Ep 93 // Exploring Growth Mindset with Victoria from The Mindful Apple
Inside This Week’s Episode: — We’ve all heard that growth mindset is important for elementary students - but what does this actually look like in our every day classrooms? In this interview with school social worker and social emotional learning expert, Victoria from The Mindful Apple, we learn how classroom teachers can embed practices of growth mindset into everyday teaching.
Students don’t just need to grow academically.
As teachers, we aim to teach the whole child, right?
This of course includes helping our students learn to read and write and everything in between.
But - we also want to help our students learn that they have control over their ability to learn. They can train their brains to push through when things get challenging.
Students have the ability to see failures as learning opportunities, to see struggles and successes in the making.
This is at the heart of growth mindset. It’s the idea that learning is a journey, a process - not a talent. Having a growth mindset can help students on all levels, abilities, and walks of life to overcome obstacles and develop a love of learning.
In this week’s episode, I have brought back on our resident expert on social emotional learning, Victoria from The Mindful Apple.
As a school social worker, Victoria works with teachers and students alike to help develop a growth mindset so that they can be successful, not just in the classroom, but in life.
Get Ready to Master Growth Mindset in the classroom:
Here’s a Snapshot:
Growth Mindset is a powerful mindset to have. It is the belief that you can learn new things. With hard work and study, your brain CAN grow and stretch. We need instill this same belief into kids at a young age so that they can grow deeper and deeper into this belief as they get older. Growth mindset sets the stage for learning all other social emotional skills.
Growth mindset teaches us perseverance to push through when things get hard. The more we try new things and the more we allow ourselves to take on new challenges, the stronger our brain grows to be able to continue to do so in the future.
Growth mindset is contagious! The more a student’s teachers and peers show growth mindset, the more they will develop their own growth mindset.
Embrace the power of “YET.” Growth mindset helps students to see that even though they might not be able to do something….YET… they can work toward that goal. This teaches students that they don’t have to accept that they can’t do something. They simple just can’t do it….yet!
We need to normalize the struggle. Students need to see that struggling is just part of the process and that struggle in and of itself is not failure.
Help students to understand the difference between fixed vs. growth mindset. When students begin to recognize the differences, they can get more practice choosing the growth mindset belief.
Links & Resources Mentioned in the Episode
EPISODE 60: Easy Calming Strategies for Elementary Students
EPISODE 86: Making Social Emotional Learning MORE Than a Buzzword
RESOURCE: FREE Growth Mindset Sort
Victoria’s Social Emotional Learning Curriculum
Connect with Victoria:
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