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In your position as a librarian you have the opportunity to work with larger groups of students and promote the idea of growth mindset. It sounds like you are a very involved teacher and work very hard to stay current using Podcasts that will promote the love of learning with your students.

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Growth mindset is an attiude and I think with your position it could make these students who have to work harder to reach the same bar as other children even more rewarding. I like the lessons that show us differences in talents and uniqueness at an elementary level but could certainly apply to your role.

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Heather Moser - Response #2 - Sean Nolan

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Heather Moser - Response #2 - Sean Nolan

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Hey Sean,
Productive struggle is so hard but so necessary especially in our classrooms today. Our culture as a whole has really gotten away from letting kids struggle. We seem to live in a time period where many people give their kids everything and try to make everything as easy as possible and consequently when they come to our classrooms and we force them to struggle it is difficult. Life is full of challenges and helping kids learn how to persevere through problems is key to setting them up for success in life.

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Matt, I think many of us tend to glace over growth mindset because it has become such a buzz word in education. It is also so true how our little interactions really set the tone. This notion supports one of my biggest beliefs: Relationships are the basis of teaching and learning. I think you establish and build relationships with students with those little things we all say and from there we set the tone. If you haven't already seen the ted talk below you should check it out. It really encompasses relationships and growth mindset.

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Rita Pierson, a teacher for 40 years, once heard a colleague say, “They don’t pay me to like the kids.” Her response: “Kids don’t learn from people they don’t like.’” A rousing call to educators to believe in their students and actually connect with them on a real, human, personal level.

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Heather Moser - Growth Mindset Reflection

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Heather Moser - Growth Mindset Reflection

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It is so refreshing to me that "hard work", and "grit" and "academic courage" are newly emphasized soft skills that many are pursuing for students. These core characteristics are not new although I do believe they have been rebranded under the label of growth mindset. I really am so happy to see Carol Dweck's study prove how detrimental it can be to praise students for their intelligence. I spent six years as a gifted support teachers and believe me when I say there are many parents out there who should watch this video!

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Bill Lundy - Response to Matt's Response 2

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Bill Lundy - Response to Matt's Response 2

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Couldn't agree with you more on focusing on the Design Process. The concept of a continuous learning process should be used in every subject beyond just science and engineering, and often it is. For example, the 3rd grader learning to write, making revisions based on teacher feedback supports this same process.

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Even as an adult, it can be scary typing these words on PADLET for you all to see. I don't want to appear as a "failure" or less than competent educator. Choosing each word carefully; erasing numerous times. That is such the wrong approach! I should be excited to make mistakes. Grateful for the opportunity to make mistakes and learn from them.
I think the Growth Mindset needs to be in the forefront of every educator, particularly in the Elementary and Middle Schools. Making mistakes is ho we learn. STEM and the Growth Mindset can be the pathway to helping students learn how to think and begin identifying themselves as engineers or musicians or astronauts or anything they dream.

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I total agree with students needing to know the why, and I find myself leading with that for most of my lessons...it’s hard for
kids to learn without the buy-in.

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I think the inclusion of conferencing and focusing on the Design Process sums up the message of Growth Mindset in a very achievable way. Much research suggests that new members of the workforce struggle with the concept of failure and recovery from real challenge. The visual talking about the engineering processing and conferencing should be posted on every kids folder, to promote the expectations. I enjoy using much of the engineering process language when kids ask me questions. Instead of granting them answers, prompt them with ways they could find the answers themselves.

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I love the concept of utilizing Growth Mindset through real-world problems is a great concept (and we should keep it up), but hard to achieve where the kids see the real value. I am sure this may have a different take a different grade levels, but at the elementary level, unless they were to be more consistent with the real world application, it is hard for kids to separate from the direct questioning/fictional questions to the real world problems.

With that being said, real world scenarios are the way to answer the “why” when we are teaching new content. When the kids can see the purpose behind the teaching upfront, they buy into the need to learn.

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Matt Rogers - Initial Response to Growth Mindset

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Matt Rogers - Initial Response to Growth Mindset

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I think that the concept of Growth Mindset has personally become one of those educational terms that I glance over to frequently. After being prompted to think about the impact and meaning behind Growth Mindset, it helps reset focus to the value of such things as language with kiddos. The simple intereactions that we may take for granted can be quite powerful and I am blown away at the difference of impact one single word has on motivation, belief and effort.

I have run sessions on the concept of F.A.I.L Teaching (First Attempt in Learning) in the past where kids are in a classroom environment where they “hopefully” have a decreased concern with being perfect, with hopes of establishing creativity and confidence in the classroom. This is where Growth Mindset found its place in my classroom.

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Katy Ferry - Response 2 (in response to Sean) 

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Katy Ferry - Response 2 (in response to Sean) 

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When I read in your post that you promote the productive struggle in your classroom, it made me think of an article I read about using game-based learning to help students embrace failure.  We tend to link failure with shame in our society, but when playing games failure is expected and embraced.  Games, especially video games are designed that you progress and get better by experimenting, failing and ultimately adapting.

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Response 1: Katy Ferry to Tracy Urban Growth Mindset ReflectionI love the idea of a growth mindset and I make an effort to promote it, but I have observed the obstacles you mentioned in your post and I’d also love to hear success stories.  The biggest obstacle I have experienced is buy-in from all involved (parents, Admin. teacher and students).  The buy-in is tough because our brains are trained to operate under a fixed mindset and it is difficult to change or re-train the minds of adults and teenagers no matter what research supports. I think it’s especially tough because at my school we use backward design which puts that focus on where you end up (trained to think that means earning a good grade) and there is so much pressure for our students to perform well on standardized tests and for our school to have a positive performance profile.  I understand that the swift in mindset can help with these outcomes, but it seems counter-initiative to focus on the growth mindset vs. preparedness for standardized testing.  Again, I’d love to hear success stories and how people/schools overcome these obstacles!  

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Response 1: Katy Ferry to Tracy Urban Growth Mindset ReflectionI love the idea of a growth mindset and I make an effort to promote it, but I have observed the obstacles you mentioned in your post and I’d also love to hear success stories.  The biggest obstacle I have experienced is buy-in from all involved (parents, Admin. teacher and students).  The buy-in is tough because our brains are trained to operate under a fixed mindset and it is difficult to change or re-train the minds of adults and teenagers no matter what research supports. I think it’s especially tough because at my school we use backward design which puts that focus on where you end up (trained to think that means earning a good grade) and there is so much pressure for our students to perform well on standardized tests and for our school to have a positive performance profile.  I understand that the swift in mindset can help with these outcomes, but it seems counter-initiative to focus on the growth mindset vs. preparedness for standardized testing.  Again, I’d love to hear success stories and how people/schools overcome these obstacles!  

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I'm a huge fan of the growth mindset.  I believe that in high school we should be helping students learn to learn (and in turn hopefully instilling a love of learning,) and the growth mindset does just that.  By adjusting the focus from the result to the process, we are teaching students how to learn.  As the school librarian, I don't get a ton of time with each student.  All my lessons are co-taught and I do not give summative assessments or grades so my promotion of the growth mindset are subtle, but effective.    Many of my bulletin boards and displays promote a growth mindset message.  I use formative assessments such as exit tickets that require reflection on what they learned or what they struggled with...  I often hear students say "I'm terrible at research" or "I hate to read" and I use those as opportunities to promote a growth mindset, such as, "I bet I can find you a book you like to read and I ask them their interested and favorite things... or I praise them  them for coming to me about reading or research...  I think to write students and coworkers Post-it notes that praise them for their hard work, focus….

After going through this assignment, I had an idea to do use children's books the deal with the growth mindset as a jumping off point for a discussion.  Also, I now want to curate resources such as podcasts that focus on the growth mindset for teens and teachers and add them to my website.

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Response 2:  To Jenn Trout from Tracy Urban

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Response 2:  To Jenn Trout from Tracy Urban

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Hi Jenn,
I love your idea of beginning a unit with a real world problem and teaching the content throughout in order for students to solve the problem. I often try to think of ways to do this with the scripted READ 180 program I teach, but fall short because there is never enough time to do everything. This would be really great to do in math, as well, but I am not sure how my team can do it with our anxiety over time to teach a new math program this year. It is so important to get students engaged in something they are interested in. It may take years to work out the kinks, but if we all keep trying, hopefully it will just all fall into place

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Response 1:  To Karen Gennaro from Tracy Urban

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Response 1:  To Karen Gennaro from Tracy Urban

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Hi Karen! It's great to take another course with you! I loved your reflection, which is so inspiring, because it shows it is possible to have kids start with a growth mindset immediately upon entering school. I just wonder where they tend to lose it! Is it just all the Common Core and testing? Is there a way for our school district to really focus on this aspect so the kids don't lose it by the time they get to middle school and high school. Or maybe is the growth mindset really there for most students and I don't see it, because I work with learning support students who have faced so much failure in school up to this point? It is all so interesting!

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Wow! I definitely need to look more into how I talk to students. I have seen many teachers post "Growth Mindset" bulletin boards and really only thought of it as changing a student's attitude towards how they work in school, but never thought about how praise and other things we say as teachers or parents can affect someone. As a special education teacher of learning support students, I have always tried my best to help students understand that they are "not dumb" just because they are identified. I explicitly teach them about what a learning disability is and have always made a point to call them smart and praise them for getting right answers, etc. But, in the same way, I worry that it may be all but impossible to change the way a 7th grader has learned to think up to this point. And then add the time issue to everything- we don't have enough time to teach what we are supposed to in the year, so how do we fit in changing a whole mindset? I am eager to learn the little things I can say to encourage the growth mindset, and hopefully, by saying the "right" things to students constantly, it will sink in naturally.

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Response 2: To Carly Shoulders from Alexandra Konsur

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Response 2: To Carly Shoulders from Alexandra Konsur

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Carly,
Your response stuck me and made me remember all of the times I praised students for how smart they were instead of how much they persevered. We talk a lot at my job among the teaching team about students who don't persevere long enough to find success. It is one of the skills that some students lack. The good news is that it is a teachable skill! I agree with you that focusing on growth is a great way to help these students who lack that "keep with it" and "keep trying" mentality.

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Response 1: To Jenn Trout from Alexandra Konsur

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Response 1: To Jenn Trout from Alexandra Konsur

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Jenn,
I love the idea of giving students real world problems to solve! What if they chose the problems themselves? Who better to let you know what is important to them than the students who are affected by those issues? The growth mindset could lend itself to children becoming young citizens involved in making their world a better place.

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In implementing a growth mindset into my STEM classroom, I picture students engaging in early failures and reflecting upon and improving the weaknesses in their initial answers. In the STEM classroom, we work a lot using the Engineering Design Process. This process involves giving teams or individual students open-ended problems to solve. They solve these problems utilizing a process (EDP) that allows them to create unique solutions based on their initial knowledge and test them immediately. More often than not, this results in early failures or ineffectual solutions. They then have the ability to gather information on how their initial solution went, and make specific improvements based on this. The Engineering Design Process is also designed as a reiterative process. This means that the revision process continues over and over again until the students get a solution they are satisfied with. It reminds me of the writing process in that way. I think that continuing to utilize this process when working in my classroom will encourage growth mindset. And, I do think that engaging the students in more reflection like as in the article on Edutopia regarding Report Cards would be a great idea to incorporate into my classroom, as well as utilizing growth mindset terminology like "haven't found the most elegant solution....yet" when speaking to students in conference about their projects.

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Response 2: To Sean Nolan from Kristin Pavlovich

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Response 2: To Sean Nolan from Kristin Pavlovich

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Hi Sean! I love your classroom approach!  For high energy 2nd graders, I can imagine this is a very rewarding  system! Teaching students that frustration is a part of academic (and personal) life is paramount at the youngest of levels.  One of the books I would read and discuss in my library is the The Disappointment Dragon by Kay Al-Ghani.  Making “disappointment” into something tangible allowed me to use the same language when the younger kids were working on projects.  If someone would be frustrated or disappointed, I would pretend to be the “Disappointment Dragon” and they would have to use words and concepts that would make me go away. Take Care! ~Kristin

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Response 1: To Carly Shoulders from Kristin Pavlovich

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Response 1: To Carly Shoulders from Kristin Pavlovich

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Carly, I felt the same way as you described when I first saw this video.  It was shocking to have an explanation for situations when “intelligent” kids did not do well or even cheated to not have to work hard at something.  I had a group of kids on school news.  We took every kid who was interested, so we had a wide range of IQ levels.  Each student was responsible for specific work each week.  I was very careful in praising effort. The lower academic kids were super responsible!! I felt like maybe they weren’t given the chance in their classes! This positive relationship also extended to my classroom.  Those same kids worked very hard on projects in my library!

I think you are brave to praise small accomplishments and growth! Those kids will never forget how you treated them during a particularly rough time! Take care! ~Kristin

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Kristin Pavlovich - Growth Mindset Reflection

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Kristin Pavlovich - Growth Mindset Reflection

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I remember watching a TED Talk a couple of years ago. It was Angela Lee Duckworth, who studies intangible concepts such as self control and grit to determine professional and academic success.  It blew me away!  It explains why some students who seem to “have the perfect life,” act miserable and are depressed.  On the flip side, you have students who come from really awful circumstances and are able to rise above!  Carol Dweck’s research explains the similar concept at a deeper level and shows just how tweaking your language can affect a student profoundly.

When I saw that TED Talk, I had already started my makerspace journey by that time.  It was easier to promote the concept of developing abilities when I was not responsible for any actual grades! This year, although I am an elective class and my curriculum in adaptable, I am responsible for grades on a report card.  So for my 2017-18 school year, I  will focus on the multiple elements of the process of each graded/ungraded project and continue to place emphasis on effort, not just the end product. Since I am not a core subject, I feel completely comfortable spending time on students’ noncognitive skills as written by Denise Harshbarger.  Since I am a “study skills” class, I will implement personal goals that the student can choose for themselves.  Finally, I will continuously foster a classroom environment where the students feel comfortable in failing, experimenting and growing.

Check out this TED Talk if you are interested in more info!

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Grit: The power of passion and perseverance

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Leaving a high-flying job in consulting, Angela Lee Duckworth took a job teaching math to seventh graders in a New York public school. She quickly realized that IQ wasn’t the only thing separating the successful students from those who struggled. Here, she explains her theory of “grit” as a predictor of success.

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Sean,
I understand what you mean when you mention that students should have the opportunity to struggle. Too often, they want the answer right away, but in the classroom, we can set up the environment that allows them to struggle with our help. Students need to learn how to troubleshoot when they are in a challenging situation in order to come up with a solution or final product to whatever we present to them.

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Response 1: To Carly Shoulders from Jenn Trout

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Response 1: To Carly Shoulders from Jenn Trout

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Carly,
I understand what you are saying. We have teams in middle school. Students come into our grade level labeling which teams are the "smart" teams and which one is the "dumb" team. On average, I tend to get the lower ability level students and those students know it. They either tend to give up easily or misbehave a lot in class because they need more support from me or the aide in my classroom. I am constantly supporting my students with the content of my class, but also encouraging them to keep trying. It's exhausting, but they need constant praise. On top of that, I am in regular communication with many of my students' parents.

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Response 2: To Karen Gennaro from Carly Shoulders

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Response 2: To Karen Gennaro from Carly Shoulders

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Karen,
You have a more unique response than many will have just because in Kindergarten, students are generally starting off with a clean slate.  They are in the years of try, try, and try again.
Children may get frustrated, but their imagination and open-minded mentality when solving problems is unique. They see each problem as a challenge, rather than a grade or a score.
I think it is excellent that you are recognizing these "spiraling" opportunities for your students and promoting the productive struggle. I tell my students daily that there are no mistakes as long as you learn from them. I feel that encouraging this mindset at an early age will help students become more resilient and driven. Thank you for sharing!

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Response 1: To Sean N. from Carly Shoulders 

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Response 1: To Sean N. from Carly Shoulders 

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Sean,
When reading your post, I was reminded of a phrase commonly used with children, which is "tough love." Too often as educators we are criticized when a child becomes frustrated, when in reality that is life. Sometimes a problem cannot be solved easily, if at all. Sometimes it takes that second, third, seventh, eighth try to solve a problem. Students in your classroom will benefit from this approach. I have to say though, I think in either mindset the students do, in fact, have the skills needed to solve a problem. The question is, will their teacher push them enough to make them use these skills? In a growth mindset environment, a teacher will.

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Carly Shoulders- Response to the Growth Mindset 

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Carly Shoulders- Response to the Growth Mindset 

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I found this video to be a very useful reflection tool. In my classroom, I have many struggling readers.  At the beginning of this past year, I observed that student scores were quite low- and they were aware of this. Many students had the mentality that they were not "intelligent", and I wonder if this is because there was not a growth mindset focus in other classrooms they had been in.
I found it amazing to hear the perspective that when students hear they're smart, they take the easy route. I've seen this time and time again throughout my teaching and now it finally makes sense. That was the point I found most interesting in this video.
This brings me to my own classroom. I felt very self-conscious about how I was not harder on my students for scoring poorly on exams. I would have students in math who would score a 62% on a test (an F), but this was a great improvement from their pretest, so I still praised them. I frequently wondered, "am I being to easy on them?"
I want to implement this Growth Mindset with an even stronger foundation this coming year. The worst thing we can do to a child is put them in a mindset where they feel they aren't going to ever be good enough. Celebrating small accomplishments and goals and GROWTH is what will push our students to success.

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Our district has been talking about the growth mindset for a few years. One thing that we have talked about is posing students with real world problems. I had talked to our technology integrator about how we can make learning more engaging for students. We had talked about posing students with a real world scenario or problem at the beginning of the unit and throughout the unit they would learn content and gather information that will help them come up with a solution to the real world problem by the end of the unit. There would not be one set way to solving this problem and students will have the opportunity to be creative. Our struggle with this is figuring out what problem we would pose to them for each unit that would include the content we need to cover for the unit and in the amount of time we have allotted for it in our curriculum. Throughout this process we would allow students to struggle and take risks while encouraging them to continue to put forth effort and to work towards overcoming any roadblocks that they may have as they are working towards reaching their end goal of coming up with a solution for the problem they were given at the beginning of the unit. Students would collaborate in small groups in order to help each other use strategies that could help them reach their final product.

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Hello Jenn,
I am very curious about the work you are doing to prepare real word problems for your students to solve.
It sounds like a challenge, but one that has the potential to greatly impact student engagement!
Has your team talked about evaluating the real world aspects of your units, or would the evaluation be bundled with other elements of the unit? Good Luck on your journey!~kg

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Response 1: To Sean N. From Karen Gennaro

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Response 1: To Sean N. From Karen Gennaro

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Hello Sean,
I enjoyed reading your post, and learning that you also work in the EPSD!  I love the fact that you try to support the children to develop a sense of perseverance, and that they may make many mistakes before they  succeed. ~kg

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Reflections on a Growth Mindset:
As a kindergarten teacher, I have been able to encourage children to explore the prepared classroom environment in as many ways as they can conjure! Typically, children approach areas, such as the block corner with an open mind...ready to imagine an idea for building....
this becomes a spiral, if you will, as the imagining leads to creating, then to playing, then to sharing, then to reflecting, and then back to imagining again.....collaboration is organic in kindergarten when children fuel their imaginations with topic based conversations in the block corner.
I carefully plan for and offer opportunities for 'spiraling' in other classroom areas and endeavors throughout the day.
I truly believe that the children develop a trust in their own intuitive creative natures, if they are encouraged to explore the classroom environment in this way. They enjoy talking together and learning together as they play. When we must implement the assessments, I believe the children are more willing to persevere with the tasks. I am heartened to discover that my belief has been corroborated by the research provided in this assignment!
~kg

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Lifelong Kindergarten is not currently accepting new students.

The Lifelong Kindergarten group develops innovative technologies and cultivates caring communities to engage young people from diverse backgrounds in creative learning experiences. We are deeply committed to bringing about change in the world and improving the lives of young people, especially those from marginalized and vulnerable communities.

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Group Overview ‹ Lifelong Kindergarten - MIT Media Lab

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Engaging people in creative learning experiences

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In my classroom I promote the productive struggle. This means allowing students to battle a problem-solving task to the point that they need to find a new way to solve it. I will Provide a bit of guidance in the pathway but they are the ones that need to find the direction that is best fitted for them. In a fixed mindset they already have the skills to solve the problem. In the growth mindset they need to problem solve and dig deeper into their minds to find the route to success. I will continue to allow students to be frustrated in a task to a point that they need a bit of scaffolding. But I think it is important to teach students that they will not always be successful in the first try.

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Share the changes you might make in your classroom when implementing a growth mindset approach. Make a new post-it of your response in Padlet; Add post-it notes responding to at least 2 other posts