How Can Creating a Growth Mindset in My Classroom Environment Influence Third Grade Reading Fluency?

Seminar Title

How Can Creating a Growth Mindset in My Classroom Environment Influence Third Grade Reading Fluency?

Growth Mindset

3rd Grade

Elementary

Reading

All Disciplines

As a teacher, you have heard it all. "I hate school! Why do I have to read? I hate reading!" Then the student throws the book on the floor and proceeds to do nothing. Sound familiar? Or maybe...you have a student that is so smart, but falls apart when they make a mistake? I have had students in the past that felt this way and no matter what I said or did they felt they were a failure, dumb, or not smart enough to learn. These are the reasons I began my journey into creating a positive classroom environment with growth mindset focusing on reading fluency. I wanted to find a way to connect with my students and show them that it is okay to make mistakes. Mistakes do not mean the students weren't learning, they were, they just did not know it YET!

These are the questions that have guided my research: How can a growth mindset influence student's reading fluency? How can I create a safe and positive environment within my classroom where students can learn and succeed? What areas within my classroom can I enhance for students social and emotional learning? How do I build a sense of community in my classroom? An examination of literature suggested ways in which I could enhance my teaching, change my thinking, and develop a positive atmosphere of community learning within my students. As a result of my literature review, I discovered several areas to improve upon in my teaching practice. These areas include: 1) incorporating growth mindset lessons where the students would learn the differences between a growth mindset and a fixed mindset; 2) the science of how their brain can grow and stretch as they persevere in their efforts to learn; 3) building relationships with students and establishing a sense of community within the classroom; 4) providing meaningful growth mindset feedback on student work and assessments; and 5) using both whole group and small group activities to develop fluent readers. To accomplish my objectives, I began to research ways to integrate my ideas into my teaching and classroom environment. I gave my students baseline questions, assessments, and surveys to document my data. I developed an implementation plan of when I wanted start and when I wanted to end my data collection to guide me. Through my research I learned that the best laid plans can take a different path then I intended and that flexibility is the key to success. I realized I should not take information at face value, but dig deeper with my students for clarity and better understanding of their reasoning. I gathered resources in which to use in my implementation process. These resources varied from growth mindset lessons, neuroplasticity articles, fluency poems, videos, books, songs, and more. I researched ways to enhance my calming spot to complement social-emotional supports for my students, as well as place intention and purpose on my classroom environment by hanging motivational posters. My classroom became my stage to set and I carefully selected items to enhance my environment. I also decided ways to collect my data through surveys and questions. Most importantly, I selected lessons and activities to bridge the student's improvement from the baseline information to the final assessments at the end of the trimester. As a result of my interest in discovering how growth mindset can affect fluency as well as creating a positive environment within my classroom, my students have learned the importance of believing in themselves. They have also learned that mistakes are a part of learning and through girt and determination they can succeed. I am looking forward to continuing my growth mindset lessons throughout the school year and into the coming years.