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Why You Should Teach Students About Fixed Vs. Growth Thoughts


Year after year, I try to instill in my students the concept of a Growth Mindset.  It is so important for them to realize the power their self-talk can have over their learning, the way their brain works, and that they have the ability to grow their intelligence.  We talk about Mindset daily in my classroom.  One of the activities I'm doing to reinforce the importance of a Growth Mindset is this set of cursive writing resources from Runde's Room:





Each Monday, my students work through a different Growth Mindset quote.  We discuss the quote and how they can apply it to their lives.  It's working nicely to set our week of on a positive note.  The prep is really easy and the discussion that comes out of each quote is so powerful!

A colleague of mine also teaches about Growth Mindset.  Last year, Crystal and I created this board with our classes. (If you click that link, you'll find a few other resources we use to teach about Mindset.)  We found that the board was not only a great reminder for our students, but it also served as a teaching tool for other students in the building.  Many EAs stopped by with their students and had conversations about the different mindsets.

This year, we knew we wanted to do something similar, but with a different twist.  We enjoy making bulletin boards and it gives us a chance to catch up while doing something crafty.  We decided to use chalk pastels to create this years board:


 This was after our work was done on the weekend. 

Our students have brainstormed many many thoughts that are considered Growth Mindset thoughts, and Fixed Mindset thoughts.  We collaborated a bit to make sure we didn't have any duplicates up on the board.  One by one, each student added a thought to the board.


The Fixed Mindset side.

And the Growth Mindset thoughts.

The whole board complete!  We sprayed this quite heavily with a fixatif, just in case curious fingers touched it.  So far we are doing okay!

Are you interested in even more bulletin board ideas? Do you want to save time by finding them all in one place? Follow the image or button below to grab your copy of my free bulletin board inspiration guide. 

Take me to the guide!



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