This summer I had the opportunity to observe my daughter interact with her little girl. My little granddaughter wanted a toy that was sitting on the ottoman just out of her reach. As she struggled to grab it, my daughter asked her, "How can you problem solve? What else can you do to get the toy?" It struck me how Jenessa was actively teaching Growth Mindset to her then 13 month old. Of course the Little Bug didn't yet understand what was being asked of her BUT, she soon will as she continues to hear to this type of language and encouragement from her parents and others in her life. With a bit of assistance and encouragement, the Little Bug eventually toddled around the other side and claimed her toy. She is lucky to be in an environment where growth mindset is actively taught and she will be less likely to give up on something when the going gets difficult.
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| Growth Mindset has begun! |
Many students have not yet developed a growth mindset and so this year, I have placed a focus in our classroom on shifting our thinking to developing one. I explained to students that having a growth mindset is understanding that if we only do things we are guaranteed to succeed at, we are not stretching ourselves. We can develop our strengths AND weaknesses through hard work, focus, tenacity, and effort. Growth mindset is making mistakes and understanding that this is part of the growth process. It is knowing that every day there is growth and learning taking place and this allows us to be smarter than we were the day before.
The opposite of having a growth mindset is a fixed mindset. This is the belief that talent and intelligence can't ever be changed. Changing these beliefs can be challenging because they have been so ingrained and many students and adults alike have learned to accept them. A fixed mindset often leads to giving up on tasks, avoiding challenges at school and other areas of life, and feeling badly about oneself. However, focusing on a growth mindset allows one to move forward with tasks that are challenging, taking a risk to try new things, and developing confidence.
An example I gave students of my 10 year old self in a fixed mindset was when I was assigned a new piece of piano music that had several sharps. It was straight out of the old John Thompson red covered piano series. I remember complaining how super hard it was and that I would never get it. Not ever. Then I figured out some strategies. I marked the sharps I kept forgetting, I learned each hand separately, then slowly put both hands together one measure at a time. In this step by step way, I was able to master the piece and eventually it became one of my favorites in the book. The great thing about it was that the piece had been such a challenge, that many other subsequent pieces became a whole lot easier because I had grown as a pianist through that difficult lesson! And I had shifted from a fixed mindset to a growth mindset.
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| Anyone else remember learning out of these books? |
I found an activity online that I decided to use during the first few days of school. I started by writing the following words on a piece of construction paper: determination, creative solutions, effort, mistakes, grit, tenacity, success, capable. As a class, we discussed what each of these words meant and I gave an example of my own for each word. Next I placed each paper around the room and had students go to each one and write an example of their own and/or what the word meant to them. I had them do this silently in order to show respect for classmates' thinking time.
When the activity was completed, I saved the posters and pulled one poster out to discuss during the next eight morning meetings. I found this was a great way to continue the work we started on growth mindset as well as get students to keep thinking about ways they have observed and engaged in these characteristics. I have found that I am able to refer back to these words in almost everything we do, from naming traits of a book character to celebrating being capable and having success in our writing pieces.
There are many task card games online (or come up with your own) that can be used to get students thinking about how they can shift their thinking from a fixed mindset to a growth mindset. Some examples are, "I have a long math assignment, what can I say to myself?", "You got picked to be the artist in a group project even though you don't like to draw. What can you say to yourself?", "You want to try out for the school play but think you aren't good enough. What can you say to yourself?"
Another growth mindset strategy is to replace an old belief with a new one. Some examples of this include switching "I'm not good at this." TO "What am I missing here?" or "I just can't do math." TO "I'm going to figure out a strategy to do these problems."
We can all use growth mindset every day and encourage our students to as well. Please share some ways you help students focus on growth mindset and/or strategies you use yourself.
Here is the site where I found the original activity.
