Week #2 It's About to Get Real-Update

The first week of school was filled with smiles, excitement, new school supplies and dreams.  However by Friday issues were starting to rear their heads and the middle school drama was beginning to emerge,  Facebook drama, stressed out kids and hot tired teachers were the theme of the day.  The week had been very hot and humid and this 100 year old building becomes a brick oven under those conditions.  Everyone was thankful for the 3 day weekend and hopefully a cooling off in the weather would begin.

Now we are back for week 2 of school and the kids are quiet and a bit sleepy.  It is still hot and humid and that affects energy levels.

I am energized and excited to implement a variety of new strategies this year.  After reading about and researching growth mindset I feel like it would be an excellent strategy for my math intervention group.  There is a lot of research supporting growth mindset and data showing increased motivation, improved behavior, and increases in math and verbal achievement test scores.  Growth mindset originates from three decades of work by Carol Dweck. I am currently reading her book, Mindset: The New Psychology of Success

I see so many students that are only in 7th or 8th grade yet they have totally given up and decided that they will never be good at math or even school in general.  It is so disheartening to see 12 and 13 year olds decide at their young age to quit and not put forth effort because they truly believe they will never be successful at the math curriculum for their grade level.

I have read a few negatives regarding growth mindset however the positive seems to out weigh the "nay" sayers.  I will be continuing my research and planning on implementing this strategy with my intervention math group.  I will report back as I use these techniques and we will see how it impacts my students' motivation and ability to stay focused when they fail.  I hope to see them continue to work on challenging skills until they have mastery.

Have you used growth mindset in your classroom?  I would appreciate any comments(positive or negative) regarding your use of growth mindset in the classroom. Thanks!

 

Update:

 

The students began learning about growth mindset by analyzing how they feel when school work is difficult or challenging.  We discussed the differences between fixed mindset and a growth mindset.  After a lively discussion they designed their own motivating poster.