A Minion Reasons To Be Thankful

The other day, there was student work in the hallway that caught my eye. I asked to participate in their creation. And then I asked about allowing the students the opportunity to publish their work via my blog in-order to enhance student voice and increase the reach of their audience. What follows is the work of our students in Mrs. Sulhoff's second grade classroom.

I am thankful for the teachers that keep us safe. Taylor

I am thankful for good food.
Lucas

I am thankful for teachers.
James

I am  thankful for lots of reading. Bri


I am thankful for the support at school.
Kael

I am thankful for the people that provide us lunch.
Logan

I am thankful for art. Cayden

I am thankful for learning. Aliscea

I am thankful for people who help me. Olivia

I am thankful the teachers.  Carsen

I am thankful for teachers. Pearl

I am thankful for the kids. Payton

I am thankful for a clean school. Brixton

I am thankful for...
  1. Teachers
  2. Learning
  3. Safety
  4. Art
  5. Math
Love,
 Ainsley

I'm thankful for the healthy food. Ayden

I am thankful for learning. Quincy


I am thankful for teachers because they help us learn! Hailey Netser

I am thankful for being safe. Graci

I'm thankful for P.E. because we get exercise. Wade

Thanks, Mrs. Sulhoff's class, for your awesome thinking and writing!

Mindset

"I can't do that."

"I give up."

"I'm not a good writer."

How many of you have children and/or students that have said these things? How many of you have said these things yourself? 

These are statements that come from a fixed mindset. People with a fixed mindset believe that intelligence is something that is determined at birth.  A fixed mindset causes us to give up easily and become frustrated with challenges. Having a fixed mindset can be an obstacle for learning. 

Contrary to a fixed mindset is a growth mindset. A growth mindset causes us to embrace mistakes and challenges as learning opportunities. A growth mindset is ideal for learning because of the belief that intelligence is something that is developed through hard work and effort. As a result, we are attempting to establish a growth mindset throughout Riverside Elementary School.



Several years ago, I read Dr. Carol Dweck's book, Mindset. As an educator, as a parent, and as a person I loved what this book had to say. My biggest takeaway after reading the book (for the first time) was to make every effort to no longer tell any child/student how smart he/she is.

I have started to re-read Mindset for a book study that I'm involved in with my Highland CSD administrative team, this fall.

Also this year, during guidance lessons, our students have been learning about mindset with our guidance counselor, Ms. DeLacy. She has been incorporating picture books such as The Dot and The Most Magnificent Thing into her teaching about mindset. It is neat to see the impact that these lessons are having on our students! Just earlier today, while playing some online math games with our third grade students, I made the mistake of stating how a task that was presented to me was impossible. I regretted my words after I was called out by one of the students who told me, "Mr. Ewald, that's a fixed mindset." 

And this week, Ms. DeLacy and myself planned and delivered some mindset professional development for the teachers at Riverside Elementary School. Due to the overwhelmingly positive response to our professional development, we are excited to be going forward with a mindset book study at our school. 

The following links are some of the resources that were shared to support the understanding of mindset and the implications that it can have on learning and teaching for our teachers: 

• The Power of Belief - Mindset and Success - Eduardo Briceno (TED talk)
• A Study on Praise and Mindsets - Dr. Carol Dweck (video)
• Developing a Growth Mindset - Dr. Carol Dweck (video)
• The Perils and Promises of Praise by Dr. Carol Dweck (ASCD article)
• Even Geniuses Work Hard by Dr. Carold Dweck (ASCD article)

There are almost an infinite amount of hits that return from a simple Google search re. Mindset. My (current) favorite is a blog posted to the Huffington Post written by the founder of the Khan Academy, Salman Khan - Why I'll Never Tell My Son He's Smart. 

There is great news shared, in Salman Khan's Huffington Post blog (linked, above), about how, "The research shows that just being exposed to the research itself for example knowing that brain grows most by getting questions wrong, not right can begin to change a person's mindset."

I'd like to conclude with something for you to reflect upon. Think about something that you used to be poor at, and are now good at. Think about what happened in-order to shift from being poor at something to being good at that same something. Chances are it was hard work and/or practice. That is an example of the growth mindset.