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The thing I took away from this week was how important it is to help parents be part of the classroom community so that students are getting similar mesages about growth mindset at home and at school. Parents usually don't know where to find resources that help them with their children and you don't have to take a class before you become a parents. I feel like it is my job as a teacher to help the whole family, otherwise spending only time in school on concepts and then not having the back up of parents is not  postive for either of the parties involved.

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What I took away from this is that it's important to involve families in growth mindset teaching. We can only do so much in school and it should also be practiced and reinforced at home to be as effective as possible. There are some really great resources here that we can share with our families and hopefully get them on board with growth mindset as well. This year I think will be really important to get moving with growth mindset since it may be pretty unpredictable. It will be important to show students that we value effort and work more than anything.

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The key characteristic for this week is all about getting families on board with growth mindset and resources that we can share with our families. I have found the resources from The Big Life Journal to very beneficial and this week is no different. I think it is extremely important for our families to be on board with what we are doing in the classroom. If we do not have the support from family at home it is going to be very difficult for our students to truly embrace a growth mindset. I think the resources shared in this key characteristic can be shared with our families to help them educate themselves on growth mindset, but also to help them embrace a growth mindset at home as well.

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Every week I have been impressed with the Big Life Journal resources that have been shared with us. They just seem super practical and easily implemented into the classroom or at home. Sharing these, as well as the other articles and video resources from this week with parents is a super important step. I think about my own mindset and all of the learning and reflection that was required to reshape and reframe my thoughts, habits and behaviors. Much of my original mindset can be attributed to my upbringing, so it is important to get parents on board to start to see what parts they play in their child's attitude towards learning and mistakes and taking risks. If our students are hearing these ideas and seeing growth mindset modeled at school and at home, they will be more likely to embrace these changes in thought and attitude.

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This characteristic had a lot of good and useful information for parents on what growth mindset is and some ways they can encourage it at home. The four ways parents can help at home are by: praising the process, talking about the brain, accepting mistakes, and understanding emotions. I thought that this article did a good job of laying out how parents could start introducing growth mindset in their homes. The rest of the articles and PDFs were resources that the parents could use to help supplement their teaching of growth mindset at home, which I really liked. I was curious how I could explain and get parents to participate in growth mindset at home, so I am glad that they had so many helpful resources for them. It also gave me some ideas of how I could incorporate growth mindset into my classroom. I can't wait to share this with parents this year!

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I thought the resources provided for this weeks characteristic were great tools I can share with parents in this upcoming school year. I felt like the articles were very meaningful for parents and would help them understand the difference between the mindsets as well as the importance of having a growth mindset. This would then equip parents with what they need to continue to encourage growth mindsets in their children at home. I also think the two different activities from Big Life Journal are great ways for families to form a foundation around a growth mindset point of view. I know I am excited to make the family manifesto poster with my family.

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Of all the resources shared this week I really appreciated the articles on what parents can do to help build and strengthen their child’s growth mindset.  Language is so important in shaping thought (and vice versa).  How we talk to our children can unintentionally push them into a fixed mindset.  Praising a child for a talent advances the false narrative that their abilities are inherent and set in stone.  It is much better to talk about the effort and hard work that has gone into building a skill for that child.  I can say from first hand experience with my own daughters that this is true.  Beyond how we talk to our kids, our reactions to their mistakes carries a lot of power.  Helping children recover from their mistakes helps to model the kind of resilience that a growth mindset nurtures.  What really surprised me was how there are children’s books and journals that do much the same thing.  And, of course, we had a clip from the excellent children’s movie Meet the Robinsons which has the growth mindset very much as a central theme.  This all boils down to intentionality.  If we aren’t intentionally building a growth mindset within our children then we are leaving to chance an incredibly powerful paradigm that can impact our children for the span of their entire lives.

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Since the beginning of this course, I’ve been thinking about ways to get parents/guardians involved in developing their children’s growth mindsets. I think it’s important that students learn and develop a growth mindset, but having it practiced and encouraged at home will help a lot. I like to give parents information about any social emotional concepts we learn about, and I plan on giving them information about growth mindset. I love all of the Big Life Journal resources that have been shared during this course. I plan on sharing them with parents when we learn about a specific topic or when parents ask for resources/bring up a concern. I plan on typing up a summary about each growth mindset concept so students can share their learning at home. I did this after I introduced a new Top 20 theme, and I had parents tell me that they loved being able to use the same terms we used in class. Others evens said they noticed their child trying some of the strategies, and they loved knowing what they child was doing and why. I know that the more at home involvement I get, the more my students will develop a growth mindset.

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I love these resources so much. What a great way to connect with parents. There is so much great information we can share with our families. I especially loved the brain video and square breathing exercise. There are several of these ideas I plan to use right away with my class this year. It would be so beneficial for students to hear about the good struggle at home and at school! There are probably some parents out there who could benefit from this information as well. Fostering a growth mindset in our students and their families would be a double success!

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This characteristic had a lot of good and useful information for parents on what growth mindset is and some ways they can encourage it at home. The four ways parents can help at home are: praising the process, talking about the brain, accepting mistakes, and understanding emotions. I thought this article did a good job of laying out how parents could start introducing growth mindset in their homes. The rest of the articles and PDFs were resources that parents could use to help supplement their teaching of growth mindset at home, which I really liked because I was curious how I was going to get parents to participate in this at home. They provided a lot of good resources for the parents! I also gained some ideas of how I could use growth mindset in my classroom. I can't wait to share this with parents this year! - Joey Miller

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This characteristic had a lot of good and useful information for parents in what growth mindset is and some ways they can encourage it at home. The four ways parents can help at home are by: praising the process, talking about the brain, accepting mistakes, and understanding emotions. I thought that this article did a good job of laying out how parents could start introducing growth mindset in their homes. The rest of the articles and PDFs were resources that the parents could use to help supplement their teaching of growth mindset at home, which I really liked. I was curious how I could explain and get parents to participate in growth mindset at home, so I am glad that they had so many helpful resources for them. It also gave me some ideas of how I could incorporate growth mindset into my classroom. I can't wait to share this with parents this year!

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This characteristic had a lot of good and useful information for parents on what growth mindset is and some ways they can encourage it at home. The four ways parents can help at home are by: praising the process, talking about the brain, accepting mistakes, and understanding emotions. I thought that this article did a good job of laying out how parents could start introducing growth mindset in their homes. The rest of the articles and PDFs were resources that the parents could use to help supplement their teaching of growth mindset at home, which I really liked. I was curious how I could explain and get parents to participate in growth mindset at home, so I am glad that they had so many helpful resources for them. It also gave me some ideas of how I could incorporate growth mindset into my classroom. I can't wait to share this with parents this year!

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This characteristic got me thinking back to distance learning and the things I learned about the parent-teacher relationship through that process. Unfortunately, some of my students are in family situations that involve absent parents, substance abuse, and some parents who can't/don't put much energy into their childs education due to extreme work hours, or it just isn't a priority for them. It made me realize how precious our time with our students in our classrooms is and how important it is to creat a friendly, positive, growth mindset environment. On the positive side, I saw the determination is some parents to make distance learning work. My communication with them grew because it had to and our relationship grew stronger due to the better understanding in each others roles in our childs/students education. I think the best situation a student can be in is one where they have that positive, growht mindset environment in and out of school. I think the resources in this module are very cool and accessible for parents. I especially like the family meeting and family ritual planning sheets. I think families would appreciate these and I think I would like to use them for when I become a parent. I also liked a lot of the verbaige used in the last resource that provides a guide for parents on how to promote growth mindset. I think a lot of the verbaige would fit well in the classroom too.

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This characteristic got me thinking back to the end of this past school year and how one of the most difficult aspects of distance learning was a lack of communication with a lot of families due to various reasons. It showed the importance of the time we have with our students in school, when their families situation may be difficult do to many work hours, substance abuse, educational neglect, etc. No matter what a students home life is like, we can create a positive learning environment at school. That being said, I saw some positives come out of distance learning with some families who were able to make distance learning work for them by communicating often. This brought a better understanding to both sides of the parent-teacher relationship and brought me closer to more of my students families. The ideal situation for all students is that there is a positive, growth mindset, environment for them at home and at school. I really appreciated the resources provided in this characteristic and I plan on giving some to the parents of my caseload students. I especially liked the family meeting and family ritual planning sheets. I think this is a great idea and something I would like to use when I become a parent.

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As I was reading the article from the website Self Sufficient kids, this sentence really captured my attention. “Intelligence isn’t, entirely innate, rather can be developed through resilience, hard work  and dedication.” These few words to me seem to sum up a lot. The entire idea of a growth mindset where you can change your thinking and grow your brain. The more effort you put into something the greater the risk but also the greater the chance for reward. In order for this concept to have the most impact with students it needs to be reinforced as often as possible. All the teachers and staff at school need to be invested in the idea as well as the families of our students outside of the school day. This idea made me recall some other simple kid friendly words from a children's story that have a big impact.  “You are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem and smarter than you think.” said Christopher Robin, written by author A.A. Milne.

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As I have been going through this growth mindset class, I have been thinking about these concepts through the lens of a teacher, but also through the lens of a parent.  I have three children of my own (8, 6, 4 years old) and I want to do everything I can to foster a growth mindset in them.  In The "Mindset Works" website, I really enjoyed reading about the two column chart about things we should say and not say.  This is helpful to me as a parent and I am sure it could be helpful to many more parents.  Much of the content was focusing on praising their child for the process and not the product.  Another main idea in that chart was to encourage them to challenge themselves and not be afraid of struggling.  The selfsufficientkids website also echos that message of normalizing struggle. That same website also gives many practical ways for parents to encourage the growth mindset in their children. Some of the suggestions are to have them read books that promote growth mindset, give them growth mindset affirmation cards, have them start a growth mindset journal, and make growth mindset posters. I really enjoyed reading about this week's characteristic and I look forward to continue using this information with my own children. At parent-teacher conferences, I will certainly suggest to my parents to read a couple of these articles if I see their child is in a fixed mindset.

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The last key characteristic of a growth mindset educator is providing parents with resources to instill a growth mindset at home. Here are my biggest takeaways from the resources provided this week:

Praise the Process: One of the biggest influences of instilling a growth mindset versus a fixed mindset in a child is praising the process of learning. We are reminded from Mindset Works that we need to continue to monitor our language closely, so we are making sure that we are using praise language that inhibits growth. Big Life Journal also gives parents the idea of integrating a family manifesto and perhaps weekly family meetings into cultivating a routine that inspires a growth mindset at home.

Discuss the Brain + Emotions: Another key factor that educators can relay to parents about instilling a growth mindset at home is discussing how neurons connect to one another when mistakes are made, and learning occurs. Self Sufficient Kids uses the term “normalizing the struggle” as a part of learning at home as well. Moreover, Big Life Journal also gives educators and parents the idea of incorporating the tool of analyzing things we have control over, versus the things that we do not have control over (Aguilar discusses this idea as well in her text!)

Accept Mistakes as Learning Opportunities: Lastly, but most importantly, the biggest takeaway from Dweck’s research about instilling a growth mindset in children is to focus on reflecting about our mistakes...because when we hone in on the error, we are able to make a different choice/behavior/step in the right direction next time and that is what having a growth mindset is all about!

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Now more than ever, communication with parents and inclusion on their child's learning is so important. I think these resources above provide a ton of information that promotes growth mindset and how it can help a child's growth. Especially the article from self sufficient kids provides many sources in which parents can learn more about growth mindset and how it is beneficial. Something I plan to do this year is communicate more with my students families about what we are learning about in class by a way of a newsletter. I think during this time of distance learning and hybrid, students guardians are more involved than ever in the students school work and practices that having that open line of communication is helpful.

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I have to admit as an elementary school specialist teacher I don’t find myself interacting with parents as much as a classroom teacher does. This is not to say that I have no contact, it’s just limited and very specific to one thing, art! I feel that this trend will be changing for me soon. My oldest son will be entering the first grade this year. As a teacher and a parent of a child now in school I have noticed more of my peers and friends have been coming to me more with questions regarding school (not just art) and parenting. I am going to take these resources and first start using them at home. I feel like I have the perfect opportunity to begin speaking from experience rather than just what I learned in college and in PD sessions. And now that we are moving into difficult and unclear times in learning and education because of COVID a growth mindset and a strong family unit will be even more beneficial to student success.

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I think one of the most difficult aspects of teaching for me is parent communication. I've got to the point where I feel comfortable calling a parent or sending an email regarding a student. Where I have not gotten to yet is sending out mass emails to parents of students in my classes to keep them informed about unit plans, announcements, etc. I think these resources are great to help me get to involve my parents more often. Since I plan on incorporating growth mindset into my classroom this year, these resources can go hand in hand with an email letting the parents know the activities we are doing in the classroom to enhance growth mindset.

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Communicating with parents is an essential, although sometimes challenging, part of teaching. Providing parents with suggested phrases to use with their own kids to promote a growth mindset is a great starting point. In her article, Kerry pointed out that while a growth mindset benefits students academically, “more importantly, they feel better about themselves.” That is a major benefit that parents should be aware of. Instilling a growth mindset builds up emotional resilience, which will also help students in their personal lives. As students spend a majority of their time either at school or at home, students succeed when teachers and parents are on the same page. While there are countless resources to provide to parents, I think it is most important to emphasize that this is a long-term process. Students will not shift their mindset immediately after one conversation, it takes significant time and effort. I enjoyed reading over the prompts for a family manifesto and family meeting. Those have the potential to differentiate what is needed for each family, while highlighting affirmations as well. A similar concept could be effective in the classroom. When coming up with classroom norms, it is important to ensure that the language being used fosters growth and resilience.

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My biggest take away from this characteristic was the islands of competence idea.  Right after the definition there was the mention of students haven't figured out what they do well. Teaching middle school, I see this all the time. Students get stressed that they can't do something (yet) and feel that they are failures at everything they do. That just may bring their mood down far enough to live up to that expectation of themselves that day. It's important for us as teachers to recognize that students have a lot of strengths and a lot of things that they are good at. We need to help them see what their strengths are as well and remind them of them. Clear the fog off the water for them so they can see their islands!

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My biggest takeaway in this characteristic was that students need time to think. They need to be able to process the information that has been presented to them. 3 seconds of wait will get way more answers than just rapid fire question and call a student. This is something that I plan to work on this year. To keep kids playing instruments I frequently rapid fire questions and get back to playing right away. That doesn't give my students the processing time that they need. Some of that is to aid in classroom management so it is obvious that I need to make some improvements in that department. I also liked the clip at the bottom of the last article from The Simpsons "I thought you came here looking for a challenge." "Duh! A challenge I could do!" I think we run into that mindset a lot with our kids. That's what we need to combat by teaching growth mindset.

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Students need our support and modeling so that they can become resilient. One thing that comes to mind is simply building students confidence in themselves and who they are as a person. It is important for teachers to find our students “islands of competence” as the article from edutopia mentions and share these ideas with them. This helps build our students ability to recognize successes in their life which allows them to find competence in other areas as well. Giving students a sense of control was also mentioned in the edutopia article, this goes hand in hand with the “islands of competence”. When students are aware of what their strengths are they feel more in control and confident. Therefore, allowing them to take control of their own choices in the classroom is a great way to enhance their motivation to learn new things. I am excited to find more ways I can share students strengths with them as well as give them more choices in their learning throughout the year!

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This characteristic gave great resources I can pass along to parents. It is critical for parents to know that what their mindset is, will likely feed into that of their child. In her video, Carol Dweck does a great job of describing what a growth mindset is and the power of the word “yet”. This gives parents a better understanding of instilling that growth mindset us that we should and should not use with students. Not only did they give us those phrases, but they also explained why parents/teachers should use those phrases. I have been guilty of using the phrases they said not to use and plan to change my verbiage starting today. These videos and articles are great resources for parents to use to help build that growth mindset within themselves and their child. Once we started distance learning in the spring, there were a lot of parents that had a fixed mindset about it. There was so much negativity around it, and the students totally picked up on that. One thing that will be very important going into the fall with distance learning, hybrid model or back full time is getting those parents involved in their child’s education. By giving them the many resources listed in this characteristic, we are creating a better environment for our students to learn and grow in.

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It is so important for us as educators to give students time to be thoughtful. I refer to this as “thinking time” in my classroom. Emphasizing how important it is for our classroom community to give one another “thinking time” is key to building a positive classroom climate where each student feels valued. It is also important for teachers to model and share their own thinking. For example, teachers could share how persisted through challenges in their own lives when trying/learning something new for the first time. This type of sharing helps students see the positives that come when working through and valuing the process of learning. I felt the “7 activities to help your child develop a positive attitude” from Big Life Journal are great tools for fostering persistence through challenges in students and also allow them to view challenges in a more positive light!

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The take away that I had from this characteristic was building resilience in students and being a charismatic adult for them.

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The biggest take away from these videos and articles was wait time. I think this is something that I have definitely gotten better at since the start of my teaching career but I am excited to get better at it. One of the questions I had was how long is too long and I'm glad that this article spoke about that. Also, I am excited to try the 2nd wait time by waiting after a student gas responded with an answer to give him or her the time to fully respond. I also want to get better at the Get Back To Me strategy. I try it but often times will forget to get back to the student.

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This key characteristic really hit home for me as a coach. I see my dancers wanting to give up at the first sign of something that is hard and that is meant to challenge them. At times I feel that my 3rd grade students are more willing to take on a challenge than my junior high girls. I felt that the pdf of building confidence in kids is a big takeaway from this characteristic. That visual is something that I am going to take with me and help my students build confidence in themselves. I will also take the -sheet on building self-esteem and confidence in teens with me in my coaching career and help build that in my young dancers. I think so often our students feel they are not good at something and give up easily, but we need to help them through that and realize that it is okay to be challenged. Challenges help us learn more.

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Involving parents is huge in continuing the growth mindset environment from school to at home as well. I loved being provided some great materials that are in a parent format supporting the growth mindset. I think that connecting the home environment with the classroom environment is important. Once they are able to have the growth mindset reinforced in multiple environments, it can become second nature for them to live it out everywhere that they go. I do find that some parents may not be as open-minded as we would hope given this idea. Parents could react that teachers should not tell them how to parent or run things at home. Teachers would have to approach it in a certain way as another way to help and support their child's growth. The best way to do that is through a supportive unit of the teacher and parent working together.

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Wait time is an important piece of teaching that I think a lot of us tend to put on the back burner, but not intentionally. I know for me it is a struggle to sit in silence and wait for students to answer a question. It is easiest to call on the students who always have their hand up and are ready to answer the question as soon as it is asked, but that is not helping the students how need more time to process the information. I liked how the teacher in the video talked about struggle time. It is important for students to understand that they are going to struggle at times and that is okay, but they need to keep working to get through the struggle at hand. I really liked the idea of wait time 2, giving the student time to finish their thought or maybe change it if they said it wrong or realized as they were answering that they did it wrong. I think that is important for me because I tend to interrupt a student before they are completely done with their thought.

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I really appreciated all of the resources and research provided in a parent friendly format. Our school does a mindfulness night and I would love to include a growth mindset introduction to this night as well. I think that it would be so helpful to parents to get not only the research but tools they can take home and use immediately. As a parent, I know I always appreciate when teachers give me something concrete that I could take home and use that night. If we give them just abstract information or the "best practice" information it can become preachy and like we are telling parents they aren't doing it right. We drive them deep into their own fixed mindset. If we approach parents at the quarterback of their child's team and bring them along as we work to continuously improve the game plan and the playbook it creates buy in. I think sometimes as teachers we forget what it feels like to be the parent at the table. Especially the parent that doesn't teach for a living. Giving parents the tools as we give them to their children will allow us to all be on the same team.

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I really appreciated the ideas and materials for supporting parents in building a growth mindset at home.  I would expect the brain research about increasing connections through struggle is likely new for almost all parents.  Like teachers in the past, many parents praise their children’s strengths as natural talents rather than hard work without realizing the effect it has on kids' mindsets.  I’ve had conversations with parents in the past where we’re both concerned about a student’s lack of perseverance, and this gives me a new set of thoughts to bring to that discussion in the future.

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I think it takes a lot of foundation wortk making sure that students feel safe, valued, loved and also challenged. Whem we create a culture where students needs are met, physical and emotional then their brains are able to think and think hard. I liked the chart given and one thing that stood out to me is not comparing them to others. I have four older siblings and was often referred to as "one of those Miller kids" I felt sometimes like I didn't have my own identity. Because of this when I start my fromclasses I make sure to tell my story to my students about why I won't compare them to their siblings or even to another students. Each of my students are unique in their own ways and it's up to me to find out what those are.

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I think reminding parents and teachers that mindsets can be changed for individuals is huge. Students look up to those “charismatic” adults and want to create relationships with them and have someone to be there for them when life throws curveballs. Those adults can be there to bring out the best in each student or help students see their “island of competence.” Once students recognize those competence areas, that confidence and resilience will transfer over to other regions. When I was growing up, I wish I had someone that would have helped me recognize what those islands of competence were when I was a student, so I could have built that confidence I never had. Praising students for how positive their attitude is and the effort they are putting in, not about what the outcome is. I think it would be great if all students wanted those challenging tasks, wanted to persevere and almost see it is a fun activity to work on. I work with special education students, and let me tell you, they aren’t huge fans of puzzling tasks. Obviously as a special education teacher, we work on that growth mindset twice as much if not more than general education teachers do, because most students with disabilities lack that confidence. I really admired the tips to build self-esteem and confidence within students. This will be a great tool to use in my special education room, especially with those upper elementary grades. 

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These tips for wait times have also been expressed in our other readings, open ended questions, helping students to develop persistence and learn how to problem solve. I think modeling this is important and it takes practice both for us and our students to get use to having to wait for an answer.  In our technology driven world, where our phones are mini computers and when we ask a question we get a gigantic amount of information to look at in seconds, this does not lend itself well to being patient. I think learning new skills helps me remember the tips in this article and the importance of wait time and persistence. When teaching new information to students I am reminded that they need time to process. I remember my Dad first learning to use the computer and he came home from a class(something like computer skills 101) and his complaint was that the teacher assumed that everyone knew how to even turn on their devices. I laughed at this but was also reminded that I should be aware of my audience and what skills they come to the table with.

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There were so many great take-aways from this characteristic. One of them being providing that wait time. Being a special education teacher and working with small groups any type of wait time is exceptionally beneficial for students and for myself as a teacher. It gives students an opportunity for students to provide a well thought out appropriate answer for the questions that was provided. It also gives the teacher a chance to see how their brains are working or if it is a math problem, walk around and see what their work looks like. It is important to make sure that the strong students understand the purpose of wait time also, so they don’t get irritated. This great strategy will provide patience and build connections within the classroom. My second take-away was the idea of “Tiger Up”, which in the video they explained as it is the opposite of giving up. This was such a short and powerful video. It is a great positive phrase to say instead of something like “Oh come on, don’t give up.” It is also a great reminder that students are going to face challenges the REST of their life, so persevering at a young age will benefit them greatly. The idea of “Tiger Up” can be implemented into a specific classroom or an entire school district, I can’t wait to implement it into a special education classroom and see how the kids respond to it.

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Teachers can help students enjoy challenges by modeling positive reactions to challenges, encouraging students to try new things, and giving students choices. If teachers, and adults, showed students they were excited about a challenge, then students would see them as learning opportunities and positive experiences. Teachers can also help students find success in one area, help the child feel successful about this area, and then this success will build confidence that the student can apply to other areas of learning. Each success builds on the previous one. Teachers can also encourage students to try new things by normalizing the idea of something being difficult. Telling students “this activity will be hard” allows students to feel ok when they find the activity to be challenging, and it can boost confidence when they are able to do it.  I like to tell my kindergarteners that certain lessons are for “first grade students, but you all are working so hard that I think we should try it.” They love doing an activity that they think is for older students. Finally, teachers can encourage students to enjoy challenges by giving them choice. When students can choose their activity, or how they show their learning, they are more likely to keep working because they feel a sense of control and ownership.

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I have been trying to incorporate student choice into my teaching for a long time, but the article in edutopia got me thinking about why it is so important in terms of students’ mindsets. By allowing choice, I figured I was just boosting student engagement. The author explains that student choice allows students to feel some sort of control over their learning and will, in turn, support that student’s resilient mindset.

The other huge takeaway from these resources is the major importance of me presenting the challenges of new learning as exciting. I need to figure out how to get my students to be up for the struggles that come with school. They will need to understand that struggle is necessary for learning, and if they approach the struggle with a growth mindset and positive, confident attitude they will most likely succeed.

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Whether I am teaching at school or coaching I like to mix things up and tell my students that I am giving them a challenge. Students get into a different frame of mind when I begin with those words. They may have an initial reaction of hesitancy but because I am talking in an encouraging and positive manner I usually have a good outcome. I also tailor the challenge to my students. I may call it a challenge but it may just be reviewing something they already know. The word choice and my intonation have an impact on how they feel about it. I view this as a great opportunity for growth and the acknowledgement of that growth. During and after they have completed the challenge I am able to use praise of their effort to show them how much they have grown. Stating things as a challenge gives a certain competitive feel to it. SInce most children are used to games and competitions and how that is a kind of play. It can give learning a more playful feel as well.

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Wait time is an important quality needed in teaching. After posing a question, pausing and waiting before calling on a student to answers gives more students a chance to be ready to share. In using wait time you can foster greater participation from students. A second step is to use wait time after the student has shared. This gives the student a chance to add anything more or maybe clarify something. This can also give other students a chance to process the information and then they may be ready to share their own thinking. Or it may lead to a broader discussion because it raised a different question. As the video on “TIger Up” stated students need to struggle to learn. Time has to be given to them to think about what was presented and how it fits with what they know. Then they can gain greater understanding or be able to focus their questions to gain that knowledge.

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I loved the concept of naming the opposite of giving up. In the video, using the phrase “Tiger Up” was an awesome way to remind students that they must keep going. The teacher’s emphasis on expecting struggle and confusion is imperative, as it teaches the students that the learning happens during the struggle.

The article on wait time was a good reminder of the importance and purpose of wait time. My first takeaways from this article were related to the “get back to me” strategy, but reading through it for a second time got me thinking about wait time when technology is involved. Because most of us incorporate tech at some level in our classrooms it is important for us to intentionally provide time for students to determine whether they will utilize the technology, or if they can figure something out/answer a question without it. We must model patience and show students that they don’t always have to rely on technology for their answers.

One thing that struck me from the final article was that when a student completes work well and quickly, they might not even be learning. Wow! It makes sense, but I hadn’t ever thought of it that way. If there wasn’t a struggle or challenge, did true, deep learning really even occur? This is something I will be focusing on as I monitor my students’ learning this fall. Are they struggling? Is there actual learning happening?

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The fourteenth characteristic of a growth mindset educator is: ‘Teachers and students state, "Oh I like a challenge!" or something similar.’

It is important to believe, model, and teach resilience to students. When students see the classroom teacher accept and work through difficulties, she speaks volumes to the fourteenth characteristic. Here are my biggest takeaways from the resources provided:

Competence: In Gardiner’s article, we are reminded that children look up to the way adults react to various situations. Behaviors (whether they be healthy or not) become the reality for children. It is essential to know and practice a growth mindset for children because students develop their own ‘island of competence:’ children begin to believe what they are told. (Again, whether positive or negative feedback is given). “You’re not good at math.” vs. “You can do hard things.” In short, as the classroom model, it is my responsibility to allow my charismatic personality to shine as I give my students praise, options in classwork, and continually establish a place of community in my classroom.

Opportunities for a Challenge: Big Life Journal gives us an abundance of ideas to integrate tools for students to establish  positive self-esteem. As teachers, we can: love our students unconditionally, give students age appropriate tasks, join in on student play, give students undivided attention, and praise students correctly.

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The Edutopia article talked about how some students will automatically dig in to challenging work while others will avoid it or refuse to try.  This is complicated-- I’ve certainly seen the students who seem to have a natural growth mindset who will push through any challenge.  Students without that quality don’t seem to fit into one simple category.  I’ve seen students who need to feel the work is applicable or valuable to their real lives in order to engage.  Others have felt failure for years would rather say they didn’t try than failed again.

In The Power of Resilience, Brooks and Goldstein write that “Resilient individuals are those who have a set of assumptions or attitudes about themselves that influence their behaviors and the skills they develop.”  As educators we need to be the charismatic adults who model growth mindset for our students at all times. I also appreciated the suggestions about how teachers can organize their classrooms to promote more engagement by offering choice.  The advice to help students recognize their own competence is also a good one. So often, students who struggle academically have a hard time seeing that they still have strengths.

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The thirteenth characteristic of a growth mindset educator is: ‘The teacher models and teaches persistence.’

I think it is so important to model persistence to students on a regular basis to demonstrate the fact that learning does involve some level of struggle, but how we react and what we learn during the struggle is what learning is all about! Here are my biggest takeaways after analyzing the resources provided:

Wait Time: This week, I am reminded of the importance of wait time in the classroom. It is suggested that teachers prioritize about three seconds worth of thinking time for students to: process information, interact appropriately with technology, and practice patience in decision making (Whiteoak). It will be even more essential to remember to integrate wait time in the classroom as we focus on engaging students with various technologies.

Modeling Persistence: Persistence is working hard on something over a long period of time. I believe persistence is a life-long skill, so giving students the opportunity to experience discomfort allows children to build their resiliency. Specific ways educators can incorporate ways for students to build their persistence skills is: guided meditation, helping others (classroom jobs), reflecting in a gratitude journal, setting measurable goals, and practice saying positive affirmations to oneself and one another (Big Life Journal).

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To build resilience and confidence in our students we really need to also make sure that we are building meaningful relationships with them. All of the items listed on “confidence” handout focused on positive relationship qualities. Like calling students by name, asking them for their opinion, allowing them to make age appropriate decisions about their life/learning. We need to also remember to lead by example. Students are looking to us for many things, not simply the subject we teach.

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We, as teachers, need to focus on building resilience in our students. Many children and adults struggle with resilience. We live in a world where answers can be given to us almost immediately due to technology. It is extremely hard to help students build that resilience. The article goes in to discuss modeling and how impactful this is to young children and students. This makes me wonder how there are ways to model resilience as a teacher. The sense of control made me think about the importance of choice. Students thrive when they are allowed to make a choice in the classroom. I think about choice boards where students can choose an activity that builds on their strengths or something that they enjoy to show the knowledge that they learned. With the science standards switching and me teaching a type of science that I have never taught, will show students, especially if I am transparent with them, on the struggles and mistakes that I might make. It’s a new challenge for me. This will promote students that taking on challenges make your brain stronger and help you learn and grow  more.

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It was interesting to read that three secondars is the most beneficial amount of wait time for student learning.  I was also surprised to read that wait time of more than 20 seconds should be avoided since students perceive it as more threatening.  I’ve used wait time as a way to increase persistence in students and encourage them to continue grappling with a topic to find an answer.  It’s also been a sign of persistence for me as I provide the time to try to get greater class participation.  Almost any wait time feels like a long time, but I’d always thought that the best practice was more wait time was better.  It’s really helpful to learn actual numbers of seconds that work best

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A big takeaway from this characteristic is the relationship between resilience and confidence/self esteem. In order for a student/child to build resililience and take on challenges, they must believe in themselves. If a student/child can have their parents and teachers believe in them, and be vocal about their belief in them, they have a great chance of being resilient. I really appreciated the pdf that included ways to build confidence and self esteem. It is something that I will be hanging up in my room at my desk and share with my team. Another takeaway was the relationship between choice and challenge. I appreciated both articles that were posted for this characteristic. I think that challenging students is necessary but I think it is also necessary to provide a choice on how to take on those challenges. If you offer a challenge to a student and only give them one way to do it, you are not allowing that student to take the challenge into their own hands and to face the challenge using tools that they have. My last takeaway was the importance of teachers to take on challenges in front of our students, as they are watching us and we model our behavior to them, even when we don't try to directly.

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My big takeaways from this characteristic are that we need to give students enough wait time and to build resiliency by praising effort. When we give students enough wait time (between 3-10 seconds) they are more likely to engage in deeper thinking. Wait time also allows all students an opportunity to engage in the lesson; not just the few that always raise their hands. It is important to not wait too long to call on a student. Waiting too long can disrupt the lesson, and it can be a sign that students need additional scaffolding. My other takeaway is that we can build resiliency in students by praising their effort instead of natural ability. If we started sharing stories about celebrities’ and inventors’ efforts instead of their “natural ability” students would see the hard work, and learning from mistakes, that made these people successful. Seeing real examples of persistence, will help students work through setbacks. A small phrase change can impact how students view themselves and challenges. So, to build resilient children we need to praise their work, effort, and persistence over abilities.

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Giving students choice is so empowering. They may not have a lot of opportunities for choice in other aspects of their lives so giving them some choice at school is powerful. Even the youngest learners can have a say in their learning, from where they sit, who they work with and how they respond. This leads to a sense of empowerment as well as an increased self confidence. This will help them meet future challenges head on. I also love the article about charismatic adults. When we present ourselves as a caring and charismatic adult to our learners they will follow our lead. This is a key opportunity to model how to face challenging situations. I try and let my students see me struggling. It is often humorous to them and it shows them that we all have challenges that we need to face.

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Wait time I feel is something that many teachers struggle with .It can be challenging to find the appropriate time to wait. The challenge with it is that all students need different amounts of wait time or time to process. I recognize that too long of a wait time can be intimidating as well as asking a students a direct question instead of the whole class. Typically I stray away from those situations due to how I felt as a student when I was called on without me raising my hand. I love the 'get back to me' strategy. We also observed it in a previous clip and the teacher executed it well. This also allowed the student to have more time to process the question and formulate their idea. I plan on incorporating that into my classroom more. I do question on how to promote and encourage students asking for help after giving ample effort before. I do not want them to feel abandoned but supported through the process of working through it and putting the true effort first.

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I appreciated the reminders about the importance of wait time. Wait time is hard in kindergarten, they do everything fast. I need to remember to specifically teach them to pause and wait. One of the tricks I use to foster wait time is to tell them to blow their answer into their hand and hold it there. This seems to make it easier to wait and pause before they speak. I sometimes forget the importance of the pause after a student response.I think it is really important to let students know that this pause is intentional. I think sometimes this type of pause, especially if it is too long, can make a student nervous. The reminders about pause times with technology were insightful. When we are dealing with tech we expect instant answers and turn around. This can cause us to react too quickly. Even though we expect our tech to be fast, we need to remember that our brains need to pause.

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I think my biggest takeaway from this characteristic is the importance of wait time. I have heard about the effectiveness and importance of wait time in the past but have not always actively thought about it and practiced it. As someone who works with a population of students who have cognitive delays and have been tested for having slower than average processing times, it is something that I have to be more aware of. In my small groups, I have some students who seem to never like to participate, but that could be a fixed mindset of mine creeping in. It is very possible that those students just need some more time to raise their hand. I also think some students see another student raise their hand right away and get discouraged to think more and take time to come up with an answer. I am planning on being more aware of wait time in the future, explaining wait time to my students so they know that they are safe to think for a while, even if someone has their hand up already, and ask more open ended questions so that when one student aswers quickly, other students have time to contribute their answers without it already being said.

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I took away two ideas on this characteristic; choice and challenge. I think giving students choice in their learning and how they show their learning empowers them to have ownership and pride in the final product. For me, I often given students some choice in the order in which we complete tasks for the time frame we have together. I often encourage them to choose what they feel will be the hardest to complete first so they have the most brain power available to complete the tasks. What I find is that by doing that they are often surprised by how "easy" the task really is. When students are given choice in how they share their knowledge they are able to step into a challenge with confidence because they know the modality in which they share their information is one they feel comfortable with. When students are empowered through choice they have a better likely hood of showing resilience through challenge.

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Without challenge there is no growth!  We don’t learn unless we are stretched in new and often uncomfortable ways.  That can be a hard sell for a student, especially one who is stuck in a fixed mindset and invested in LOOKING smart in public.  One of the best ways we can break that cycle and get kids taking risks on difficult challenges is to model that behavior ourselves.  We must be willing to try new things in our classroom, to model our own struggles and give voice to them with our students.  We also need to craft challenges in a way that stretches, but is also safe.  A classroom environment that supports failures is vital.  A grading policy that does not penalize kids for making mistakes WHILE learning is also a must.  I suppose it would be analogous to rock climbing.  When we have a support team and we are connected to our safety harnesses, it is easier to take those leaps (literal and figurative).  Fear needs to be mitigated so that growth can occur.  That’s why Dweck’s emphasis on process over product is so important.  The challenging journey is far more important in the equation.  Kids need to be able to trust their own wings, to paraphrase the quote I’ve attached.

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I love the power of wait time! It is a practice of patience for me, but it is so worth it. I have also found that letting students know I was going to give them time to think before I call on anyone is powerful as well. This seems to take the pressure off for everybody and forces those who want to answer first or quickly to think through their answer before they raise their hand. I did find it interesting to hear about the idea that a 20 second wait time feels hostile to students. I can see why that would make students nervous. To me, I would start to question my thoughts and ideas if there wasn't a response from a teacher or peer before that 20 second wait time. I think that teachers lose sight of the wait time as we feel more and more crunch to get more learning and instruction into our day with students. I wonder how much more we would actually accomplish if we paid more attention to our wait time and allowing kids to think for themselves.

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As a "slow" processor myself, I so appreciate this key characteristic.  Kids need time to think, and it is easy for us to ride roughshod over the time needed for students to process.  With that I think the Schoology article also points out how immediate our response time is getting due to technology.  In an age when we just "look up" facts, it is even more important to take time to THINK.  I like the suggestions made in that particular article, along with the good ol' fashioned "think, pair, share" strategy.  I also have gotten into the habit of doing more cold calling in class to help remove my own biases (always calling on the "reliable" kid for the right answer).  I think we have an opportunity to create a growth mindset classroom culture, where answers are not immediate expected to be correct, and are instead encouraged to be wrong. The only path the the right answer is by getting it wrong first.  This allows kids the space to take academic risks and to stretch themselves.  I often tell my students that a "wrong" answer can actually trigger a great idea in someone else's mind.  So, we must build in the chance for kids to think about open ended questions, and to be able to take an idea and build on it with a growth mindset capacity.

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Building resilience in our students so that they are able to embrace challenges in the classroom when presented with them is essential. In the Edutopia article on resilience, I liked the use of the phrase “charismatic adult.” This phrase defines adults that guide students on their path of learning and celebrate areas of success along the way. Students look up to the adults in their lives, such as teachers, and undeniably need positive examples to model their behavior after. At the same time, through daily interactions, teachers have the opportunity to foster resilience and perseverance in students. In order for teachers to successfully support students, they also need to build their own resilience and develop skills for dealing with emotions. I like that one of the tips for building self-esteem and confidence is to “encourage self-compassion.” We need to love ourselves and be intentional about taking time for our own needs. If we do so, we will have the energy to show up for our students when it really counts. Another strategy is to allow for more personal choice in the classroom. When students have more authority over their own learning, they are more likely to engage in the process. That is something that I will keep in mind this upcoming school year.

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Incorporating wait time after asking a question to the class is particularly important in a digital setting. Technology naturally encourages us to expect immediate feedback and response when interacting with others. I have heard recommendations of waiting at least double the amount of time for online learning as opposed to in-person. A couple of the best practices suggested in the Evolving Ed article stood out to me as positive ways to refine my own use of wait time. Remembering to also pause after a student answers the initial question can be difficult for me. I sometimes get excited when a student response connects directly to my own explanation and I begin talking immediately. This can cut off a student’s full thought and not allow them to completely finish speaking. Another strategy to utilize is asking a student, “Would you like me to get back to you?” Some students need additional time to form a thought when speaking in front of the class, particularly if they are afraid of doing so. After asking a student that question, it is also important to not forget to come back to that same student later on. Forgetting shuts down that relationship and discourages the student from participating in the future. 

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Another integral part of developing a growth mindset in students is to teach them to embrace a challenge.  When students discover that it is okay to make mistakes and understand that struggling is part of learning, they are much more likely to welcome and even want a challenge.  I think the teacher in the “Teaching Channel” video was very clever in her way communicating to her students how to approach challenging situations.  When we go in with a growth mindset, it can be very empowering to accomplish that task.  I like to do the same thing with my children.  I will sometimes use reverse psychology to try and get them to accept my challenge.

This was a good characteristic for me to learn about because I feel like I need to remember that I should welcome challenges as a catalyst for growth.  I am teaching a new math class this year that I have never taught before and I am apprehensive about how this school year is going to look with the current pandemic.  This characteristic of embracing challenges was encouraging to me that I can shift my mindset and model to my students the right attitude to have toward challenging environments.

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I really enjoyed the Tiger-Up video.  The mascot for Hutchinson is also the Tigers so I can easily incorporate that idea in my classroom.  We have seen time and time again how the words teachers use really have an impact on students.  Students need to understand that the struggle they feel is normal.  It is important to persevere through the struggle to build new connections.

Giving students adequate time to think about and answer questions is another way we can model perseverance and encourage that quality in our students.  Teachers should not be expecting students to answer immediately to questions that are asked.  We need to let students think and formulate a response.  We had talked about wait time in a previous week, and I again learned some things as I read the article “The importance of Wait Time”.  Wait time 1 is certainly important as we should wait 3-5 seconds for students to respond.  But I was especially convicted about wait time 2.  After a student response, teachers should give a short pause before reacting to let students complete or elaborate on their answer.  This is something that I haven’t done but I will try to do going forward.  The “get back to me” strategy is also so powerful in helping students persevere.  It takes some of the anxiety off of students that are not comfortable thinking when others are looking at them.  But it also values the student as it gives them a chance to have their voice heard after some time to formulate their answers.

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It is important to build confidence in your students and part of that is building a culture around embracing challenges. A big part of building a growth mindset culture in the classroom is switching the mindset of wanting something to be challenging so that we can grow. One part that I thought was interesting was in the Edtopia article and it explained that giving choice in the classroom can give students a sense of control in which can give them confidence and build resilient learners. This is something that I would like to implement more in my classroom in order to build independent and resilient learners.

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Wait time is something I have trying to work on as I often focus too much on moving the lesson along that I don't give that proper time for students to reflect. Especially during the time of distance learning, using proper wait time and get through the lesson in the short amount of time we had. In the Schoology article on using wait time in a technology based class, it made me think of distance learning and gave me some good strategies that I can use in the future.

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Getting the parents involved may be the most important piece to creating a life long learner. Educating the parents and getting them on board is crucial. If we can get them to understand the importance of praise and the impact it can have on their child. Also if we can get the parents to understand and believe the brain is more malleable than once thought and how that can increase achievement and motivation. One last takeaway I got from these articles was the impact of modeling and speaking positively about mistakes and how we can learn from them. I am also looking forward to using the Family Manifesto Poster idea and the Family Meeting organizer.

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One step in students becoming resilient is having an adult model it. Also having a charismatic adult gives students resources and support for them to be successful. For them to be successful we need to give them choice so they feel ownership and a connection to the real world. They also need a sense of autonomy so we can help build their Island of competence. They need to have a belief that they have skills to rely on so they can feel confident to take on tasks and finish assignments on their own.

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I really like how the wait time article broke down and explained the different strategies. As a person how needs a little more time to process things I can really connect with this and I'm going to implement the strategies. I found It interesting that you can have to much wait time as well. It can be intimidating and threatening to students if the wait time is to long. A couple of other takeaways from the article was the fact that wait time can increases higher level responses and higher engagement. I also found "Wait Time 2" is a great way to get students to elaborate on their responses.

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My husband and I are both educators in the same district. I teach elementary art and my husband teaches elementary special education. People assume that we talk about our jobs all the time but the truth is we don’t often find ourselves sharing stories or giving each other advice/ideas because of the extreme differences in our positions. Today I found myself sharing more and more about what I was reading and seeing in the articles. I was making so many connections to how he could implement these into his small groups for social skills and anxiety groups. I was also brainstorming ways to add the “Positive Daily Intentions” into my day as well. These could easily be adapted into prompts for sketchbook ideas and sentence starters for journaling.

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Partnering with parents is  important so that students understand the skills they are learning in class transfer to other parts of their lives. It is also important because it it equis parents to support their child's learning and growth. By sharing the best practices of supporting a growth mindset it also empowers parents. As one of the articles was titled, parenting is hard. Having a growth mindset helps. It not helps the student, but it also helps the parent do the hard job of parenting! One of the articles talked about growth mindset being developed overtime. I think sharing a weekly resources with parents would be a great way to  develop this overtime and also not overwhelm them with too much information all at once.

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The article outlined how resilience is really just a set of assumptions one holds about themselves and their abilities. In a sense if is confidence rooted in reality. These assumptions then influence how we behave and how we behave has a direct impact of our results or in the classroom the skills are students develop or don't develop. They key is getting students to hold assumption that are rooted in a growth mindset. In order to do this we need to help them face and accept challenges and then do the work to get through them. It is at this point that their assumptions start to become thoughts about what they can do and can accomplish. My hope is that with the challenges facing all of this fall that parents and teachers can model this for our kids.

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The value of wait time to me is really placing value on thinking. Giving students time to process and make connections is the they key moving past knowledge towards understanding. It also puts the emphasis on the process instead of the end result. WHat is celebrated it the thinking where the learning happens and not on just the answer. The value in thinking it it allows time for curiosity and ultimately creativity. I once hear that you should throw out your 1st 3 ideas because it takes time and thinking to get to your best ideas, thoughts or solutions! Wait time allows students consider their best options. I also really like the idea of the 2nd wait time after the answer. The learning doesn't stop with the answer.

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“Teaching is the most rigorous form of learning.”  The youtube video about Mrs. Hunt’s class was really thought-provoking.  Her students assessed and recognized achievement on so many levels!  First they  had to recognize their own achievement in order to plan their reteaching video.  In order to teach the concept, the students had motivation to make sure they fully understood the concept themselves.  Then as they watched their own and other students’ videos they recognized the learning once again.  Comparing what they saw to a rubric re-emphasized the steps to success.  It sounded like this was a classroom routine that was used regularly, so I imagine Mrs. Hunt’s students internalized the actions and efforts that were needed to show learning.  This method is really thinking outside the box.  Traditionally we ask students to complete rows and rows of nearly identical problems to make them internalize the steps to math.  They are reviewing the steps by creating and watching these videos as well, but they’re also learning how to think about and explain what they and their classmates have learned.

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What I took away from this is the importance of sharing work with peers and also peer feedback. I thought it was particularly inspiring when the students in the last video demonstrated their learning by becoming the teacher. Others used their learning to give feedback to the "teacher". As I was watching that last video I was thinking about how meaningful for students it would be for them to be in charge of their classmates learning. Not only are they responsible for their learning but also for their peers' learning. When they make mistakes, classmates can help them get to the right answers. That says growth mindset to me.

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Key Characteristic #11 of a Growth Mindset Educator Reflections
I like the idea of having students identify their “shining moments” to share about the part of the papere, presentation, or assessment that they feel they did dbest.  So often students don’t acknowledge their own successes.  I’ve often seen my students get stuck in a cycle of being stressed while they finish an assignment and then just moving on afterward without any reflection

When students do reflect, they tend to be very negative about their own work.  It was helpful to read the “7 ways to respond to your child’s negative self-talk.”  In particular, I liked the advice about using specific praise to show your child how great they’re doing and “talk openly about negative self-talk.”  These are both things that I need to try with my students this year.

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My biggest take away from this was that we need to celebrate the successes of our students. This can be recognizing hard work that students have put in and also showcasing work and projects that they have done. That is something that I can improve on within my classes. We showcase the work of students through concerts. We don't do a great job at showing the other work that they've done in the year. I think it would be very encouraging for students to celebrate each other and keep them feeling great about their learning. I liked the idea of having superlative like categories and putting students in the one that best describes them. Something I'd like to do this year!

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Key Characteristic #12:

The twelfth characteristic of a growth mindset educator is: Teachers and students show that when others succeed, they find learning and inspiration in their success.

I have a lot of passion for the twelfth characteristic of a growth mindset educator! I believe that when students take ownership of their learning, true and meaningful growth happens. After taking a look at the resources provided, my biggest takeaway is that students need to become excited about what they have learned.

Engaging Lessons = Successful Classroom: From the Teaching Channel resource on engaging lessons, I have learned that planning is truly the key to successful lessons in the classroom. (Good thing planning is my jam!) The Teaching Channel encourages teachers to first begin with standards. Teachers should then plan to script key language, anticipate challenges, and then allot instructional time for each activity. Lastly, we need to focus on particular students: How can I challenge Sydney, while providing necessary modifications and accommodations for Eli?

Mrs. Hunt’s Third Grade Classroom: I really connected with Mrs. Hunt’s third grade classroom video on teaching and learning because I totally see myself using her exact strategy in my own third grade classroom! An excellent example of Mrs. Hunt’s teaching, learning, and assessment strategies is having students record themselves by re-teaching and recording information on how to teach the lesson's objective. Mrs. Hunt tells us how important it is for students to see the value in understanding the content. “Teaching is the most rigorous form of learning.” I look forward to sharing Mrs. Hunt’s idea of student lead videos conversations for personal feedback, student learning moments, and in conferences.

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Offering Choice and Increasing Challenges

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Offering Choice and Increasing Challenges

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Offering more choice in the classroom has been a priority of mine this summer. In fact, my action research paper is devoted to including more choice for students this upcoming school year. I'm hopeful that, like this article said, by allowing students to have more autonomy in my classroom they will become more engaged, motivated and resilient.

I also think I could model growth mindset better by how I respond to challenges. Each class period I have a bell ringer called a "do now" on the board. What if instead I called it the "daily challenge." And on top of that, what if I gave the students an option to come with a daily challenge if they'd like to. It could allow me to model a positive attitude when facing challenges and we could work together as a class for 3-5 minutes on how we would solve this challenge. I think this could be something I try next school year.

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There were two things I really found interesting from this key characteristic.

First, the article I read for this characteristic brought up a point about wait time I'd never thought about. The article mentioned that not only does wait time help students who need extra time to process information but it also helps teach students patience. Each class period I have a handful of eager students who love to blurt answers right away or anxiously wave their hand in the air before I've even finished my question. My improving my wait time I can help instill more patience in these students.

I also found the daily goal cutouts to be a wonderful resource. I think just hanging up a new sheet each day and encouraging students to review them and take one if they'd like would be a great way to increase positive emotional health in students and also create a better sense of community among all the kids in our grade.

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A key take away for me from this characteristic was the importance of peer feedback. In both videos they discussed the methods they use for peer feedback within their classroom. The one had students putting their work up on the board and the class helping with feedback, the other had students record their work and their process. For my age group I think recording the process and them explaining their thinking would be a great way for them to learn from themselves and each other. There would be a lot of expectations that would have to be set up before beginning this, but I think in the end students would learn more from each other and themselves than constantly hearing feedback from me as the teacher.

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The biggest take away I hade from this Key Characteristic was to celebrate student successes. The articles provided a few examples of how we can celebrate these successes. One that I really liked was to hold a student awards presentation. This is something that I have thought about doing, especially at the end of the year to celebrate all the hard work. I also really liked the idea of having a class cheer to start of each day, I think this would be a great way to celebrate each day together in the classroom, this would also start out the day on a positive note and put myself and my students in a better frame of mind to start the day. These are both aspects that I hope to start implementing this fall!

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I unfortunately was not able to watch the first video due to needing a subscription to watch it, but the seccond video was so cool! It was amazing how engaging that process was and how simple it seemed! After students get the hang of that process, they begin to feel like teachers themselves! I can't imagine how rewarding that feels for them. This is definitely a strategy that I want to try. Students can be inspired by fellow peer lessons that they review, students can recieve feedback throughout this review, and the amount of data that this provides for a teacher is incredible!

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I thought both videos were awesome to watch! I loved in the first one how much engagement there was with the students. I also loved the student discussion/debate there was because students are taking ownership of their learning and of their mistakes. You could tell the teacher had set up a great community with how will students were to discuss their work and get up and share their work in front of others. I thought that getting students to video themselves teaching a lesson was a cool idea in the second video. That would definitely deepen their understanding of the material to be able to teach it to others! I do wonder how much time that would take though and wonder what the other students are doing when a student is recording their lesson.

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The biggest take aways I had revolved around celebrating student work. Giving students an opportunity to show what they have learned and to celebrate the process they took to get to the end, is beneficial to the students' learning. I liked the idea of students having to "show off" their work to someone else to help students buy into the process of teacher checks, peer checks, and revisions. It sounds like the students just take more ownership of their work and put in more effort.

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Turn the students into teachers. This can take many different forms. Students can work in groups to review homework problems. They can support each other by having open honest conversations, answering questions and providing guidance for those who found it a challenge. Students can also be set the task of reteaching the core lesson using student created visuals and video taping themselves teaching. One of the things that I found beneficial to the job of the teacher is that once routines are established and directions given it frees up a lot of the teachers time. When the students are engaged in working, the teacher is free to walk around and observe and evaluate students informally. As a teacher it is important to know where students stand with their learning. Instead of having them complete another formal assessment, a teacher can use their observations to guide further learning and review. It is easier to have a conversation one on one or in a small group. Those conversations are more meaningful to the students. They can get at the root difficulties or struggles and move them to greater understanding.

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I feel that I gained a new perspectice on celebrating students from this weeks links. I've found it difficult at times to celebrate one student or a couple of students without celebrating all of my students. But these link provided ways for all students to be celebrated and to celebrate each other. As mentioned in the first article, it makes sense that students would invest more time and energy into something they know will be celebrated publicly or within the school setting. Its our jobs as teachers to show the impact and the worth of a project and create a project that is engaging and rewarding.
I also really enjoyed the last link that had some strategies to use as a parent. It is crazy to see how similar the student teacher interaction is to the parent student interaction. I think that highlights the importance of positive teacher parent relationships is for student success. I really appreciated the change in verbaige used for some of the complaints teachers or parents may have about student or child behavior. It shows a growth mindset perspective.

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I liked how student became the teacher. My boss has encourage me to work myself out of a job. He tells me if I can get my students to become the teachers then I've successful. I have student assess each others work and give feedback. This is something that takes a lot of leg work so that students feel safe about being open and honest. When they know it's okay to say " I don't really know how to answer this but this is what I did to get my answer" This opens up opportunites for students to make mistakes and to be explain not to the answer but how they got there. Watching and reading about key characteristic 12 makes me realize that I need to work more on becoming a coach in my classroom, not a "listen to my knowledge and soak it all in " teacher. I want my classroom to be student driven.

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After reviewing the links the hierachy of learning and different ways we can celebrate the learning process stood out to me. Having students be able to find the purpose beind their effort I think goes a long way and answers the age old questions " why do I need to know this? " and When am I ever going to use this?"  I think how we celebrate effort is something that needs to be done so that it genuine and done so that students are comfortable and not embarrest in from of their peers. One of the things I have liked about teaching virtually is that I can give specific one on one feedback to students and it isn't in front of their peers. This take a lot of time but I see better results.

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It was stated in the video featuring Mrs. Hunt's class that teaching is the best way to show/prove understanding. She has taken something that is at her students level of interest (recording themselves in a type of social media format) and used that to her advantage. The process of planning a lesson and taking that lesson from start to finish as well as reflecting and critiquing others and themselves is such a high level of thinking and understanding. It touches on many types of learning styles and provides feedback to those who are struggling with the concepts as well as those that have mastered the concept but may be struggling with presentation and explanation/re-tell.

The information for lesson planning is a great tool especially for the times when a curriculum begins to feel menotinuse or routine. Changing the presentation of the lesson and essential questions can give new life to a standard or lesson that has become “boring”.

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The major themes and takeaways for me revolved around communication. Being able to communicate feelings effectively and at a level that is relatable to the age of our students or our own children. There are many times when I find myself explaining something or trying to talk through a situation with a student or group of students and I can just tell that they are not connecting, that they have no idea what I am talking about. It’s like the common phrase “know your audience!” Meeting students at their emotional, cognitive and intellectual levels and speaking to those needs.

Having an open dialogue where students feel comfortable expressing their feelings. Carving out time in the day to have discussions about struggles and failures and the way students can engage in negative self talk over these. Addressing such talk openly will show students that they are not the only one that feels this way and that it is healthy to talk about it and this can help them to process and grow.

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I thought these resources showed great ways in which teachers can help students to take ownership of their learning. I found the video “When Students Become Teachers” to be most impactful. I really like how the teacher had her students teach what they had learned. This is a wonderful opportunity to truly see where your students are and what they are grasping from the content. I also like how the teacher went a step further and had the students watch not only their own but also a few of their peers as well. In doing this students are able to learn from themselves and others as well as celebrate in one another success!

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I really liked all of the different ideas about sharing student growth in the classroom that the resources for characteristic 11 shared. A few that stood out were the cheers as well as the award. This reminded me about the “secret admirer” game which Aguilar shared in her book “Onward”. I am excited to implement the cheers daily, throughout the day. I feel like this will allow students to focus more on their progress and effort similarly to celebrating mistakes. However, I feel as though the awards could be given at the end of each quarter. Each quarter we could have a celebration afternoon where we celebrate our growth thus far in the year using the fun award from Kelley Dolling which I found from the article “Celebrate Success in the Classroom”.

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I found two concepts very interesting to me. First when it comes to planning the importance on not just looking at your short term planning but looking ahead to think about the big picture and your long term teaching goals. I also found students reteaching material very interesting as well. I have done this before when I taught 5th graders but haven't as a 2nd grade teacher. I really would like to try this with my 2nd graders. It would give the students the opportunity to reflect about what they did well, how they can improve, and make any corrections that need to be made.

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How to give meaningful, descriptive and timely feedback is a challenge and self and peer assessment is at least part of the answer. Int he teaching channel video having students assess each other allowed for the teacher to hear misconceptions and strategies used by her students. They were able to assist one another as they read the problems, shared how they solved it, shared concerns and advised each other. I really like how she had the students who did not understand or did not do the work go first. This allowed for the learning that had not happened yet to happen! I also like how she pointed out how this build community, gave students a voice and created space for students to recognize mistakes in their thinking!

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My first takeaway from the articles were that we should have students celebrating assignments or projects to relate to the real world to make a greater connection for the students. Students can reflect and articulate what they have learned and how they learned. My second takeaway was for the younger students. I can see using the daily classroom cheers as a great way to celebrate my 2nd graders achievements.

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Giving students an opportunity to reflect and articulate their learning is an important step for them to be able to transfer their learning beyond the classroom. When presenting their work to others students are required to be metacognitive and really think about their processes. This opportunity will help lead them to true and enduring understandings. This process also provides opportunities for feedback and revisions on the way to their final product. I think getting creative in finding ways for this work to be viewed by an authentic audience is very powerful. The fact that someone is coming to see their work engages students and gives them an emotional attachment to what they are producing. In the district where I work we are required to have authentic audiences for the PBL's we do in our classrooms and it has a transformational affect of student learning and pride in their product.

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The eleventh characteristic of a growth mindset educator is: Teachers and students recognize and celebrate personal growth. The school and each classroom has a system in place to celebrate personal growth, not just top achievers.

The eleventh characteristic of a growth mindset educator is definitely one of my favorites! I am a very charismatic, happy, excitable teacher, so this characteristic comes a little more easily for me (;

Here are my biggest takeaways from the resources provided:

Discuss Learning Moments: The resource Celebrations of Learning from EL Education tells us that the more we discuss our learning,  more powerful learning moments will happen. “There are powerful opportunities to make learning public.” I have learned that I need to make time for my students to discuss the awesome mistakes students made in their learning by discussing the learning! Big Life Journal also touches on the importance of positive self talk. We now know the importance of praising children correctly. We need to focus on praising efforts because when we use this language, we are giving children the opportunity to make growth mindset connections.“By telling your child what you noticed about his/her efforts or attitude, you’re allowing him to connect his own positivity to the situation.”

Celebrating Success: The resource from NWEA has definitely got to be one of my favorite resources provided thus far! In the article, the author, Laura Davis gives educators many ideas about how to celebrate success in the classroom. I can definitely see myself integrating student award presentations and a variety of classroom cheers. (On a side note, one of my students’ favorite cheers is as follows: Me: ‘Kreft’ Class: ‘TING!’) This cheer was made by one of my former students and makes me smile every time!

In short, I now know the importance of celebrating learning, and I look forward to integrating more opportunities for students to celebrate growth in my classroom.

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I love providing opportunities to let students be the teachers. Letting them help a neighbor through a technology issue, or even helping me! It boosts their self-esteem and shows them that they are a valuable addition to the classroom. I do a lot of group work in my class, and highly encourage working with each other on assignments and activities. We can learn so much from each other. So by providing more opportunities for collaboration gives those students that chance. I hope to find more ways to encourage learning and teaching each other because it shows them they they are learning and growing. All throughout they are experiecing success!

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One idea that I had learned from another graduate school class is doing daily/weekly celebrations for students. You would give time to let students share a victory they had recently. Big or small, a victory is a victory. So giving time for students to share the ones the had and letting each other be happy for them, is a beneficial addition to a classroom environment. There is also the benefit of sharing failures as well. So I thought it could be a good idea to combine them. Students are free to share a victory or a failure that they had, if they choose to share. I would love to add the cheers shared that students could do after a student shared their victory.

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It is important for students to celebrate success of their peers. Often times as a society we tend to look at success as something we wish we had instead of celebrating the accomplishments of others and use it as motivation to succeed as well. I feel that this is an important lessons to instill in younger students that celebrating others success will benefit you more than getting upset about it. I loved the second video and the idea behind having students develop lessons after they learned the lesson. One way to fully master a skill is when you can teach it to someone else and this activity helps create that opportunity for growth.