The Zone of Proximal Development

Learning a new skill

The words (proximal development) do not exactly roll off your lips, but if you studied Vygotsky (1896-1934) as I did in school… his theories are still relevant today. Some of Vygotsky’s theories came up recently at our CMP ‘Conscious Discipline’ workshop when we learned about ‘metacognition’. Metacognition is ‘what we know about what we know’. Teaching children to have a meta awareness of their emotions is a very helpful tool in Conscious Discipline. Knowing how I feel about how I feel, labeling our feelings, describing what those feeling look like and saying “it out loud” are types of metacognitive strategies.

For example:

“I know I am frustrated when I feel like I want to give up and I feel angry, and I am crying”.

Or

“I know I am feeling happy because I feel my face smiling, I have butterflies in my tummy, and I want to jump up and down”.

Describing to a child what they look like and sound like are helpful strategies to stay attuned to their feelings.

At a recent outdoor classroom workshop, my old friend Vygotsky got another shout-out while discussing the “zone of proximal development.” In a nut shell, the concept refers to: “The difference between the most difficult task a child can do unassisted and the most difficult task a child can do with help”. When children are in the process of learning, but they have not yet achieved mastery yet – this is the zone we are referring to.

Figuring out how the scissors work

More recently educators and parents have heard Carol Dweck’s teachings on developing a ‘growth mind set’. Growth mind set is the belief that intelligence can be developed, and we are capable of getting smarter through working and learning strategies that fit our individual differences. Therefore, intelligence is not a trait that is fixed in stone at birth. Additionally, growth mind set supports education that looks at individual growth rather than comparing one child to another.

Here is a great video to watch- Carol Dweck and the power of yet and growth mind set:I believe that we take a little bit of this, and a little bit of that from many different teaching theories. We use what works for ourselves, for our families and our relationships. Like our children, we are always evolving and striving to fix, to improve and to be understood!

Try to recall a time when you witnessed your child in the zone. Try to remember how many times as adults we are still in the zone.

As teachers and parents- we often hear our children tell us that, “it is too hard” or, “I can’t do this” and often strong frustration accompanies these intense feelings. However, teaching children that it is in fact O.K. not to be able to master new skills yet, that it is O.K to be a little frustrated and then modeling in a positive way what our own frustrations looks and sounds like can be very helpful teaching tools. There are many things that most of us cannot do ‘yet’. Showing them strategies to cope with these frustrations is very helpful.

She told me that she was not finished. She did not want to stop… Sometimes it is hard to stop when we are busy and enjoying our work. We agreed that she could finish later.

There are two great videos I would highly recommend for you to watch with your child:

1. Sesame Street: The Power of Yet

2. Austin’s Butterfly: Although the children in the video are older than the children at CMP and expecting too much from 3- and 4-year old comes with a word of caution- it is the language used by both the teacher and the children that resonates with me. It is equally important to respect children’s idea that when they say they are done, they are done… I think the lessons in the video are powerful and there is a time and a place for developing perseverance, aesthetic taste and knowing when to leave well enough alone. Their art belongs to the child and allowing for this ownership is most important.

Negotiating bamboo sticks

Cooperating and working together with pieces that fall over 

Getting the tape off the roll is tricky

I had to finish this blog with two of my favorite teachers at CMP modelling growth mind set, the zone of proximal development and grit. I will be honest… I would not have volunteered to hold the snake. I am definitely not there YET!