What is the Growth Mindset?
If this is your first time here, welcome! This is a 12-week series to help parents and teachers discover hidden gems across the internet that will help them teach Growth Mindset to the children in their lives.
What is it? Fixed versus Growth Mindset
A fixed mindset means a child believes his or her intelligence is set and that there’s no changing it. With a growth mindset, a child believes persistence and hard work lead to success.
How can you help?
**Allow children to make mistakes
**Praise them on the process (work) instead of the end result (grade)
** Teach them that mistakes and failures will help them learn and grow
**Help your child change their inner dialogue:
Instead of “I can’t do this,” teach them to say, “ I can’t do this yet.”
- Instead of “I’m not smart,” try “ I will learn to do this!”
- Instead of “That didn’t work!” tell them to say “There’s always Plan B!”
- Instead of “I give up!” have them practice saying, “I’ll try it a different way!”
- Instead of “This is too hard!” have them say “This may take some time.”
**Be mindful of areas that can promote a Fixed Mindset (undesirable mindset)
**Pay attention to: what children are
- Watching (television, youtube, etc.)
- What children listen to (music)
- What they are reading (books)
Use www.commonsensemedia.org for reviews and recommendations for children’s media and technology
Almost
Meet Jack. He’s almost six years old. And that’s almost grown up. After all, he can almost ride a big bike just like his older brother. And he almost never gets scared. This spunky little six-year-old is ready to take on the world. Well, almost. Richard Torrey’s sweetly funny tale is sure to resonate with any little guy who just can’t wait to be big.
How this book teaches Growth Mindset:
This story is about a little boy who uses the word “almost” in his vocabulary. This is very similar to all of the researchers and educators out there that encourage parents and teachers to use the word “yet” when teaching growth mindset. So instead of using “yet”, this little boy is saying “almost”. Let me give you an example – he says “I can ALMOST ride a big boy bike”. When teaching growth mindset we would teach the children to say “I can’t ride a big boy bike, YET”. It opens up the language for possibility and opportunity. It allows room for growth when you put the word “almost” and “yet” in your vocabulary. It’s also very simple to teach this to children.
A video to teach Growth Mindset:
Lesson on teaching Growth Mindset:
A Bulletin Board Idea for Growth Mindset
