This class has opened my eyes so much and enlightened me more than I thought possible. I have had to think about myself as a learner as well as an educator. I have been forced to look inside myself to create my significant learning environment (CSLE). I have also had to think about my own personal mindset and the mindset I would like my students to have. There have been so many things that have happened in the last few years that have caused learning environments to be hungry for a change. Learning and teaching must evolve and adapt to the times. Teacher-centered learning environments need to make a significant shift. Student-centered learning must take a bigger role in the classrooms.

 

Having a growth mindset and creating a growth mindset environment in my classroom has been somewhat of a focus for me for many years. I was introduced to it when I first started teaching. My principal was very focused on creating a growth mindset campus. It was everywhere, we ALL spoke of growth mindset. Then, I moved to the other side of town, to another district and another school that did not focus on growth mindset. I still had the ideas I was taught in the back of my head, but without support from any other teachers, I put it on the back burner. It was no longer a focus in my teaching or learning environment, or a part of my daily vocabulary. I spoke of growth mindset in a discussion post... 

"Developing a growth mindset can be a big challenge for the age of kiddos I teach. I teach first graders. You might be able to train them to say the word yet, but do they really understand what the word means? At my previous school we stressed a growth mindset in our own learning and training AND in our classrooms. It was aligned across the campus and not just in our individual classes so it was easier to instill that mindset as they traveled from grade level to grade level.

Schools should focus on growth mindset by making it a campus wide focus. The teachers need PD on ways to implement and use it daily. It should be a school-wide goal. It can be something that is talked about on our morning announcements along with our monthly character trait. We can stress to our students how powerful the word yet can be when they are taking STAAR tests. The possibilities of incorporating the power of yet into our daily life are endless."

 

Fast forward to 2022... I started this crazy journey of the Applied Digital Learning master's degree. Low and behold... there it was again! I was learning about growth mindset all over again. My professors were talking about it, I was doing blogs and discussion posts on it, and my colleagues in my cohorts were discussing it. I was even required to talk about growth mindset

for one of my other courses. You can read my post                      . 

 

As I reflect back and re-read my growth mindset page, I realize that my feelings about it have not changed at all. I still feel that having my own growth mindset will help me to be a better, more caring, and more effective teacher. I still plan on encouraging and explicitly teaching my students to have a growth mindset of their own. 

​

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This course (EDLD 5313) has been a major stepping stone for me in creating my very own significant learning environment. Before I started this class, I had to read the book A New Culture of Learning by Thomas, D., & Brown, J. S. I honestly had a hard time putting this book down. It's full of sticky notes, page markers, and highlighted passages. Click here                 A New Culture of Learning   to read my ideas about this book that discusses ways to incorporate passion, the collective, and learning as inquiry to encourage imagination in learning and to ignite engagement in the 21st century learners.