sutton007

Over 30 years ago I was a student teacher in 1st grade.  It was frightening to me as I only pictured myself working with 4th grade students not being with 'little kids." I remember my cooperating teacher had me sit with a sign that said, "I CAN DO IT!"  As I recall, those first grade kids COULD do it and I did too!  Afterward I left that class and went on to become a grade 4 teacher.  I became good at figuring out what my fourth graders were and weren't capable of doing.  I often wonder if I held my students back believing they couldn't do something and not giving them the opportunity to try! Lately, as a Digital Learning Coach I have had the opportunity to spend time with kindergartners and 1st graders.  I forgot what it was like to be with 5 & 6 year olds. So, I am always pleasantly surprised and impressed by what they ARE able to 'do' when it comes learning.  Admittedly, I'm not familiar with the 'littles' and their abilities as I ...

Building and fostering a " Growth Mindset " doesn't happen overnight.   The year began with several activities to help inspire the idea that "intelligence can be developed" and that "you can learn anything through hard work and effort!" On the first day of school we watched this video created by the Kahn Academy titled " You Can Learn Anything ! " The video really resonated with many students because they could directly relate to it. Students posted their thoughts on a sticky note which were displayed in the classroom. Take a minute to watch the Khan Academy video to see what positive message you take away from it. The following video was shared at another time.  From this video we talked about the idea of  "Training Our Brain" to accomplish things we want to learn. This happened to coincide with International Dot Day so we completed an activity where we drew on a dot something we wanted to learn. For the first school assembly w...