Do This First!
Warm-Up: Read the following passage. After reading, click on the Question link to answer a comprehension question about the author's claim.
Give Praise for Hard Work, Not Intelligence
Americans want to know what is wrong with the U.S. education system. American children consistently score lower on tests than students from many other countries. One possible reason for this failing is that Americans put too much emphasis on intelligence. American students are taught that if a person is intelligent, he or she does not have to work hard to succeed.
Psychologists Claudia Mueller and Carol Dweck have performed studies to determine the effects of praise. In one study, a group of fifth graders were given a challenging test. After they took the test, some of the children were praised for being intelligent. The other children were praised for working hard. The children were then given a choice. They could take another challenging test, or they could take an easy test. The majority of the students who were praised for being "intelligent" chose to take the easy test. Conversely, the majority of the students who were praised for being "hardworking" chose to take the more challenging test.
Personal accounts from teachers also support the idea that praising students for their intelligence does not encourage success. Some teachers reported that students tried to conceal how hard they worked and how much time they spent studying. According to the teachers, the students did not want to be seen as unintelligent for putting too much effort into their schoolwork.
These findings show that when adults praise children too much for being smart, the children receive the wrong message. The children mistakenly believe that schoolwork should be easy for smart kids. Another effect is that students who believe they are smart will not try as hard. The best way to solve these problems is to put the focus back on hard work.
Click to answer the Warm-up question.
Once you've answered the question, read your independent reading book for the remaining warm-up time.
Classwork
We are going to begin our research project by doing a little background research about the positive and negative effects of technology. Today you will be viewing several videos from the PBS series: Frontline: Digital Nation. While viewing the videos you will type or write pros and cons associated with technology. Use this graphic organizer (either copy into a new Google Doc or create one in your Reading Response notebook): Frontline Digital Nation Notes. You will use these notes for our technology research paper which we will discuss more tomorrow.
Homework
Work on your Words To Live By. This is due on Friday, 1/10/14.
Also, start studying your Vocabulary Prefixes: astro, bio, cardio, chromo, demo, derm, dyna, agri, helio, hydro, hypo, magni, mono, ortho, psycho, and pyro. You'll have a brief quiz on these on Friday, 1/17/14. If you need a new prefix/definition list, come see me at lunch.
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