WE LOVE A CHALLENGE!
December Growth Mindset Mantra
If you aren't in over your head, how do you know how tall you are? ~T.S. Eliot
A team from the Center for American Progress administered a student survey and the results were somewhat shocking in that many of the students surveyed stated that they often felt as if their work wasn’t challenging enough. While this is not always the case, it is important to note that it is through challenges that students learn very important skills that come through taking risks, learning to fail, and then figuring out how to pick themselves up again. A formula that consistently delivers results and one which we are committed to at Hilltop is:
Nurturing Environment+Challenging Work+High Expectations=Growth
The Focus: This month, the focus will be on how students approach and navigate challenges. The fact is that challenges help us to grow but only if we are open to embracing them and utilizing tools like persistence to get through them. In addition, as a staff, it is a time to reflect on how we meet the objectives of building upon and developing strategies to challenge all students responsively and responsibly, setting and communicating high expectations, and teaching students the difference between equity and equality.
How Can You Be Involved?: As a parent, you are always your child’s most important teacher. We look at our partnership with you as a team effort. Here are some ways you can promote our monthly mantra at home.
Encourage your child to be curious, to experiment, to use their imagination and to be messy.
Praise their hard work rather than the marks they get.
Make it clear that being hard-working and intellectually curious is cool.
Praise them when they think for themselves, work well in teams and change their minds after thinking something through.
Accept that failure is a really important part of learning.
Encourage them to do activities such as writing, reading, watching fiction, solving puzzles, exchanging cultural views and debating.
Model through the challenges they see you taking on how to use the growth mindset to tackle them.