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
The Girl Who Never Made Mistakes by Gary Rubinstein
Meet Beatrice Bottomwell: a nine-year-old girl who has never (not once!) made a mistake. She never forgets her math homework, she never wears mismatched socks, and she ALWAYS wins the yearly talent show at school. In fact, Beatrice holds the record of perfection in her hometown, where she is known as The Girl Who Never Makes Mistakes. Life for Beatrice is sailing along pretty smoothly until she does the unthinkableshe makes her first mistake. And in a very public way!
How this book teaches Growth Mindset:
This book has to do with growth mindset because it is about a girl, Beatrice, who did everything perfect. Remember that, with growth mindset, we are encouraging children to make mistakes and to try new things – and that mistakes can help us to grow. Beatrice had a fan base because she never made mistakes. At the end of the story, after all her perfectionism came to an end, she made a big mistake. She decided, instead of crying about it, she would laugh about it. After making her big mistake, Beatrice was able to sleep better, had more fun and laughed a lot more. A wonderful lesson that mistakes can help us to grow and that they are OK.
A video to teach Growth Mindset:
Lesson on teaching Growth Mindset:
Follow Up Lesson using The Girl Who Never Made Mistakes: Miss Take
