Embrace Struggle #SAVMP 2:3

The Growth Mindset – Not Just a Kid Thing

The research by Carol Dweck has been so affirming for me as an educator. As a teacher, I always loved the most challenging students in my class because they caused me to grow and become a better teacher EVERY day. I was frequently setting goals and trying to grow and improve, and I also believed those same “hard to teach” students could grow at any second, minute, or hour of the day. I made it my personal challenge to meet them where they were and to unlock the key to their learning. Many times these were the students who were despised by other teachers. I even became the classroom where students who were kicked out of other classes ended up--yep, a new schedule was written with Rine as the new teacher! LOL. With my teaching eyes, I would size up every single student and ask myself the question, “How can I help you learn?” Many times, the obstacle was helping the student understand that they COULD achieve. Conquering a fixed mindset in a student can be a challenge.

With that sort of growth mindset in my teaching past, I have been so invigorated by Dweck’s research which is extremely popular right now. The growth mindset ensures that the opportunities for learning are present for the students. I am devastated, DEVASTATED, when I hear educator conversations that include statements like: “Oh, that teacher has (Insert name here) in his/her class. They can’t do anything with THAT child.” 

Our mindset has power. We can have a FIXED mindset where we let failure define who we are or a GROWTH mindset where we see setbacks as opportunities to grow and improve ourselves. I think of my short bout with cancer. I could be mad about the fact that I had to live through a season with cancer, and my life will never be the same because of it OR I can reflect on that difficult time and look for ways it has made me a stronger person. Probably the one way I see that experience as valuable has been the conversations and advice I have been able to give those who walk the "cancer walk" for the first time. I can share my experiences and help them know that it is not always fatal even though it will be traumatic. As teachers and educators, we encounter some very damaged children--maybe it is not cancer damage but we see physical abuse, sexual abuse, neglect, abandonment, and worse. I mourn that so many of them have seen so much evil in their short lives. But, I never count any of them out of the game. No matter how mischievous, lying or conniving a child might be, I show them the pathway to truth and life and especially the roads where education can lead them. I believe they can all grow. This  mindset can also translate to our impact on students. Do we view our students with a growth mindset and believe that they have the power to change their circumstances? Or do we view them with a fixed mindset that they cannot rise above their circumstances? To be a CHAMPION for a child, you must view them with a growth mindset.

Here are some resources from Project Happiness that compare and contrast the fixed vs. growth mindset. We are focusing on the growth mindset as part of our #SpeakLife theme this year at our school.

  Excerpted from: Project Happiness 

It Is up to you!	FIXED MINDSET Belief that intelligence, personality and character are carved in stone; potential is determined at birth.	GROWTH MINDSET Belief that intelligence, personality, and character can be developed! A person’s true potential is unknown and unknowable.
Desire	Look smart in every situation and prove myself over and over again. Never fail!	Stretch myself, take risks and learn. Bring on the challenges!
Evaluation of Situations	Will I succeed or fail? Will I look smart of dumb?	Will this allow me to grow? Will this help me overcome some of my challenges?
Dealing with Setbacks	“I’m a failure.” OR “I’m an idiot.”	“I failed.” BUT “I will try harder next time.”
Challenges	Avoid challenges, get defensive or give up easily.	Embrace challenges, persist in the face of setbacks.
Effort	Why bother? It’s not going to change anything.	Growth and learning require effort.
Criticism	Ignore constructive criticism.	Learn from criticism. How can I improve?
Success of Others	Feel threatened by the success of others. If you succeed, then I fail.	Find lessons & inspiration in other people’s success.
Result	Plateau early, achieve less than my potential.	Reach ever-higher levels of achievement.

Here is a video from Dweck that we watched during our pre-service training days. I encourage you to shift from a fixed mindset to a growth mindset. #YouCanLearnAnything

Follow this link if this video display below for you! #YouCanLearnAnything

#SpeakLife ~ Use Your Words to Inspire

     Last week we had our first day back to school for the faculty, and that first day is always a special time as we set the tone for the coming school year. I live by themes and inspirational messages as they carry me through the tough times. During our first year together at Cherry Street (two years ago), we used a simple theme of "Oh the Places You'll Go" from Dr. Seuss's famous book as an attempt to unify a campus to begin moving together on the same journey. The nice thing about that theme was that the journey in that book takes some time, and that inference could also be used about the journey we were beginning together. During our second year together, we used the theme of Champions. This was based on Rita Pierson's inspiring message that..."Every child deserves a Champion -- an adult who will never give up on them, who understands the power of connection, and insists that they become the best that they can possibly be." The YouTube video of her dynamic message can be seen here:

     Every morning before school, our amazing media specialist, Story Lori, would play this song about Champions for our staff and students before the first bell rang so that we would recall, daily, our mission to be a student's champion. This song, called "Champions" was written for the Olympic Games and sponsored by Duracell.

     I strongly believe that our teachers and staff need inspiration and unity as we begin this upcoming school year. It is a difficult time to be an educator. Crushing regulations and hyper-accountability have put our teachers in a pressure cooker of performance. While the mission is especially challenging in high poverty schools, our schools have the ability to be high performing schools if provided with the best resources--incredible teachers.

     Our new theme for the 2014-2015 school year is #SpeakLife based on the song by TobyMac. We are focusing on the one thing that can make or break a classroom....the environment. The best teachers have strong classroom communities and cultures. You can walk into a classroom with a high performing educator, and you will be mesmerized because they weave a magic that captures their students' imaginations while at the same time they provide a structured and well-managed safe classroom where failure and struggle to learn are honored as part of the class community. According to Charlotte Danielson's Framework for Teaching, this trait is outlined as that ever important component 2A, Environment of Respect & Rapport. There are so many quotes that support this year's theme. For example, I have always heard, "They don't care what you know if they don't know you care." The thoughts about this approach to teaching are endless. With issues like bullying and cyberbullying escalating in our educational contexts, the #SpeakLife theme could certainly solve many issues if we tried to use it in every area of our lives. Check out the cool lyrics here below in a YouTube version of the song:  

     I never know what our teachers are thinking and if the things we do together resonate until they surprise me with wonderful emails or texts or notes. When I woke this morning, I received this amazing email from a new teacher on our campus. You can certainly tell from the tone of the message she is excited, and she has not only embraced the #SpeakLife message, but she has also brought it to her students. I have not included her name here because I have not had a chance to ask her permission to use her name in my BLOG, so I have left off her name. But you can see that good things are happening in her classroom. I have also added the video that she used parts of for her students. It is that same old bullying issue, and the symbolism in the video shows what can happen when children speak "life" to each other. What a FANTASTIC lesson for our children and for us ALL. Here is the email:

Here is the video she references where she showed parts:

     So, as you go through your day, #SpeakLife, and know that we are speaking it at Cherry Street Elementary!

#SpeakLife