Encouraging Growth Mindset.

  It is February 1st.  I always surf the list of 80% off books on Amazon on the first day of the month to find books I want to buy.  Today, I found one I am truly interested in.  Its "The Growth Mindset Coach" by Annie Brock and Heather Hundley for $1.99.

No I haven't read it yet but I did buy it so I can download it to my tablet and spend time reading it.  It has a 4.5 star rating from 36 people.  Aside from the price, the big reason I down loaded it is simple.  It has both sample lessons and a month by month list.  Each month corresponds to a specific theme, complete with ideas, things to think about so you can use it all year long.

As far as I can tell it is a general book but it provides a starting point for those of use who need ideas.  This book is not specific to math since one author is an English teacher while the other is an elementary teacher.  I will get back to you on this book once I've read it.

In the meantime I found a lovely site called Growth Mindset Maths from England.  First thing I saw on the page was a great poster with a list of beliefs including one focusing on choosing challenging problems so we can keep learning and not giving up.  You can download the poster and place it around your classroom.

In addition, they provide some great sheets to help you help your students change their thinking.  For instance, the one on modeling a growth mindset has what to say instead of what is being said.  An example would be having the student ask themselves what they missed in the process rather than deciding they are stupid.  Or changing the "Its too hard" into "This is going to take some time."

There is also a wonderful presentation which helps students go through an activity which has them looking at ways to change thinking about things while they take notes to reinforce the material.  In addition, you'll find surveys and great material to help your students gain a growth mindset.

I plan to implement many of my suggestions in my classroom to try to eliminate the I can't or It's too hard attitudes. I have a few students who just cling to those beliefs so I need this to help me work on changing their mindset.

Let me know what you think.