Mary Cay Ricci - Mindsets in the Classroom: Building a Growth Mindset Learning Community

Welcome/Outcomes

Review outcomes and agenda

Ask participants to post any questions that they have on the chart bin or parking lot as the day progresses. Facilitator will make every effort to discuss bin items.

• Flipchart or PowerPoint with outcomes
• Chart paper and sticky notes for bin

Inform participants that in a few minutes they will read an article that discusses one aspect of equitable education. The author, Dr. Carol Dweck, describes two sets of beliefs that people have about intelligence.

On the paper that says My beliefs about intelligence teachers will write down a statement that summarizes answers to the following:

• What were you taught about student intelligence?
• What do you believe about student intelligence based on your own observations?

When they are complete, they should put the paper in the envelope, seal it, and write their name and date on the front. The facilitator should collect these and save them for the last professional learning session so the participants can note if their beliefs have changed in any way.

As they read the article, Mind-sets and Equitable Education by Carol Dweck, from Principal Leadership, have participants use a highlighter to identify interesting or new information.

Tell them, Write down your initial thoughts/feelings about what you just read. If you finish the article or have already read the article, please choose an alternative reading that can be found in the anchor activities folder.

• Copies of Mind-sets and Equitable Education article
• Highlighters
• Anchor activity folder with recent articles about mindsets as it relates to education.

Discuss the article. You may use the following questions as discussion starters (ask participants to think about life outside of school):

• In what areas do you think you have a fixed mindset?
• A growth mindset?

Facilitator should share a personal experience that demonstrates a fixed mindset; for example:

• I have a very fixed mindset when it comes to technology in fact, my family gave me an electronic tablet as a gift many years ago when they first came out, and I wasnt sure that I wanted to keep it. I felt that learning how to operate it would be impossible for me because I do not have a talent for technology. Since getting into this research, I have realized that with effort, I can learn to do anythingI just have to be willing to put in that effort.

At your table, choose one of the following questions to discuss:

• Do we, as a society, believe in a growth mindset? Why or why not?
• Is this what we were taught? Or how we were taught?
• For some of us, this is a challenging concept to believe in. Why?

• PowerPoint with questions or handout with questions

Why Now?

Discuss the following ideas with participants:

• We continually learn new things about the brain and how people learn and react to situations and relationships.
• How will research about mindsets have a positive impact on our students?

How Do We Praise Our Students?

Ask participants to think of some ways that parent and teacher praise can influence the formation of these mindsets. At tables discuss some specific examples of praise that may manifest a fixed mindset. Tell participants:

• Every word and action sends a message. It tells children how to think about themselves. It can be a fixed mindset message that says, You have permanent traits, and Im judging them. For example: You are so smart.

Ask participants to come up with other examples that demonstrate a fixed mindset. Record responses on chart paper divided into two columns: Fixed Messages and Growth Messages. Tell participants:

• It can be a growth mindset message that says: You are a developing person and I am interested in your development, You put a lot of effort into that, and it shows!

Ask participants to come up with other examples that demonstrate growth mindset praise. Record responses on the chart paper.

Participants view and discuss the following video: Carol Dweck: A Study on Praise and Mindsets (Trevor Ragan) at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NWv1VdDeoRY

• Chart paper with two columns: Fixed Messages and Growth Messages

Learning and the Brain

Discuss the brain with participants:

• Research over the past few decades has expanded our understanding of the brains capacity to develop new ability. The brain has great capacity to develop through exercise at the right depth and challenge level. This is the condensed version of how the brain works:
  • The brain is made up of a network of neurons.
  • When we learn something new, neurons make connections to each other.
  • When we practice, put forth effort, and persist, these neural connections become stronger and the brain becomes denser.
  • The rate of density depends on how much the brain is stimulated and actively used.
  • We become smarter when we learn new things!

Demonstrate neural connections using thread (a weak understanding), string (on the way to mastery), and a rope (mastery).

Ask for 3 to 5 volunteers to be neurons. These volunteers can hang a paper neuron around their neck.

Ask the group neurons if someone could share something new that they learned recently (e.g., knitting, golfing, new standards).

For illustrative purposes, we will choose Saras response. Sara shared that she is just learning about the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS). Announce that this group of neurons now represents part of Saras brain.

Take a thin piece of thread and ask two of the neurons to connect using this thread. This thin connection will represent Saras new learning of the NGSS. She is just beginning to learn about them, so this is a weak connection.

Ask Sara if there is something that she has learned and that she is getting better at but still might need some practice. In this case Sara may respond with formative assessment. At that point, two of the people neurons can connect using a thicker connection, a piece of string. This represents a better understanding of formative assessment, but it is not yet at mastery level.

Then propose the following scenario: Lets look at Saras NGSS connection. It is represented by a thin piece of thread. What will happen to this connection after Sara has more experience learning about and practice with the NGSS? Lets say that Sara reads about, watches videos, asks questions, persists, and puts forth a lot of effort into incorporating the standards into her classroom and is at the point where she can teach others about the standards. How will this connection change? At this point, demonstrate how this thread of a connection is replaced with a strong, thick rope.