant worksheets online, print them, and ask our kids to complete them. Checking their work was yet another cumbersome task. And once they completed the practice sheets, we had to look for other worksheets. This was becoming tiresome and redundant.

We purchased some books from a local store and also bought some online. It was hard to find out which ones were relevant to the subject material taught at school and which ones would mimic how their testing was going to look like. We realized that we spent a lot of money on the books for each child and were still not convinced that it was the best we could provide them with.

That put us on a journey to find websites that would allow for them to practice online without the hassle of printing sheets and correcting them but pretty quickly we realized that was a very costly option.

This is where Georgia Test Prep was born! We figured that there are a lot of parents in a similar situation like ours who are also struggling to impart the right education to their children. We reached out to some of the parents around us who had kids in Elementary & Middle school and talked to them and concluded that creating an online platform that can address such issues would help parents provide a strong foundation to their children.

What makes Georgia Test Prep a good solution for parents?

Georgia Test Prep is a comprehensive web app that helps students practice answering ELA & Math questions that are aligned with the standards taught in school. With less than 10 cents per day, the members get access to thousands of questions for ELA and Math practice online. The web app offers curriculum resources and practice questions to the students from grades 3 to 8. We have Georgia teachers working with us to prepare the best practice sheets according to Georgia standards.

This web app bridges the gap between the classroom and at-home learning. Parents can assign the homework to their children and once the student completes it, online assessment helps parents know about the performance of their child. This saves parents hours and hours of time that they were spending on checking worksheets. This web app motivates the students to work without any assistance from a parent or a teacher. It also makes the students more confident as they get a better grip of Math and ELA.

With a lot of schools operating online virtual classes due to the COVID-19 outbreak, there is a need for online assessment tools that helps parents understand gaps in their child’s knowledge and areas of improvement and help fill it. And that is what we are here for!!!

Sign up now for getting updates as the web app launches in July 2020.

How can Georgia Test Prep help parents get complete peace of mind?

Posted on June 26, 2020February 22, 2022 by addwebseo

Are you tired of

… finding relevant worksheets online for your child?

… printing out the worksheets every single time?

… spending hundreds of dollars on practice books that will be discarded after one use?

… spending hours trying to correct the worksheets or the practice books?

Due to COVID-19, many parents, students, and teachers tried to adapt to a new method of learning as the school year came to a close. Parents across Georgia took an active role as educators along with the teachers by staying connected via online communication tools and technologies. Most of the schools will be offering similar options that might include virtual classes as school reopens to help the children stay home safely. Your child will have to learn a new curriculum for the next grade on zoom in a classroom of 25-30 other children. This will require them to study a lot of the material on their own and repetition will be a key to retaining that information. You may be looking for innovative ways to help your children accomplish just that.

What are the challenges faced by parents?

Lack of time

Nowadays, parents have to work from dawn to dusk everyday to maintain the financial stability of the family. Working parents may find it difficult to find time to download the worksheets, print them, and get it completed by the child. They might not be able to devote time to check the work completed by their kids.

Buying costly practice books

A lot of parents spend hundreds of dollars in purchasing practice books for their children. Not to mention they are discarded after one use and there is always a dilemma which one to purchase that is most relevant to what is being taught in school.

Not familiar with the Georgia Standards

Do you ever wonder what to focus on when helping your child review what is being taught in school? The basics of what is being taught may not change, but what the kids are expected to know for their grades and what they are tested for.

How can Georgia Test Prep help the parents?

Georgia Test Prep is a low-cost solution to make your children practice Math and ELA online. For less than 10 cents a day, you can get access to questions that are aligned with the state of Georgia.

Parents can assign homework to their children and help them improve the areas where they lack.
Progress monitoring helps the parents make the right decisions when it comes to assigning practice tests for the children.
As the answers are checked automatically, parents get a lot of relief when they can save a lot of time, effort, and money with the Georgia Prep Test web app
You get access to comprehensive practice sheets for students.
Multiple choice questions engage the students and they’d fall in love with Georgia Test Prep.

So, what are you waiting for? Sign up today for news on the upcoming launch.