Friday, November 10, 2017

Growth Mindset and the Power of Yet!!!


WELCOME to Math Monday!


Growth mindset is a powerful tool using the power of "yet" enabling us to believe that we can achieve! 

The opposite of a growth mindset is a fixed mindset where one thinks they are just bad at something or that a subject such as math is just too difficult to learn. 
Bulletin Board from a Fourth Grade Classroom.


With a fixed mindset, you may give up rather than persevering with the belief that you can be successful, you just haven't learned it all yet!

In author Carol Dweck's Ted Talk "The Power of Yet", she discusses how the idea of "not yet....gives you a path to the future".

You can envision being successful with a growth mindset. We all develop beliefs about ourselves as learners. Believe that this is something we can do...always improve...comes from hard work. Effort is essential and it's the path to mastery.

Growth Mindset v Fixed Mindset.



Also, noted in Dweck's Ted Talk and on the website YouCubed, our brains respond significantly better to having a growth mindset with brain scans showing increased activity and growth.


Learning helps new neural pathways in our brains to form, strengthen, and make connections.






Learning as it relates to Math mentioned in YouCubed's Mindset Mathematics:


  • "Mistakes, struggle and challenge are the most important times for brain growth."
  • "Speed is unimportant in Mathematics."
  • "Mathematics is a visual and beautiful subject, and our brains want to think visually about mathematics.

Student generated self-talk ideas on post-it's.

How do we help our students have a growth mindset in math? Visual reminders such as the bulletin board message pictured in this blog of "...Yet" found in a fourth grade class may help.

Self-talk is important as are the words teachers use when discussing progress with their students. If a student hears from their teacher, "Mistakes help us learn and everybody makes them." and "I believe you can learn Math!" then they will begin to internalize that message.

Student reflection on what they can do well and what they need to improve on adds to having a positive growth mindset.

Encourage students to learn and read about others who have experienced success having a growth mindset.
                               
Carol Dweck states that "We are born to learn!". The power of the growth mindset...the power of "yet" is exponential... the more we use it the more it works!




"The Power of Yet" Ted Talk by Carol S. Dweck



Here is a growth vs fixed mind set free digital download for early Elementary classes from Shannon McKay on the Teachers Pay Teachers website. Click on the words digital download to follow the link for this template.

Growth Vs Fixed Mindset Activity
                                       

Here is another free digital download for Elementary students from Teachers Pay Teachers website:




A nice selection of Children's books found on Pinterest featuring growth mindset. More details may be found at Melissa Taylor's blog: Inspiration Soup - Reading, Writing, Learning!





Thank you for visiting, Tricia


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