Growth mindset is everything related to success. Having that resilience to persevere and understand that set backs are not a detrimental but rather an opportunity to change your outcome. It gives learners a perspective that can help them achieve beyond expectations.

              As an adult I take every opportunity as a learning experience. As educators we face challenges each and every day, and to better serve our students we try to differentiate and find what works best for them. Sometimes, our approaches don’t necessarily work, so we go back to the drawing board to figure out how to reteach the topic. In our profession, giving up is not an option, there is too much on the line to not do our job in the best way possible. I think that this job pushes educators to further develop their growth mindset regularly. Therefore, part of my journey as a teacher has to involve and incorporate using the four steps to change your mindset.

              I have been teaching for only two years, and there have definitely been times when I feel as if I’ve run out of ideas to make something work. This is when I’ve taken a step back, given myself some time to mentally recover and have asked for help. Step 1 of changing your mindset is learning to hear the fixed mindset voice. I think that for me personally, I feel the fixed mindset voice more than I hear it; I can feel it in my mood, my mind feels blocked. I usually take a step back and get other perspectives/collaborate to help myself get out of that mindset. Once I’ve regrouped and have a plan, I dig back in. I think that when it comes to my work, growth mindset is something I constantly practice. My next step is to spread that growth mindset to my students.

              A personal goal of mine this year is to promote growth mindset to my students. I want them to feel capable of becoming better at something. I want them to understand that even though they are not good at something YET, they can always develop that skill. I want my students to dream big and reach for the stars. I want them to believe in themselves enough to persevere and really put in the effort to reach success. They way I currently promote growth mindset is by regularly (at least once a week) having conversations with the class about perseverance, effort, and ownership. We discuss growth mindset in relation to what we are currently learning. For example, last week we learned about adding unlike fractions; this was a topic that students really struggled with. We spent a few minutes of class time discussing what actions we could take in order facilitate mastery of the topic. I provide my students constant access to their work and grades. I give them constant feedback and provide them opportunities to resubmit failing assignments. This way students can develop the skill and know that if they continue to work at it they will continue to improve.

              Finally, I know that growth mindset will impact my journey with coding and technology. As I further explore the coding curriculum and implement technology in my classroom. At the end of the day I find myself realizing things that I could and would do differently the next time. I try to keep record of these ideas so that the next time I do better.