Predictions - Be Careful

Predictions - Be Careful

I was thumbing through some pictures the other day (by thumbing I mean using my thumb to swipe on my iPhone) and I came across this one of my son.  I was doing this on the way home from the Literacy for All Conference in Providence, Rhode Island mostly as a means for keeping my hands and eyes busy while my mind was mulling something over.  During the day, I had attended a Keynote address by Peter Johnston where he said, "Once we start making predictions about a child's future, we start treating them different."  Johnston went on to challenge the audience to examine their thinking relative to attribution theory.  He asked us to examine our own beliefs about intelligence and whether it is innate and fixed, or a product of experience and something that can grow; these two beliefs of intelligence can be summarized as either a fixed mindset or a growth mindset.  I have been firmly planted in the growth mindset camp for awhile now, but something about this quote was sticking with me.  Like a fly stuck in the rear windshield of a car, this quote kept buzzing around in my head with no hope for escape.  But why?  Why was this thought causing me such cognitive dissonance?  Then I saw this picture and stopped wondering.

I have a son that was diagnosed with Asperger's a little over a year ago.  In the past year, my ideas around a growth mindset have shifted from ephemeral educational theory to a very concrete reality.  The picture above was taken just about the time we received his diagnosis, and when I think about the growth we have seen from then to now, I am brought to tears.  Due to the tenacious work of his amazing team of teachers and support staff at school, he has made years worth of growth is is on track to enter kindergarten next year with a minimum amount of supports.  When I think back to the day when we got his diagnosis and the conversation in the car on the way home, I remember the concern from both my wife and I about how this new "label" may affect him as he went out into the world.  What I realize now was that I was not as worried about the label as I was about the predictions.  What would people think he could or could not do?  Would his teachers challenge him to grow, or would they set lower expectations for him because 'he is not capable of that'?  I was worried, because like Johnston said, "once we start making predictions about a child's future, we start treating them differently."

I have been lucky so far, my son has worked with an amazing team that has not made predictions about the future of a 5 year old.  They see his potential as not yet determined.  As a result, they encourage his continuous growth.  In the short time we have been working with this fabulous team they have adjusted his goals 4 separate times.  They see each milestone is an opportunity to set a new ambitious goal.

As a principal, I am faced with the challenge of ensuring each of the 800 children in my school are afforded the same opportunity my son has enjoyed so far.  I know that the process of creating a school culture that believes in intelligence as malleable and ripe for expansion will take time.  I know I will have to present compelling evidence, challenge assumptions, push thinking and change policies and practices that reinforce a fixed mindset towards intelligence.  Today, I start with this challenge for my staff and any others that read this post.  I challenge you to suspend your expertise.  I challenge you to think about everything that you "know" about students based upon previous learning and your extensive experience and put it aside.  Whenever you are thinking about a student and his/her "ability" to meet the demands of your class, ask yourself 'do I believe in unicorns?'  If the answer is no, then you probably also don't think you have the power to predict a child's future regardless of whether they are in kindergarten or even grade 8.  So if you can't accurately make a prediction, what is the point in trying?  All you are doing is setting yourself up to change your behavior in a way that matches your own prediction, and then you are no longer a believer in fate, you have become fate itself.  Instead, I challenge you to believe that you are a powerful instrument of learning.  I challenge you to believe that there is no more powerful impact on the learning of a student than his/her teacher.  I challenge you to believe that every child has the ability to learn at high levels and you have the ability to make that happen.  After all which is more dangerous for the child, to inaccurately predict he/she is 'not able' or to be wrong about growth.