A Letter to Freshman

This letter was shared with me.  It comes from a recent PH graduate that attends a local college.  She was given this by a professor.  I don't know if it was for discussion or for effect.  Take a look at it and consider a few questions.

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Questions to Consider:
1.  Could you use a letter like this for discussion in your classroom?
2.  Does any of the perceived notions about high schools apply to us?
3.  What kind of feelings does this letter elicit within you?

Making Sense Of Our Grade

So...district and school report cards were released last week.  I thought this would be a good time to provide you with some resources to help in understanding more of those grades and that process.  At this point, we don't as a district, feel we will spend a PD session going over results.

ODE Spreadsheet of Districts
ODE explanation of report cards
Article in Cleveland plain dealer


Questions To Consider:
1.  Were you able to look at other local districts?  How did they do compared to us?
2.  Over the next few weeks, you will see multiple newspaper articles about this information.  Pay attention to them.  What are some common themes?
3.  Keep on keeping on.  Thanks for what you do.

Mindset- Carol Dweck

Carol Dweck wrote the very popular book Mindset.  This book is about the mindset of successful people across many fields.  One of the fields that Dr. Dweck examines is sports.  In the book, she tells the above story about Jackie Joyner-Kersee.  I read this book over the summer and while reading this chapter, I took pictures of what I was reading.  I encourage you to take a look at it.  Share it with students if you would like.  You are also encouraged to read the book.  I have a copy if you would like to read it.

Questions To Consider:
1.  What good book have you read lately?  If you don't have an answer...you may want to pick up a book.  Reading is a great stress release.
2.  How might you be able to use this story as an example in class?
3.  How does Joyner-Kersee's mindset reflect a growth mindset?

Growth Mindset-GRIT Visuals

As I was about the building this week, it was evident that last week's post was meaningful to a number of you.  I saw post it notes, posters, a good news postcard last week referenced GRIT and growth mindset, and just in general discussion, it came up multiple times.  Thanks again to Carolyn for providing such a great topic for discussion.

Above are a few visuals that are often used when looking at a growth mindset.  A growth mindset is needed to fall into "grittiness" attitude.  Feel free to print these and post them.  Discussing them with students would be even better.  What a great topic of discussion for PATS.  Maybe hand out a copy or share a copy with students a day before you plan to have a discussion with them about their thoughts on mindset and GRIT.


Questions To Consider:
1.  How could you use these visuals to engage students in a discussion about GRIT and growth mindset?
2.  How about personally, what one thing in life do you need to develop a more of a growth mindset in?  How can you do that?  Set a single minor attainable goal in that area for this week?
3.  Do you have any other visuals or resources that would be good to share on this topic?  If so, make a reply to this post and attach it there.