As mentioned in the opening screencast, successful mentoring is dependent upon a set of dispositions and skills. One important disposition is based on an understanding of the effect that expectations play on learning – sometimes referred to as the “Pygmalion effect.” This has relevance both for how you support your para’s expectations of their students, as well as how you support your para’s professional growth.
Have you ever had an experience where someone’s expectation gave you confidence in yourself and/or enabled you to achieve something you didn’t think you could?
Have you experienced the opposite occurrence, where someone’s low expectations made you less confident?
Watch this short video which describes a 1968 experiment by Robert Rosenthal and Lenore Jacobson who explored this concept they called Pygmalion in the Classroom.
As you saw, this video suggests that expectations can result in a “self-fulfilling prophecy,” which Dr. Merzenich explains (11:30-12:40) is due in part to neuroplasticity – which he calls the brain’s “big trick.” He goes on to state that “Absolutely everyone has the capacity to be better at virtually everything.” This powerful assertion is echoed in this statement from renowned educational psychologist Jerome Bruner: “We begin with the hypothesis that any subject can be taught effectively in some intellectually honest form to any child, providing attention is paid to the psychological development of the child” (1960). This powerful idea is the foundation of what educational researcher Carol Dweck dubbed “growth mindset.” We will explore this idea of growth mindset in the next section.
Bruner, J. (1960) The Process of Education. Harvard University Press, Cambridge.