Portfolio Picnic!

Thank you for coming to Portfolio Picnic this evening. The students were very excited to share their success and growth with you!

Fostering a Growth Mindset

One of my New Year's resolutions is to foster a Growth Mindset in my classroom. A Growth Mindset is one in which a person believes intelligence is developed through hard work and practice. One way I am developing a Growth Mindset in students is by giving specific feedback so they can see how their effort is producing positive results. Students are also actively involved in setting personal goals and we discuss the steps they can take to reach that goal. One of my favorite goals they are setting is in writing. I meet with each student and we discuss what they would like to do better as a writer. I write their goal on a sticky note that they keep in their journals. Each time we meet after that, we review their writing to see how they are progressing towards their goal.  Recently, one of the students came up to me and said, "Mrs. Magyar, I want to trade in my sticky note for a new one. I reached this goal and I need something more challenging!" How powerful is that? The research on Growth Mindset was done by Dr. Carol Dweck. Below is a short video about how to develop a Growth Mindset at school and home.