Why should I make an effort in class? Some children are just cleverer than me!

How do you get children to connect hard work with progress?

Here's an extract from Reflections on teaching in which Ms Mercer describes a lesson in which she shares children's perceptions on the link between effort and results:

Larry Ferlazzo did a post on an interesting lesson he did with his students to get them to think about their own brains. He wrote about it here, noting that many of his lowest students felt they were just “stupid”.

It's an interesting reminder of what goes on in some children's heads.