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How to earn an F in art... awesome article on grading art.

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Ms.Stricklens fourth grade class participating in a funeral for the dearly departed "I Can't"

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The "I Can't" Funeral

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Rest in Peace: The "I Can't" Funeral | Chicken Soup for the Soul

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"May 'I Can't' rest in peace and may everyone present pick up their lives and move forward in his absence. Amen." As I listened to the eulogy I realized that these students would never forget this day. The activity was symbolic, a metaphor for life.

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Picture Books About Perseverance for Kids

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Picture Books About Perseverance for Kids

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http://www.whatdowedoallday.com/picture-books-about-perseverance/

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Sesame Street: Janelle Monae - Power of Yet

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https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Growth-Mindset-Freebie-2401853

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This post may contain affiliate links. Please see my disclosure here.

Think back to your elementary years, your middle school years, and then your high school years. What was the little voice in your head saying to you about your abilities, your strengths, and your value as a human being? What were other kids or teachers saying to you about your abilities and your challenges? Likely, it was during these formative years that your beliefs about your own potential and capabilities developed.

Sadly, research shows us that children feel less and less capable of achieving success as they get older. In fact, by the time students reach third grade, nearly half of them don't believe that their brain and intelligence can grow and change. They believe that their intelligence is fixed regardless of their effort to change it. If you haven't picked up a copy of Mindsets in the Classroom by Mary Cay Ricci, it is well worth your time. Not only is it a quick and easy read, but you will also have a firm grasp on fixed and growth mindset concepts and their effects on the students in your class. She also provides tools for teachers to develop a growth mindset culture where students are challenged to change their thinking about their potential.

Another way to arm children with a defense against those negative messages playing in their brains is to replace them with positive ones. The research on using affirmations in classrooms shows a positive effect on self-esteem and an increase in grades for low performing students. Here is an excerpt on research reported by Psychology Today:

"An emerging set of published studies suggest that a brief self-affirmation activity at the beginning of a school term can boost academic grade-point averages in underperforming kids at the end of the semester. This new work suggests a mechanism for these studies, showing self-affirmation effects on actual problem-solving performance under pressure," said J. David Creswell, assistant professor of psychology in CMU's Dietrich College of Humanities and Social Sciences.

These findings are not surprising or new, as many research studies have reported similar trends.

How, then, can teachers implement activities that align with the findings in growth mindset research and the power of positive affirmations?

Create a bulletin board with affirmation posters

Choose one affirmation each day, each week, or each month. Students can discuss the affirmation, apply it to their own lives, and incorporate into their self-talk.

Create smaller affirmation cards that students can keep in their desks, backpacks, or at home

It is beneficial for students to have their own stack of cards to draw from. Affirmation cards may even be housed in the classroom and given to students when affirmation behaviors have been exhibited.

Lead a short discussion about a given affirmation

Students will talk about its meaning and how the affirmation might look in action (inside and outside the classroom). Describing specific situations or instances where the behavior might occur is beneficial. Allow students to come up with their own ideas.

Students discuss their own self-talk

Self-talk is the voice that students hear in their heads regarding their own potential and abilities. How are those messages the same and different from the positive affirmations discussed in class? Allow students a few days to pay attention to their self-talk before you ask them to reflect on it. Most of the time, people don't pay attention to their self-talk (and may not even realize that they use negative self-talk regularly). Allowing students time to increase their own awareness of their self-talk will lead to more meaningful discussions.

Train students to listen to each other

When a student makes a limiting remark (indicative of a fixed mindset), classmates can be trained to respond. "Rephrase that statement using a growth mindset affirmation," for example. If a student says, "I can't do this, it's too hard," a possible rephrase might be, "I can do hard things!" Other options include "when something is difficult, I have the determination to see it through," or "I am capable of doing difficult things." Rephrasing limiting remarks can work to change the mindset of that student.

Teach students about the malleability of the brain and the importance of adopting a growth mindset

The more a student learns and the harder a student works, the smarter they become. It's a fact. Every student has unlimited potential. Their motivation and their willingness to accept challenges increases when they understand these concepts. This blog post, 10 Things You Need to Know About Growth Mindset, will provide you with a solid base for understanding growth mindset concepts.

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Choose affirmations based on the needs of your students. Create posters and/or affirmation cards or sticks (popsicle sticks, as shown below, work very well). If your students are struggling with a particular skill or strategy, focus on affirmations that will improve their mindset related to that skill.

Think about individual students in your class

Develop your own affirmations designed to combat their negative thinking and self-talk. For example, you may have students who struggle with anxiety, self-esteem, or confidence. Affirmations that target specific issues can be helpful for students to combat those struggles.

If you have limited time, snatch up affirmations that are already made

Many of the sets you see in these images were designed specifically for teaching growth mindset in the classroom. I've created many different sets of affirmations with varying purposes that can be found here. To snatch them up on TeachersPayTeachers, click here. You can also find sample affirmations in various products from my FREE resource library here. Not a member? No worries. It's easy to sign up here. The password for the free resource library will come in your welcome email.

Ask students to create their own

Brainstorm affirmations as a class and ask students to write down the ones that resonate the most. Use index cards, tongue depressors, or half sheets of paper to jot them down. Also, remember to provide clear expectations about the number of affirmations each student records.

Please use the comment section below to share all the clever ways that you utilize affirmations in your classroom. How does it impact student learning? the classroom climate? students' attitudes towards each other? Share your thoughts!
You may also be interested in these blog post articles:

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Using Affirmations to Shift Student Mindset * Kirsten's Kaboodle

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This post may contain affiliate links. Please see my disclosure here. Think back to your elementary years, your middle school years, and then your high school years. What was the little voice in your head saying to you about your abilities, your strengths, and your value as a human being?

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Oopsy Daisy To Live A Creative Life Canvas Art

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http://www.weareteachers.com/perfect-read-alouds-for-teaching-growth-mindset/

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animated video

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A young girl helps a tiny boy to fly home before it's too late! Use this delightful animated film in your classroom with our collection of cross-curricular teaching ideas and activities!

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The concept of a growth mindset was developed by psychologist Carol Dweck and popularized in her book, Mindset: The New Psychology of Success. In recent years, many schools and educators have started using Dweck’s theories to inform how they teach students.

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The Power of a Growth Mindset

In her powerful book, Mindset: The New Psychology of Success, Carol Dweck points out the difference between a fixed mindset and a growth mindset.

"In a fixed mindset, people believe their basic qualities, like their intelligence or talent, are simply fixed traits. They spend their time documenting their intelligence or talent instead of developing them. They also believe that talent alone creates success-without effort. They're wrong."

"In a growth mindset, people believe that their most basic abilities can be developed through dedication and hard work-brains and talent are just the starting point. This view creates a love of learning and a resilience that is essential for great accomplishment."[1]

Isn't that what we want for our students-a love of learning and resilience?

I had the chance recently to have a student explain to me his perspective on growth and achieving goals. Sitting with this eight-year-old student, I listened to him explain to me the details of his academic goals and work using his Leadership Notebook.

As soon as I sat down, he said, "Mr. Webb, let me show you what I've done!" For the next 10 minutes, there was a roller coaster of excitement, experiences, and data (good and not so good)... all collected in one conversation.

His excitement is best described as personal empowerment. His empowerment was authentic, earned, and celebrated. At Leader in Me Schools, educators strive to create a school culture that fosters this empowerment in their students. Having a growth mindset is a large part of that culture.

Everyone Can Be a Leader

A large part of having a growth mindset is believing natural intelligence and talents do not determine success or failure. One of the five Leader in Me paradigms is that "Everyone can be a leader," instead of the typical paradigm that "Leadership is for the few." This paradigm applies to students and adults.

Combining this paradigm with the growth mindset results in a powerful belief that anyone can be a leader if he or she decides to learn, work, and develop leadership skills and characteristics.

The Success in Failure

When children (and adults) set challenging goals, there is a risk and no guarantee that they will achieve it. It may be out of reach at the moment, but may be accomplished with more time and or work. This is one area where a growth mindset is strongest. Using the growth mindset allows us to help children (and adults) understand how hard they have worked, what they have learned, and how to grow from the experience.

The young man described above explained to me that he had not met his Accelerated Reader (AR) goal in the previous grading period. He talked about how he was disappointed, but knew that if he kept working, he would reach his goal. He had internalized the belief that if he put in his best efforts, it would pay dividends in the future. Not only did he meet his AR goals in the most recent grading period, he exceeded it. And he was already thinking about what he could accomplish in the next year.

Your Intentions Are Evidenced in Your Attentions

For this same young man, setting and achieving his goals was not the most impressive part of what he shared. It was his diligence in documenting his effort along the way. He was able to articulate how he was tracking his efforts weekly in pursuit of his goals. He was able to explain what went well on the weeks he made gains toward a goal, and what got in the way on the weeks he missed his target.

When I noticed in his binder that he had skipped an entire week of reading, he explained that he took spring break off because he needed a breather. But he then pointed out that he was back on track the following week. He was correct. His attention to action and documentation illustrated his intention to reach his goal.

Extensions to Other Areas in Life

With the holistic approach to Leadership Notebooks, students are able to learn and apply the growth mindset to other areas of life with equal potential. This same young man shared that he was able to also improve in his classroom behavior and in his math goals as well.

Near the end of our discussion, I asked him, "What makes all of this success possible?"

He replied, "Me!"

He certainly has a growth mindset.
What are you doing in your classroom to encourage your students to have a growth mindset?
[1] http://mindsetonline.com/whatisit/about/index.html

Tags: Carol Dweck, goals, growth mindset, leadership culture, school culture, student empowerment, student leadership, The Leader in Me, whole-child education

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The Power of a Growth Mindset - The Leader In Me

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In her powerful book, Mindset: The New Psychology of Success, Carol Dweck points out the difference between a fixed mindset and a growth mindset. "In a fixed mindset, people believe their basic qualities, like their intelligence or talent, are simply fixed traits. They spend their time documenting their intelligence or talent instead of developing them.

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This is a great article about praising the process, not the talent.

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-secret-to-raising-smart-kids1/

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https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/The-Power-of-Yet-Poster-FREEBIE-2586094

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http://brownbagteacher.com/growth-mindset/

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This article talks about the arts and how its natural for the arts to use failure as a positive method for developing growth mindset.

https://www.edutopia.org/practice/embracing-failure-building-growth-mindset-through-arts

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http://19xnly3cl9rt2qvk731lwbxpeay.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Growth-Mindset-Self-Talk-702x1024.jpg

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Here is a great article with some thoughts regarding Productive Struggle.

https://www.edutopia.org/blog/harnessing-power-of-productive-struggle-ellie-cowen