Ric Wormeli's lively growth mindset talk on grading really resonates!
Issue #33, May 2015
Your Malleable Mind
How can we maintain growth mindset messages in classrooms during this period of standardized testing? It can get confusing sometimes when we are striving to cultivate academic mindsets in students and at the same time, encourage them to do as well as possible on high-stakes exams. This issue dives into some ideas and strategies for you to meet this challenge head-on!
Growth Mindset News and Tips
Talking to Students About Testing
Share this with your students!
Talking to Students About Intelligence With high stakes testing, some students believe that the test tells them how smart they are. Students can come away from these tests thinking that they define them somehow. In this free sample from our Growth Mindset Leader resources, you can have a growth mindset conversation with your students about standardized testing!
Growth Mindset and Testing: What We Can Learn From The Hunger Games
by Eduardo Briceño, CEO Mindset Works
In The Hunger Games, at the Training Center before the "games" begin, Katniss Everdeen operates with a growth mindset. Her goal during those sessions is to improve, not to perform. She chooses stations where she can acquire new survival techniques, rather than stations where she can show off her advanced archery skills. Hence, other tributes observe her as a novice and they get the sense that she won't be a strong competitor. But she doesn't care. She knows that she can improve her survival skills (i.e. she has a growth mindset) and that doing so will help her.
MINDSET in Action
Why I am Nervous About Grit Grades
by David Dockterman
In this Scholastic blog post, David Dockterman discusses the opportunities and challenges in assessing non-cognitive skills in students. He says, "Some schools have started assessing and sending home grades for “grit,” that characteristic associated with resilience and persistence. Teachers can observe grit and measure it on a Grit Scale. Does the child Always exhibit grit, Often, Sometimes, or Rarely?"
Growth Mindset Educator Contest
Teacher Spotlight! Rebecca Davenport's Assessment Tip
Thank you all for sending in your growth mindset strategies!
Grading and Assessment for a growth mindset was a common theme in your responses to our last newsletter. Many teachers wrote in about their growth mindset assessment practices! We are pleased to share Rebecca Davenport's tip from Girls Preparatory School in Chattanooga, TN:
"My middle school girls and I coined the phrase "I'm a girl, not a grade!" to remind them of all the wonderful parts of their lives that cannot be measured by a letter grade..."