Growth Mindset Plan

I have always believed our outlook, attitude, and thoughts drive us. If you have a positive outlook on things, positive things happen. You have to surround yourself with like-minded people in order to accomplish your goals and dreams. The quote by Charles R. Swindoll runs through my mind very often. “Life is 10 percent what happens to you and 90 percent how you react to it.”

In the first class of the DLL program 8 months ago, we learned about Growth Mindset.

Developing a growth mindset is important because it can help you be successful in all aspects of your life. It gives you a positive path, changes your way of thinking, and increases your ambition. It coincides with the all powerful word “yet”. It gives you hope and inspiration, and shows there is room for growth.

Another quote that I like is, “If you don’t like something change it. If you can’t change it, change your attitude” by Maya Angelou. This goes along with the word “yet”. When things seem impossible, you need to change your outlook. You must set yourself up for positive thinking. Only you can control your life and your destiny. You can make anything happen when you put your mind to it and set out on a new journey.

In the video, Carol Dweck posed a questions that stood out to me. She said, “How are we raising our children? Are we raising them for now instead of yet? Are we raising kids who are obsessed with getting A’s? Are we raising kids who don’t know how to dream big dreams?” This is food for thought.

I am developing and promoting the “yet” approach in my pre-k classroom. One of the areas in which I started changing things was the way I praise the students. I am being mindful of how I praise the students so that it is more of a growth mindset type praise. I am wanting to praise their hard work and effort. I want my students to be successful, thrive, and show growth. It is important to enhance their love for learning so that they are encouraged and want to learn more since they are four years old and this is their first time experiencing this thing called school.

Instead of “grades” on their report cards each term, we use a developmental scale of whether they have mastered the skill or not. They either receive a 1 or a 2. This is similar to “yet”. If they haven’t mastered the skill “yet”, they receive a 1. They have the whole year to work on their skill set. The goal is to have everyone receive a 2 at the end of the year.

Incorporating “Brag Tags” is another great way to inspire the growth mindset way of thinking. These tags have different accomplishments on them. It is also a way of tracking their progress, which is a district requirement. When we, as a class, talk about our “Brag Tags” and who has which one, we have been using the word yet. I think now it has become part of their regular vocabulary. I didn’t have to add “yet” for them, they added it themselves. I heard several say, “I don’t have that one yet,” as they pointed to one of their friends who has the tag. I guess that is pretty good for a four year old.

My grandma used to always tell us the proverb, “At first you don’t succeed try, try again.” When practicing a growth mindset you are setting yourself up for positive thinking, new learning opportunities, and allowing yourself to accomplish new things in life.