Once you understand growth mindset, you can apply it across many situations:

• When we don't know the answer or feel we don't have the ability to do something
• When we make an error, reveal deficiencies, or try to hide a mistake
• When we are criticized, feel threatened, get defensive
• When we experience failure or do poorly compared to others
• When we are anxious or in conflict with peers, in "fight or flight" mode
• When we are overconfident

​ 
As individuals, we took the mindset survey.  One half of the room tried to answer with a fixed mindset, while the other half answered with a growth mindset.  Some of the survey statements were:

1. No matter how much intelligence you have, you can always change it a good amount.
2. You can learn new things, but you cannot change your basic amount of intelligence.
3. I like learning something new when it challenges me and makes me think hard.

There are 8 such statements in the survey and depending on the range with which you agree or disagree, your beliefs are revealed.  The tool uses the word "like" and "want" which brought up the question of when you don't like something, how do you approach that with a growth mindset.  This is a fundamental problem in traditional schools that often do not offer choice in work or work products.  

You must constantly hear your fixed and growth mindset voice.  
"If a child believes that failure is a result of not being smart enough or not having enough ability, they often avoid challenges or give up easily." 
"If a child believes that failure is a reason to increase the amount of effort needed for success, they often embrace challenges and succeed." 

​To hear that voice, we heard "Sophia" and "Tristan" in Interviews with Lisa Blackwell.  We heard Sophia talk about limits on her learning and not being "good" at something.  She also talked about her perception of what a smart person looks like.   Tristan was a sharp contrast.  "Trying makes me smart."  "I never put myself down."Participating and doing my best makes me feel smart." His growth mindset was clear!

Can we intentionally develop a growth mindset in students?  Repeated studies of all ages of children across all socio-economic status and all levels of intelligence show that "praise for effort has dramatically different results for kids than does praise for intelligence."

Carol Dweck reminds us that "Emphasizing effort gives a child a variable that they can control, and they come to see themselves as in control of their success.  Emphasizing natural intelligence takes it out of the child's control, and it provides no good recipe for responding to a failure."

​The Effective Effort Rubric assesses the learning process and the effective effort that a learner applies. Learning to hear your fixed, mixed, and growth mindset voice is important when addressing the following seven needs of all learners.

1. Taking on Challenges
2. Learning from Mistakes
3. Accepting Feedback and Criticism
4. Practice and Applying Strategies
5. Perseverance (focus on task)
6. Asking Questions
7. Taking Risks

Our work as a district will be ongoing.  The parallel tracks we will follow will focus on professional development, classroom materials (videos), a year-long documentary, and teacher resources.  We will continue to model life-long learning as we improve the experience of school for our students.  We are also lucky to have Eduardo Briceno for our opening day Keynote in September!  ​​As a leader at Mindset Works, which helps people develop as motivated and effective learners through training and resources to foster growth mindset beliefs and behaviors, he will push our learning to the next level.  

#GrowthMindset

"Praise" taken from:
http://www.lindaboverman.com/inclusion-corner-encouraging-our-students-to-have-a-growth-mindset/ 

Mineola High School is a true community... not just a school!  This week was foreign language week across the United States and our 10th annual Multicultural Night.  

This night is like no other!  For the past two years we brought the middle school and high school together for an evening of food and entertainment.  The evening begins at 6:00pm and there is standing room only!  Why?  How about 3 reasons.

1.  There is food!  Food is always a great way to bring people together.  Our local restaurants are extremely generous and supportive of the work our schools do.  Over 60 of them donate to an event that they do not even attend.  Additionally, our families bring dishes and desserts that celebrate their cultures.  It is an opportunity to sit with people you may not have met before, in a non-academic setting and just simply enjoy each others' company.  Families are able to sit together, amongst their friends, a lost art in the hectic lives that we all live.  

2.  There are students!  People like to be around our students and our students like being in our schools. Whenever there are students in our buildings after school hours we know that we have created a place where they want to be.  Students are the heart of everything we do and the reason we love working!  

3.  There is entertainment!  Our community embraces the arts and our students love to perform.  Each year the number of acts grows and the talent is amazing.  To hear our students sing and watch our students dance brings joy to our hearts.  The audience is filled with parents, students, teachers, administrators, our Board of Education, and community members.  They all cheer for our students with loud heartfelt applause.  Everyone roots for each others' success and this helps create a culture where diversity is celebrated.  From solos in English, Spanish, and Italian, to traditional Indian, Irish, and German dancing, we have it all!  We even have a Tae Kwon Do demonstration that ignites the crowd!  

School is so much more than nine periods a day.  There is so much more about growing up and being a "well-rounded" person than just coming to school and going to class.  Aside from the hard work and dedication in classroom, our students are involved, dedicated and hard-working in all aspects of their lives.

This is what makes Mineola a great community!

As I sit here writing this blog post, it is Friday afternoon... okay it is Friday evening.  It is the end of Spirit Week at Mineola High School and a culmination of a week long event that featured the usual Pajama Day and Twin Day.  There was a difference this year though.  Our student organization met to discuss how we could make this year's event, that culminates with a Battle of the Classes, better.  

You see... the students "owned" it this year.  The students asked to change some of the games at the battle of the classes and they did.  We also spoke about hallway decorations and adding that to the week's activities and off they went.  The ideas and conversations became rich, not only in the student organization (SO) meetings but in their individual class meetings.  Each class chose a theme related to places around the world and then began to frame what their hallway would look like.  Choice became important and the class advisors listened to the ideas that the students had as well as how they would implement them.

When I asked the advisors what the hallways were going to look like, they said that they weren't sure.  When I asked why, they told me that the students were in charge.  They communicated with each other in the hallways and through social media as the day approached.  By they way, there was no budget allocated for this; the students needed to coordinate what to bring in and the materials that they were going to use.  

On Wednesday afternoon, the students had one hour after school to decorate their hallway according to theme. I walked around and witnessed unbelievable collaboration between and among students.  There were ladders, and tape, and decorations to immerse the hallway in themes that included Paris, Rio, USA, Hollywood, and the Arctic.  The creativity was amazing! As faculty, staff, parents, and administrators walked through the halls their comments were unilaterally positive.  

In professional development meetings, the adults have been talking about the 4Cs (Creativity, Collaboration, Communication, and Critical Thinking) in the classroom and how to shift instruction from teacher-centered, to student-centered.  I guess our students have  have learned and the end product of that learning... in more than one way, was spectacular!

Use this Blog Post to write about what you are "following"... You are responsible for two original posts as well as a comment about three of your classmates' comments. You can use this link to find the official Twitter Chat Schedule.  

The 16 characteristics delineated in this research based position paper indicate that these characteristics, when present over time, lead to higher levels of student achievement and overall development.

In your reading, focus on the 5 characteristics of Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment and the 6 Culture and Community Characteristics.  In your writing, share your thoughts.  Be sure to relate your comments to what you have seen or not in the classrooms you have visited or worked in.  

Use this blog post to comments about Learning How to Kiss a Frog: Advice for those who work with pre- and early adolescents.  Be sure to label your post with the chapter and page number you are referring to.  

Use this Blog Post to write about what you are "following"... You are responsible to post weekly:

1. Post a summary and reaction to what you are "following" including a hyperlink to an article /website that is referenced.
2. Post comments/reactions about two other blog posts from your classmates.  

Read Alfie Kohn's article "The Risks of Rewards" and respond to the following, "...punishment and rewards are not really opposites, but two sides of the same coin."

Read Things I Wish I Knew My First Year Of Teaching Special Education by Tim Villegas as well as the comments section.  Then, share something that stood out to you...

Read these two short articles and share your thoughts.  Let's focus on how these articles differ (or not) from previous learning that you have experienced or articles/books you have read. 

• It's People, Not Programs
• What it Takes to Become a Great Teacher