Book Group Questions/Reflections

I just finished reading our book….and now I will attempt to "throw out" some ideas to think about for our opening Book Discussion/Review in August…..

These are not HOMEWORK questions  :)  , nor are they meant to pressure you in any way…. I am hoping these reflections/questions - along with your additional ideas, thoughts, reflections, questions will help start our discussion and guide the collegial sharing and learning process when we come together in August.  I look forward to hearing from you and beginning our dialogue!


1.  In your own words, explain what you understand about the growth mindset and the fixed mindset.

2.  Think about our students.  Do you think a certain mindset is particularly affecting certain individuals and their approach to learning?

3.  What might be the impact of teaching your students the growth mindset?  How do you think you could teach your students the growth mindset?

4.  Do you think formative assessment is important to those with the growth mindset?  How could we use formative assessment to begin to chip away at the fixed mindset of those students who have this outlook?

5.  In Chapter three, after Dweck taught some students the growth mindset, one student looked up with tears in his eyes and said, "You mean I don't have to be dumb?"  What had this student learned?  What did he mean by this statement?

6.  How did the example of Jaime Escalante (chapter three) changing the questions he asked himself about his students affect his whole outlook and approach to teaching?  Rather than asking, "Can I teach them?" or "Can they learn?" he asked, "How can I teach them?" and "How can they learn best?"

7.  Chapter three describes the way growth-oriented students study for a test.  How can we teach our students to study for a test in a way that helps them truly understand the knowledge the way those with a growth mindset would study?

8.  Would you describe our school environment as more in line  with the growth or fixed mindset?  How can we encourage/support/strengthen/foster the growth/development of a growth mindset in our school?  What can be done to bring a growth mindset into our school?  Into our classrooms?

9.  How, as a teacher, might you establish or strengthen a growth-mindset culture in the classroom?  What structures or routines would you have to put into place?  Would you (personally) need to change how you praise students and what you praise them for?

10.  What are the practical implications of what we have just read?

Greatness is for EVERYONE

Watching the Olympics....a great example of how a GROWTH MINDSET can move someone forward and open possibilities for change and success!

Watch this commercial.... Click on the link...


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LsXRj89cWa0&feature=youtube_gdata_player

The Professional Development Committee gathered the results of the surveys that the faculty took earlier this year relating to Professional Development needs and interests of the faculty.  One of the topics that surfaced for a great majority of the faculty was a need to learn more about Differentiating Instruction in the classroom.  As a result of this, one of the Summer Reading Groups is Differentiated Instruction - Leading and Managing a Differentiated Classroom by Tomlinson and Imbeau.  As I was browsing through this book, I came across a statement that I think will be worth remembering as we begin the school year: 

Two principles that benefit learners and learning are that (1) working diligently and intelligently leads to growth and (2) growth ultimately enables individuals to achieve and exceed most goals.  This is the essence of a growth mind-set - a fundamental underpinning of differentiation....

Generating and engaging in conversations around the correlation between that of a Growth Mind-Set and Differentiating Learning for our students will be well worth having.  I will be interested to hear from this Differentiated Book Group in the fall.

As you begin chapter one....a reflection: "Be honest with yourself...Where do you fall in your belief about whether intelligence can be attributed to genes or the environment on a scale of 1 (genes) to 10 (environment)?

I'm going to see if our summer reading can become a blog…hoping to be able to share our reading ideas and experiences with each other if we wish to do so.  I am absolutely new to this… have never even tried this blogging venue but it may be worth a go - giving us all a format to respond to our reading.