Saturday, April 18, 2015

Celebrate This Week 4.18.15


It's always good to end the week on a positive note.  Sometimes we concentrate on the negatives.  We have a choice.  Choose positive.  Choose to celebrate.  I will be joining Ruth Ayres and her weekly link-up, Celebrate This Week.  Check out all the other celebrations HERE

This week I'm celebrating growth mindset.  

Growing our thinking.
     Making us question.
Adding thinking.
     Changing thinking.
          Challenging everyday.

As teachers, we try to promote a growth mindset for our students.  We challenge, ask, question, and give the space to grow everyday.  Sometimes it's hard to know when to step in and help, when to stand back and allow students to try, fail, learn, try and grow.  When to question, when to support.

As teachers, we need to have a growth mindset for ourselves.  If we don't question and think and grow, we stay stagnant.  Sometimes not changing is comfortable and easy.  But it's not what we ask of our students, so why do we stay the same?

Growth can occur in many ways.  Reading.  Conversing.  Trying.  Questioning.  Learning.  How do you grow?  How is your thinking challenged?

Last night, over Voxer, Kathy mentioned she saw the growth in all of our Voxer group.  When I think about what we do on a daily basis - share, talk, question, think and make plans - it is making us grow. I wrote about the importance of Voxer in this post and it continues to push my thinking.  Thank you to Kurt, Carrie, Ann, Lesley, Jason, Niki, Michelle, Melissa, Kristin, Kristen, and Kathy for helping me grow.

At school I have people around me that help me grow.  My co-reading specialist, Laura, sees things that I don't see.  She sees another side, she sees other possibilities.  By listening and watching her, I learn new ways of doing things.  Our principal, Laura, also helps me grow by questioning.  She questions and pushes my thinking in every conversation.  I think we both grow by thinking of new possibilities.  

I learn by reading.  Sometimes it's through articles, sometimes it's through professional books.  Sometimes it's just through quick posts on Twitter.  But everything makes me think, question and grow.  

I'm going to keep asking questions.  For both myself and my students.  

How do you grow?  How do you help students grow?

4 comments:

  1. I so love this post - to continue to grow is sometimes so challenging but the rewards are huge and the rewards we share which makes the growth even bigger!

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  2. Beautifully written, Michele, to help us grow in our thinking keeps us alive in many ways, both personally & professionally. I love hearing about your group-sounds awesome!

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  3. Two things out of my comfort zone today - a yoga class and a haiku class with painting.
    Love being reminded to keep embracing a growth mindset.

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  4. I have been trying to grow in the area of creativity. I took a drawing class last fall and have been drawing and making things and trying to quiet that voice in my head that would belittle my creativity. I'm trying new things and am growing little by little. I'm encouraging my students to take risks too.

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