Elyse Mastel-Grade 1/2:
I was excited to begin teaching growth mindset to my grade 1/2’s. After taking education classes for a semester at The University of Lethbridge, and learning about growth mindset and the power of the brain, I was eager to implement new teaching into my practice. I was happy to have a colleague join me in this project, and to see how her students (of different ages and grades) would respond to the lessons and activities.
I delivered the preliminary survey to my class without explaining growth and fixed mindset. I wanted to get their purest thoughts on the questions, without being influenced by what they thought I wanted their answers to be. For grade 1 &2’s, self-reflection is something they struggle with. Even after doing a self-assessments and reflections in other classes, they struggled with choosing the best answer for what they believed about the various statements.
The part of this project that demonstrated the best results were the weekly lessons on growth mindset. I was really impressed with their understanding of the various topics that were taught. For example, when discussing the potential of the brain, I worried it would be too much for them to grasp. Although, when reviewing the lesson the next week, they were able to recall the information from the lesson before. For most students, I believe they were able to take something away from one of the lessons. Whether it was about their brain being like a muscle or the difference between a fixed and growth mindset, there seemed to be an overall understanding throughout the classroom.
Evidence of this learning came mostly in the form of changes in the student’s vocabulary. When learning something new, there were many times when I would hear students either correct themselves or each other when they heard a fixed mindset statement. For example, when building tepees in Science, many students became frustrated when their creation would fall over. I heard many encouraging statements to one another about having a growth mindset, and students correcting themselves from saying “this is too hard!” to “I need to try another way!” Adding “yet” to the end of their sentences and then continuing to persist in their work was something I could see in many subjects, including Science and PE.
Overall, hearing them discuss their learning in an independent way was reassuring for lessons that I had been teaching. After the final survey, I still found it hard to assess if there was any change in their mindset, but hearing them speak the vocabulary of a growth mindset was evidence of, if not a shift, an attainment of a growth mindset. In terms of this affecting their status as ELL students, I can’t say for sure that they were able to change their mindset in terms of their language acquisition. They were given a lot of information and many tools to shape their mindset themselves. When teaching lessons, I did not provide subject specific examples, but encouraged a general/overall growth mindset in many/all areas of life. The benefits of teaching growth mindset to ELL students, for me, is that they will attain tools and skills that will help them self-regulate their mindsets in all areas of life. For our students, language acquisition is something they will be dealing with for many years to come in their education, and if they can apply a growth mindset to the struggles that could come, they will be able to persevere through the tribulations and grow from the challenges.
I delivered the preliminary survey to my class without explaining growth and fixed mindset. I wanted to get their purest thoughts on the questions, without being influenced by what they thought I wanted their answers to be. For grade 1 &2’s, self-reflection is something they struggle with. Even after doing a self-assessments and reflections in other classes, they struggled with choosing the best answer for what they believed about the various statements.
The part of this project that demonstrated the best results were the weekly lessons on growth mindset. I was really impressed with their understanding of the various topics that were taught. For example, when discussing the potential of the brain, I worried it would be too much for them to grasp. Although, when reviewing the lesson the next week, they were able to recall the information from the lesson before. For most students, I believe they were able to take something away from one of the lessons. Whether it was about their brain being like a muscle or the difference between a fixed and growth mindset, there seemed to be an overall understanding throughout the classroom.
Evidence of this learning came mostly in the form of changes in the student’s vocabulary. When learning something new, there were many times when I would hear students either correct themselves or each other when they heard a fixed mindset statement. For example, when building tepees in Science, many students became frustrated when their creation would fall over. I heard many encouraging statements to one another about having a growth mindset, and students correcting themselves from saying “this is too hard!” to “I need to try another way!” Adding “yet” to the end of their sentences and then continuing to persist in their work was something I could see in many subjects, including Science and PE.
Overall, hearing them discuss their learning in an independent way was reassuring for lessons that I had been teaching. After the final survey, I still found it hard to assess if there was any change in their mindset, but hearing them speak the vocabulary of a growth mindset was evidence of, if not a shift, an attainment of a growth mindset. In terms of this affecting their status as ELL students, I can’t say for sure that they were able to change their mindset in terms of their language acquisition. They were given a lot of information and many tools to shape their mindset themselves. When teaching lessons, I did not provide subject specific examples, but encouraged a general/overall growth mindset in many/all areas of life. The benefits of teaching growth mindset to ELL students, for me, is that they will attain tools and skills that will help them self-regulate their mindsets in all areas of life. For our students, language acquisition is something they will be dealing with for many years to come in their education, and if they can apply a growth mindset to the struggles that could come, they will be able to persevere through the tribulations and grow from the challenges.
Adara Morrow - Grades 3/4
Over my summer electives at the university, there was a huge focus on the subject of growth mindset. In one of my classes, I even choose to present a book that focus on the importance of growth mindset in the classroom. This why I was so excited to find out that Elyse shared a desire to explore the same sort of topic for our PIP. We set out to outline realistic ways any teacher could incorporate these achievable goals and methods for ELL students.
We started out with the survey which provided less than reliable results due to the way we worded our questions, after some revision and discussion with our class, it became clear that there was wide discrepancy between the students mindsets, some felt confident in all subjects while other students only showed a growth mindset on a few questions. I quickly set out to come up with ways that I could incorporate strategies into the classroom. What I was quick to find out that the most influential part of our growth mindset focus time was usually our discussions. We would usually start by watching the Class Dojo video, which was followed by a class discussion and mini lesson. In these discussions, I would use a mix of anecdotal stories to model a growth mindset, then students would connect the topic to their own life. To conclude, students would repeat phrases like "We can make our brain stronger" out loud. This would usually be followed by an activity such as the goal setting or the perseverance activity.
I saw students start to show these changes in small ways throughout our time together, at one point when we were setting goals and discussing ways we could achieve these goals, I made note of a few students goals and steps they were making to reach them. The next day, one students choose a different place to sit, and when I asked why he had made this choice he responded "This is one way I get better and closer to my goal". This was a eye-opening conversation as I saw students making independent decisions to grow, even if it meant trying harder or not achieving their goal on the first day.
Overall, I was impressed with my students and how they started to embrace the philosophy of a growth mindset. Integrating the ELL aspect of our PIP proved to be more difficult than anticipated. The fabric of this school is ELL at it's core, so it almost does not feel present. To support ELL students we used a mix of visual and hand-ons mediums to help students learn about a growth mindset. In many of our discussions, we focused on their ability to write and read, as many students felt this was the biggest area of growth. We choose to address their ELL needs through the provision of strategies that they can use on their life-long journey of language learning. We indirectly touched on the areas they struggle with the most regularly as a result of their ELL status, and we saw the benefits of this in their writing and general attitude. I can strongly support the fact that having a growth mindset benefits ELL students. As a second and third language learner myself, it is easy to get frustrating and stagnant in the development of skills. Having a growth mindset in language acquisition and in other areas helps students helps ensure that students are consistently growing and seeking to develop their brain. If our students understood our message, which our evaluations support, that they can achieve anything with practice and time, then I am confident they will go on to continue their journey as strong ELL students.
I feel more equipped as an educator entering my own classroom, and now feel more confident in providing growth mindset based instruction to ELL students and non-ELL students alike. I am excited to use these learn strategies in the future and incorporate them into my own teaching moving forward.
We started out with the survey which provided less than reliable results due to the way we worded our questions, after some revision and discussion with our class, it became clear that there was wide discrepancy between the students mindsets, some felt confident in all subjects while other students only showed a growth mindset on a few questions. I quickly set out to come up with ways that I could incorporate strategies into the classroom. What I was quick to find out that the most influential part of our growth mindset focus time was usually our discussions. We would usually start by watching the Class Dojo video, which was followed by a class discussion and mini lesson. In these discussions, I would use a mix of anecdotal stories to model a growth mindset, then students would connect the topic to their own life. To conclude, students would repeat phrases like "We can make our brain stronger" out loud. This would usually be followed by an activity such as the goal setting or the perseverance activity.
I saw students start to show these changes in small ways throughout our time together, at one point when we were setting goals and discussing ways we could achieve these goals, I made note of a few students goals and steps they were making to reach them. The next day, one students choose a different place to sit, and when I asked why he had made this choice he responded "This is one way I get better and closer to my goal". This was a eye-opening conversation as I saw students making independent decisions to grow, even if it meant trying harder or not achieving their goal on the first day.
Overall, I was impressed with my students and how they started to embrace the philosophy of a growth mindset. Integrating the ELL aspect of our PIP proved to be more difficult than anticipated. The fabric of this school is ELL at it's core, so it almost does not feel present. To support ELL students we used a mix of visual and hand-ons mediums to help students learn about a growth mindset. In many of our discussions, we focused on their ability to write and read, as many students felt this was the biggest area of growth. We choose to address their ELL needs through the provision of strategies that they can use on their life-long journey of language learning. We indirectly touched on the areas they struggle with the most regularly as a result of their ELL status, and we saw the benefits of this in their writing and general attitude. I can strongly support the fact that having a growth mindset benefits ELL students. As a second and third language learner myself, it is easy to get frustrating and stagnant in the development of skills. Having a growth mindset in language acquisition and in other areas helps students helps ensure that students are consistently growing and seeking to develop their brain. If our students understood our message, which our evaluations support, that they can achieve anything with practice and time, then I am confident they will go on to continue their journey as strong ELL students.
I feel more equipped as an educator entering my own classroom, and now feel more confident in providing growth mindset based instruction to ELL students and non-ELL students alike. I am excited to use these learn strategies in the future and incorporate them into my own teaching moving forward.