Train the Brain

This week spells the start of Spring break for schools in Stockholm. The week-long hiatus from school is called ‘sportlov’ in Swedish which translates as ‘sports break’. Traditionally this is a time for families to retreat to the mountains for a week of high exertion on the ski slopes. However, the long winter has had its toll on many who opt instead for warmer climes and a week of R&R on a beach. Indeed, one of my students quipped that the closest they would come to sport this week would be doing a Netflix marathon.

As we are encouraged to turn our attentions to the benefits of physical activity, we should maybe take some time to reflect on mental exercise too. Continue reading

Growth Mindset: The Path to Success

Our latest inset day focused on the growth mindset. The concept of growth mindset is attributed to Carol Dweck. In The New Psychology of Success, Dweck says students can be described according to how they view their own success. Some (fixed mindset) believe success is the result of innate ability. We encounter students every day who claim they simply are not good at Maths or that they can’t succeed in a certain subject as their parents were bad in it too when they were at school. Other students (growth mindset) view success as the result of hard work, learning and determination. Continue reading