Teachers, Mindset, Motivation, and Mastery

Growth mindset, recognition, mastery, purpose, emotional connection, intrinsic motivation, and metacognition: there is more to teaching literacy and children than books and lined paper. Research in positive psychology from the last 20 years can be translated to classroom practice. Each chapter summarizes the research and then works to make it applicable to the classroom, with charts of ideas based on age, examples of effective teacher talk, and stories and explanations from both practitioners and researchers.

In this valuable book, Conley focuses on the challenges and successes experienced by new and veteran teachers alike in order to highlight the power of positive psychology in our schools, classrooms, and communities. Using relevant research, effective examples, and insightful scenarios, Conley makes an impressive case for an educational renaissance that places intrinsic motivation in its rightful place: at the very heart of teaching and learning, and the driving force behind all that we do.  Accordingly, she offers practical strategies and a wide variety of resources to help educators develop and model a growth mindset so that students are empowered to grow as lifelong learners., Conley brings together insights from a variety of research areas and pedagogical programs under the rubric of positive psychology. Her extensive research and suggested readings, engaging prose, practical tips, and assemblage of voices from the classroom make this book a valuable resource for teachers who may not have the time to research all of these areas in depth. Her examples and citations make this a convincing argument that teaching well means taking seriously the ways we can build mutual respect, engagement, positive affect, and autonomy in our classrooms, and she offers teachers tool to do so., As an accomplished full-time educator, Amy Conley brilliantly bridges positive psychology and intrinsic motivation research with practice.  This is truly a transformative book for education practitioners and researchers alike.

Amy K. Conley teaches high school English in Humboldt County, California where she enjoys raising two children, researching and writing about positive psychology and education, and hiking in the redwoods.