When I read the second half of Mindset, Carol Dweck’s examples of great teachers and their practices stood out to me the most. I am specifically interested in her ideas and examples of teachers setting high standards, creating a nurturing atmosphere, and requiring kids to work hard. Thinking about my first year at Adams City Middle School, I set high standards for my students. I used the standards to drive my instruction and I learned new instructional strategies to meet the needs of students with varied English language skills. It wasn’t enough. I struggled with classroom management and getting my kids to work hard. When we received my data in the summer, I was disappointed. My principal was disappointed. My team was too. We needed to make changes.
So in my second year, we learned more strategies for differentiating instruction. We set high standards and provided the support to reach them. Still, we could not get the kids to work hard. Our problems with students’ behavior increased. When we received my data in the summer, I was disappointed. My principal was disappointed. My team was too. We needed to make changes – again! I did not know how many more instructional shifts I could to make but then I realized my instruction was not the problem. It was my approach to behavior management and relationship building.
While reading this book, my greatest “aha!” was the realization I can treat every instance in which a student is rude, off-task, disruptive, etc. as an opportunity to be kind, compassionate, firm, and fair. I started to get there earlier this summer but I couldn’t put all the pieces together until I read this part of the book. Creating a nurturing environment is essential for learning. A teacher can be equipped with the best research-based teaching strategies, but he/she will not be successful until they foster positive relationships with learners.
In my third year at ACMS, I’m approaching positive relationship building in two parts – by being kind & compassionate and firm & fair. I believe kindness and compassion are necessary to build trust. Students need to trust a teacher before buying into learning, especially kids confronting many challenges outside of school. Teachers need to show students they will not treat them poorly when they fail. Being firm and fair is also a necessity because it holds students accountable to high academic and behavioral standards. On page 200, Mrs. Collins exemplifies these ideas she is holding students accountable for their learning and behavior. By using these ideas, the start of my third year at ACMS has been much different.
Last week, I received my data from our first district assessment and my classes out performed my colleagues’ students. The major difference has been in my approach to behavior management. Students are now starting to use the reading and writing I have been trying to teach them all along. They are finally starting to work hard. More importantly, the feel of my classroom is different. I am happier to be there and I think kids are generally happy to be there too. I am having mostly positive interactions with students. Each day my positive interactions outweigh my negative interactions with students. This year my goal is to maintain the positivity by being kind, compassionate, firm, and fair and my belief is students will meet my high standards by using the strategies I put in place. If I can do that, I believe my students will grow as leaners.
Lesson Learning Targets
- I can categorize definitions and examples as a fixed or growth mindset.
- I can respond to scenarios from both a fixed and growth mindset.
As a hook, I would play the video “Carol Dweck – A Study on Praise and Mindsets.” There are a lot of videos about the book or on the topic of mindset but I like this one because has nice graphics to accompany the audio. I also prefer shorter video/audio clips and it is under 5 minutes.
After the video, I will have students sort cards with the different examples on page 245 by organizing the cards into two categories – fixed or growth. We will do a quick share out. Another option is to give each student a notecard with an example or definition written on it. As a group, we will create a large chart organizing the details into two categories. Either way, I would definitely use the image on page 245 during the share out and discussion.
Next, I will give students different scenarios from the text to further discussion. I will divide them into smaller groups. I will encourage students to discuss how people with both mindsets approach the scenarios but I think it would be interesting to see where discussion leads the group. To close the lesson, I will ask each group to share their ideas to the whole group.
Scenarios from the text
- Page 167: Bullying
- Page 180: Elizabeth the gymnast
- Page 183: Philip spilling nails
- Page 185: Learned messages
Wes Akers 
Leave a comment