Growth Mindset Coach Resource

The Growth Mindset Coach by Brock and Hundley is a great resource to apply growth mindset in your classroom.  We would like to share with you some highlights from the September and October chapters of this book.   In addition to these resources, the book has some lesson plans that you can implement.  If you are interested in learning more, please contact one of your instructional coaches or fill out a coaching form to work together.

 

“My Brain is Like a Muscle that Grows!”

Neuroplasticity – Brain’s plasticity is the brain’s ability to change itself throughout our lives.

Our brains have the capability to rewire themselves to adapt to a situation.

Think of our brain like a muscle – lifting weights and exercising makes our muscles stronger – when we exercise our brain by learning new things it becomes denser and heavier.

 

Brain -Centric Teaching

Metacognition is thinking about how we think.  Thinking awareness is a cornerstone of a growth-oriented classroom and should be part of well-rounded instruction on how the brain learns.  Metacognition is planning and reflecting about your learning on a new plane of consciousness that many students aren’t given the opportunity to access during the school day.  Using metacognitive strategies of reflection and self-regulation requires students to step back and evaluate where they are and how they got there and where they need to be and how they can get there; it’s also one of the most important life skills that our students are not being taught.

 

Strategies to guide students to deeper thinking:

  • Determine Schema:  Assess student knowledge using pre/self-assessments.  Determine what students know and what connections they’ve made and still need to make.  Pre-learning activates thinking on prior knowledge and learning experiences.
  • Thinking Stems:

 

  • Think Sheets:  Similar to thinking stems, but printed for students to fill out.  This gives them a valuable opportunity to use metacognition.
  • Journaling: Having students free-write on their thinking processes may help them to uncover information on their approach to learning that they had not previously considered.
  • Model Metacognition:  Teacher verbally talks through the metacognitive process to model it.
  • Risk-free Environment
  • Encourage Notations:  By jotting notes as they read, students will engage with the text and their thoughts more deeply.

 

Brain- Boosting Activities

  • Human knot

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gbCPau5YL0g

  • Air writing: Ask students a series of questions – content relevant or fun – they answer by “writing” in the air with their pointer finger
  • Junk drawer: Keep a bag full of odd and ends, ie- pool noodle, spatula, sports foam finger, pipe cleaner, etc.  Ask students to reach into bag, pull out item, come up with inventive way to use that item that was not intended by maker.
  • Yoga break
  • YouTube brain breaks

 

Growth Mindset Resources

Books-

  • Beautiful Oops – Barney Saltzberg
  • The Dot – Peter H. Reynolds
  • Everyone Can Learn to Ride a Bicycle – Chris Saschka
  • The Most Magnificent Thing- Ashley Spires
  • Rosie Revere, Engineer – Andrea Beaty
  • Your Fantastic Elastic Brain: Stretch It, Shape It – JoAnn Deak

Movies-

  • Big Hero 6 – Disney
  • Inside Out – Disney
  • Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs – Sony
  • Rudy – Tristar
  • Zootopia – Disney

 

Video Clips-

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=faIFNkdq96U

  • “The Power of Belief” – TED talk by Eduardo Briceno

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pN34FNbOKXc

  • “The Power of Believing that You Can Improve” – TED talk by Carol Dweck

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_X0mgOOSpLU

  • “You Can Learn Anything” – Khan Academy

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JC82Il2cjqA

 

Songs-

  • “The Climb” – Miley Cyrus

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pJ2m9uyF2bg&list=RDpJ2m9uyF2bg

  • “Don’t Give Up” – Bruno Mars

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pWp6kkz-pnQ

  • “Power of Yet” – Janelle Monae

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XLeUvZvuvAs&t=89s

  • “What I Am” – will.i.am

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cyVzjoj96vs&t=25s

  • “Firework” – Katy Perry

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6BtI43kqkOI