I am so excited to be participating in the summer book study that Kindergarten Smorgasboard and Kindergarten Chaos are hosting. They have chosen the book 'Mindset' by Carok S. Dweck. At first glance, you might wonder, is this worth the read? It seems to be more about ways of thinking than strategies I could actually use in the classroom. I challenge you to read the first chapter and you will quickly see IF WE AS TEACHERS DO NOT HAVE THE RIGHT MINDSET IT DOES NOT MATTER WHAT STRATEGIES WE ARE USING. I had two major A Ha moments after reading this chapter. The first, I am on the right path with my students and having a growth mindset, but could definitely improve. The second, I do not have a growth mindset like I should for myself, I am taking care of others but I am not taking care of myself!
The first quote I found myself underlining was on page 4, "they didn't even think they were failing. They thought they were learning." Four pages into the book and what a great challenge for us to teach our students and ourselves as teachers. One reason I love teaching pre-K is I am the first teacher many of the students come in contact with. If I can have students from the beginning of their school career, they're learning journey, seeing school as a place of learning and trying until we learn, not a place where you have to worry about making mistakes and failing, how much more of an advantage will they be at?!?!?!
I really found myself underlining sentences on pages six and seven. The first one I underlined, "The view you adapt for yourself profoundly affects the way you lead your life." So many of us are teachers because we had someone who helped us have a positive view of ourselves and what we can do for others. Sadly we see some students come in our rooms who are from ways of life that have not taught them this. They come to us with the fixed mindset, "believing that your qualities are carved in stone." This brings to mind a pet peeve I have, where adults will say that a child is bad. Why are you being bad? You are so bad! Parents/adults that find them something this may not be trying to have a negative impact, but they are. I have found it is so much better for a child's self-esteem to point out they've made a bad choice. I will tell them, you made a bad choice, you're not bad, your choice was bad and next time you can make a better choice. I then offer them other choices they can make the next time or have them come up with choices they can make the next time, depending where they are. Many times I have seen a child's face look at me, as if they are thinking, she doesn't think I'm bad? She believes in me?
I cannot tell you how badly my toes hurt after this next sentence stepped all over them, "only the highest IQ students could be trusted to carry the flag, clap the racers, or take a note to the principal." I definitely have been guilty of this. I will say I did make some headway this past year. I had a student who I could tell could easily go down the wrong path, especially if he had a teacher that saw him as a problem and did not believe in him. I found giving him responsibility did wonders for his self-esteem. Often if I could sense his emotions were about to get the best of him, I would give him a job to do and he would calm down, probably do the job, and then go back to what he was supposed to be doing in the classroom. I look forward to the opportunity to do this for more students, to do it more intentionally for other students!
Page 8 is where I realized my mindset for myself was not a growth mindset. Dweck gives a scenario where several unfortunate events happen. After hearing the scenario, people with a fixed mindset said they would feel like a failure or an idiot, worthless, dumb, a reject. "Excuse me, was their death and destruction , or just a grade, a ticket, and a bad phone call? " I can't tell you how many times I looked at my paraprofessional and complained that the more I try to get ahead and be organized something happens. The copier doesn't work, a meeting comes up out of nowhere, we find out we have paperwork that is due that day to the office. I let things like this get to me instead of realizing it is not the end of the world. While it is OK, and normal as a human being to get discouraged, I am already being encouraged by this book to look for ways to turn negatives around.
As the chapter wraps up we are given the chance as readers to take a test to see what our mindset is. The results for me were that I was somewhat in the middle, but closer to the fixed mindset than I would like to be. Definitely room for improvement! "The fixed mindset makes you concerned with how you'll be judged, the growth mindset makes you concerned with improving. " While I strongly believe it is important to have a positive image, I definitely see that I need to strive for this without being worried about being judged. If I am doing my best as a teacher, and even going above and beyond what is expected, then I am doing amazing! I love how the chapter ends with great news, "the message is: you can change your mindset. "
No matter what grade or subject you teach I really hope you will consider joining in with this book study. I know I will use it in my classroom, as well as a mentor to some of the older students at my school, who so desperately need to see that a teacher believes in them and they can change their mindset!
