Anthem School Updates
Spring Break 3/18 - 3/22
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Boosterthon
Our Fun Run was amazing! The students did a great job and had so much fun! We did meet our initial goal so Mrs. Roets will be kissing a pig at school one day after Spring Break! Thank you to all our parents, family and community members for your support!
Help Needed -- Career Day May 10
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County Updates
All Things E.Q.
Does your child have a fixed or growth mindset?
This week we are encouraging students to think of their brain as a muscle that can grow "stronger" in school. We explain in our insights that the brain is not a muscle, it's an organ, but it can act like a muscle in the sense that it can grow and change.
Which is why our motto in school this week is:
My brain changes and grows when I learn.
What we want our students to take away from this week's insight is that dedication, hard work, and self-improvement contribute to their long-term success and that their futures are not based only on their existing talents.
This concept is taken from Mindsets and Math/Science Achievement by Carol S. Dweck of Stanford University 2008. Dweck shared in her research how the manner in which we praise our children can affect whether they develop a growth or fixed mindset.
Here is an excerpt:
Giving students praise for their intelligence, as opposed to praise for process (such as effort or strategy) makes students think that their abilities are fixed, makes them avoid challenging tasks (so they can keep on looking intelligent), makes them lose confidence and motivation when the task becomes hard, impairs their performance on and after difficult problems, and leads them to lie about their scores afterwards. Process praise (such as praise for effort or strategy), in contrast, leads students to seek and thrive on challenges.
One way we can help children develop a growth mindset is to use process praise, rather than intelligence or outcome praise.
Process Praise (Growth Mindset) Sounds Like:
You worked really hard on this!
I'm proud of the effort you put into your homework!
That was a creative way to solve that problem!
You never gave up, even when it was hard.
Intelligence/Outcome Praise (Fixed Mindset) Sounds Like:
You are so smart!
I'm proud of how well you did on your test!
Dweck has warned parents and educators that this approach isn't simply telling your children to try harder (which can feel like nagging to a child), but rather to be intentional with your praise, she wrote:
The key to instilling a growth mindset is teaching kids that their brains are like muscles that can be strengthened through hard work and persistence. So rather than saying “Not everybody is good at math. Just do your best,” a teacher or parent should say “When you learn how to do a new math problem, it grows your brain.” Or instead of saying “Maybe math is not one of your strengths,” a better approach is adding “yet” to the end of the sentence: “Maybe math is not one of your strengths yet.”
If you are interested in the entire study, here the link:
http://www.growthmindsetmaths.com/uploads/2/3/7/7/23776169/mindset_and_math_science_achievement_-_nov_2013.pdf
If you prefer a video to reading, this four-minute video does a pretty good job of quickly showing the importance of Dweck's research:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NWv1VdDeoRY
Wishing you and your family a wonderful week and an incredible Spring Break!
Danna Evans
All Things E.Q.
Yearbooks
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Upcoming Dates
3/18 - 3/22 Spring Break
4/2-4/26 AZ Merit Testing Window
4/5 Early Release @ 12:05
4/19 & 4/22 No School
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Anthem School
Email: deb.roets@dvusd.org
Website: anthem.dvusd.org
Location: 41020 North Freedom Way, Anthem, AZ, USA
Phone: 623-376-3700
Twitter: @AN_Rockets