Growth Mindset & The Power of "Yet"

Have you ever heard your child say things like, "I can't do math. I'm not smart enough", or "I'll never be as good as her"? That's called having a Fixed Mindset! In our classroom this year, one of my main goals is to help build and support a positive learning community, and in doing so, help students develop their own Growth Mindset philosophies. In short, having a Fixed Mindset means that you believe intelligence is fixed, and that effort does not have anything to do with success. On the other hand, having a Growth Mindset means that you believe that your intelligence can be developed, and you believe in the power of "yet" (I can't do that...YET). Here's an infographic outlining what it means to have a Fixed vs. Growth Mindset.

In class, we began by learning specifically about the two mindsets, and discussing how we all have Fixed Mindsets about something! We watched a short clip about our brain's elasticity, and what happens to our brain when we continuously do easy things, and what also happens when we continuously choose to challenge ourselves. Ask your child at home!  In pairs we talked about the wall posters (pictured below) and how we can use them in our daily language.

Since this discussion, we have been referring to "mindset moments" constantly! I love how students have been reminding each other when they hear Fixed Mindset talk, and how they recommend a new way to approach a challenging situation.  Each week, we will spend a few moments referring to this philosophy. I hope this new way of thinking inspires you to notice when you may have a Fixed Mindset, and encourages you to approach learning and effort in a different way.

Fourth Grade: The Daily 5

If you haven't heard already, we've finally launched The Daily 5, and the results so far have been truly remarkable. In short, The Daily 5 is a literacy structure that teaches independence and gives children the skills they need to create a lifetime love of reading and writing. It consists of five tasks (Read to Self, Work on Writing, Word Work, Read to Someone, Listen to Reading) that are introduced individually. When introduced to each task, the children discuss what it looks like, sounds like, and feels like to engage in the task independently. Then, the children work on building their stamina until they are successful at being independent while doing the task. Once they are successful, the "real" daily 5 begins. Check back later for another post about that!

We've also charted ways we can be independent during Read to Self and Work on Writing. These charts are called I-charts (I for independence). Here we are building Read to Self stamina. Ask us how we're independent during this task!

Below is our stamina chart. Look at how far we've come in just 4 days of practice!!!

In addition to Read to Self, we've also built stamina for Read to Someone and Work on Writing. 

Ask your child to tell you more about our options during Word Work and Listen to Reading!

Fourth Grade: Community Building

Welcome back, everyone!
We have had an exciting and busy first few weeks of fourth grade in room 22. I'm so glad to be learning and teaching with each one of you this year. We all have something unique to bring to the table, and I can't wait to get to know everyone.

If you haven't already heard by now, the first few days of Fourth Grade were AWESOME! We spent so much time learning about one another, hearing stories of summer, and playing cooperative challenge games. The most important activities within these first few days are those that involve community building.

Building a classroom community is my top priority as an educator. In a true community of learners (including teachers) a support system is built in which we can all feel comfortable sharing triumphs, tragedies, and pieces of joy from our everyday lives. We are safe to take risks, to grow together, and to develop into our true selves.

The first community building activity we did together was the Cup Challenge. Students were grouped in 4s (or 3s) and were challenged to stack 7 cups in a pyramid. Sounds easy, right? Not so much!! They were not allowed to use their hands, feet, etc. at any time, and could only move the cups with the string/rubber band contraption provided. Check out some of us in action!

The next day, we had a circle conversation about why communities are important, and what it takes to build one and maintain one. After, students were given boxes of spaghetti and marshmallows to build a marshmallow community! The one and only rule was that each student's structure, road, etc. MUST connect, in some way, to another person's.

The following week, we had a chance to sit down together and talk about what kinds of things we will each need to feel successful, safe, and happy this year in room 22. Our list of brainstormed ideas barely fit on our whiteboard! Here were some of our ideas: be responsible, respectful, nice, kind, don't bully, include others, listen, try your best, do the right thing, tell a teacher when you see bullying, be helpful, don't run in the halls... the list goes on. Together, we then worked on grouping and combining our ideas into a set of succinct thoughts. Room 22 is proud to announce our Class Promise! *Check back tomorrow morning for a photo of our poster, signed by each of us!