It is challenging for students to focus on their learning when they approach classroom activities and tasks with a negative and fixed mindset. In moments of frustration and defeat, it is important to provide students with a strategy to support them to redirect their thinking. There is a heavy emphasis on the final product in education. Students often feel that if something is hard or they don’t get it right away that they can’t learn it. This strategy encourages students to emphasize the process of learning, which is messy and involves failure.
You can print out this graphic organizer and give it to your students. You can also hang it up in your classroom. When students are frustrated and want to give up, you can direct them to these statements to help them shift their thinking.
