If-you-want-to-learn-how

I’m a big fan of Daniel Coyle’s book, “The Talent Code,” (see “Teachers Need To Behave Like Johnny Appleseeds”: An Interview With Daniel Coyle) and a big proponent of student goal-setting (see The Best Posts On Students Setting Goals).

Writer Samuel Thomas Davies has an intriguing analysis and interpretation of some of the research and Dan Coyle’s book.

He suggests that the chances of people being successful on achieving their goals has much to do with their self-perception. In other words, instead of saying “My goal is to read higher-level books” it is better to say, “I am a reader; therefore I will read higher-level books”; or instead of saying “I want to focus more in class” it might be better to say, “I am a scholar; therefore I will focus more in class.”

I think that’s pretty interesting, and I’m going to give it a try with my students this year…