Fall Mindset for Learning

The scent of fall is riding in silently on the chill of the morning air, slowly closing the door to summer.  I love summer and feel some what cheated because I was too busy with summer school and juggling family stuff to take the time to appreciate summer as fully as I usually do.  Such is the life of a working mother and I know a lot of people reading this can relate.  There never is enough time in the day to complete all the plans and projects on my list.  Now that I am back in school full time again the list is even longer and the time is consumed even faster.

I have been looking into new strategies to motivate my reading and math intervention groups.  Based on every teachers' favorite tool "data" (do I sound some what sarcastic? ... good) we group students and spend 45 minutes daily on intervention in small groups.  I work with a mixed group of special education students and students who struggle with proficient mastery of skills at grade level.  One of the biggest road blocks to move these students on is motivation.  They have simply given up and and therefore they are highly unmotivated.  I have been reading and researching about  Growth Mindset and I believe this needs to be a starting point for my intervention group.
A lot of struggling students lose their confidence in their ability to master a skill and by the time they reach adolescence the damage is done.  They have decided they are never going to be good at math, reading, or both due to repeated failures at attempts to master concepts. 
Even as an adult how many times are you willing to attempt to do something that you fail miserabely at? Once? Twice?  Do you tell yourself on the third attempt,"I am not good at this and I don't think I will be able to do it".  Then do you avoid any opportunities that involve attempting that failed attempt again?  We have all had those thoughts and our students do to when it comes to many areas of school curriculum. 

My students start each intervention period working on confidence and motivation.  Our first intervention time was spent talking about failure and viewing it as a learning experience.  We made personal motivation posters which are hanging in the room.

Introduction to intervention has evolved into a kind of a short  "pep rally" to help students approach our work with motivation and a willingness to engage in difficult tasks.  I am in the process of researching further activites to start out my intervention time that will be motivating and help them think about failure in different terms.

I will also be taking time to enjoy the approaching autumn and the beautiful sights, smells, and activities that come with it. 

 Yikes!  It seems like my Concord grapes were green just last week and now look at them, purple and very ripe.  I guess I will be setting time aside this weekend to make refrigerator grape jelly.