Good Morning Brown Clee!

Yesterday we learnt about how important it is to use our brains – and that by using them we can actually grow our brains – we develop them!  We also learnt about the importance of having a growth mindset.

We use the phrase “Growth Mindset” a lot in school, and you will see displays about this concept. Growth Mindset is an approach to teaching which promotes mindset as being more important than initial ability in determining the progress made by pupils in their mathematical understanding. Pupils with a growth mindset will make better progress than pupils with a fixed mindset.

Here are some examples to give you an idea of the difference between having a growth mindset or a fixed mindset…

Pupils with a growth mindset

• Believe that talents can be developed and great abilities can be built over time
• View mistakes as a learning experience
• Are resilient
• Believe that effort creates success
• Think about how they learn

Pupils with a fixed mindset

• Believe that talent alone creates success
• Are reluctant to take on challenges
• Prefer to stay in their comfort zone
• Are fearful of making mistakes
• Think it is important to ‘look smart’ in front of others
• Believe that talents and abilities are set in stone, you either have them or you don’t

We believe that everyone can succeed, it just involves having a goal/ambition/dream, believing in yourself and working hard to achieve that goal.

One aspect of developing a growth mindset is how we deal with mistakes and how we overcome obstacles and challenges.  Have a watch of this lovely story about a girl called Vashti, who thinks she can’t draw. But her teacher is sure that she can. She knows that there’s creative spirit in everyone, and encourages Vashti to sign the angry dot she makes in frustration on a piece of paper. This act makes Vashti look at herself a little differently, and helps her discover that where there’s a dot there’s a way.

Have a moment to think about the story – can you learn anything from it?

My message to you today, is don’t be worried about mistakes – they help us learn, and they should help to motivate us to want to improve.  We all make mistakes (even parents!) but it is how we deal with them and learn from them that helps us to become better people.

Prayer of the Day

Dear God,
You know that we are human and you know that we make many mistakes.
Help us not to be defeated by our mistakes but to see them as a learning process.
Forgive us when our mistakes hurt other people.

Amen.