Using the word smart...Have you read this? Share your ideas...
I recently have read several articles and blogs on the idea of whether you call kids smart and how a label or that label can effect them. So I have to ask, in your classroom do you use that word? Before I read this question I hadn't thought about it specifically, but I realized upon reflection it is not a comment I use with my students. I'd like to sound all advanced and say it was because I had already thought through the problem of what happens to kids and what does a kid think when they make a mistake or are wrong. Perhaps my lack of calling kids smart came from being labeled that at a very young age and starting in gifted classes before they were available to the rest of the school. Perhaps that's why I understand some of the challenges explained in this article. Perhaps also the teachers or parents calling kids smart aren't doing anything wrong, what if they are using these words and also creating a culture that values learning, mistakes, and challenges. Pe