Eva Rudolfová
Emotional Intelligence is becoming more and more widely recognized as a tool for improving studying, working, and living in general. Students themselves are now acutely aware of what benefits being emotionally intelligent can bring to their lives. Our emotions and feelings make up who we are and how we approach different situations, learning included. They form our attitudes and habits and strategies and not all of them are beneficial to us. In our tuition, we can increase the awareness of these attitudes and strategies, and using reflection as a tool, we can assist our students at improving these crucial skills.
However, emotional intelligence is a very broad concept and can be approached from many different perspectives. The perspective this workshop proposes is mindset mapping.
We will first look at the types of mindsets that exist and their possible impact on the learning experience. We will revisit the concepts of the learning curve, the reward system, will-power, praise, attitude to change and to making mistakes. According to Carol Dweck, the most famous expert in the field, there is a substantial difference in the brain activity between the students who run away from the error and don´t engage with it and those who process the error. Those who believe that abilities can be developed, engage deeply. Their brain is on fire, they learn from the error and correct it. It is their focus, their perseverance, their improvement that makes the difference and that we are after in a language class.
Carol Dweck, although being the person who first coined the terms fixed and growth mindset, and then adjusted the concept to the latest findings in the field, is not the only scientist researching mindsets. In this workshop, we will also examine other approaches and opinions and ponder on, how valid they all are in different situations and how they can be beneficial. Also, I would like to touch upon areas mindsets could have in common with other frequently mentioned concepts, for example Grit or Deep Work.
At the beginning, we will briefly reflect on what sort of mindsets we have as teachers, and how are they influencing our views of the theory as such. Then, we will try to understand the mindsets of our students and finally, we will open a discussion whether we, as language teachers, can help students to develop a mindset, in the broader sense of the word, that is more learning-enhancing. A mindset that enables the student to reach his or her highest potential. For that, we will also draw upon other areas of emotional intelligence relevant to the topic, especially those connected to self-awareness and metacognition.
Tento workshop má v plánu se věnovat jedné z oblastí emoční intelligence, a to konkrétně teoriím o způsobu myšlení (mindset), a tomu, jak tento způsob ovlivňuje učení, a jak jej můžeme ovlivnit my jako učitelé jazyků. Workshop bude těžit z práce zakladatelky teorie o způsobu myšlení Carol Dweck, především z její aktualizované verze, ale neomezí se jen ni. Bude se věnovat dalším přístupům, autorům a souvislostem, a také tomu, jak se způsob myšlení odráží v dalších oblastech emoční inteligence, které též mohou ovlivňovat jazykovou výuku. Toto vše se bude snažit vzájemně propojit a prakticky vztáhnout na jazykovou výuku v univerzitním prostředí.
References:
- Duckworth, Angela (2017). Grit. London: Random House.
- Dweck, Carol (2017). Mindset. London: Robinson.
- Hattie, John (2017). 10 Mindframes for Visible Learning: Teaching for Success. Routledge.
- Brock, Annie and Hundley, Heather (2016). The Growth Mindset. Berkeley: Ulysses Press.
- Newport, Call (2016). Deep Work.
Eva Rudolfová teaches ESP and EAP classes at the Language Centre of Masaryk University. She is also the head of the Faculty of Informatics Unit and as such she creates courses where she tries to find opportunities for linking the academic world with the corporate one within a language class. She is also a passionate member of English Autonomously, a counsellor and an ardent ambassador of life and transferrable skills. In her lessons she promotes cooperation, effective communication, learning skills, self-reflection, autonomy and emotional intelligence. Her key concept in her professional career is authenticity.