How does implementing growth mindset in the classroom help students understanding of literacy?

Seminar Title

How does implementing growth mindset in the classroom help students understanding of literacy?

Growth Mindset in Literacy

5th Grade

Elementary

Reading

All Disciplines

“I can’t read this.” “I don’t remember what I read.” “I don’t like reading.” How do you get your students to be excited to read? What do you do when a student refuses to read? In my presentation I will be answering those questions for you! Over the past few months, as I have implemented my action research project, I have enjoyed teaching my fifth grade students the power of growth mindset and in turn, watching them develop into lifelong readers. During my presentation, I will be presenting the tools and lesson plans that I used to get my students to develop positive growth mindsets towards reading. The research and findings of my action research apply most directly to kindergarten through fifth grade. So, if you are trying to get your students to become lifelong readers but are struggling to get them there, then come and enjoy a discussion on the positive relationship growth mindset and reading can have.

How does implementing growth mindset in the classroom help students’ understanding of literacy? “I can’t read this book.” “I’m not good at this.” “I don’t care about it.” These are all statements that I hear on a daily basis in my fifth grade classroom during reading time. It is painful to hear because I hear students giving up on reading before really giving it a try. In order to help rid my classroom of this mindset, I decided to research the impact growth mindset had towards fifth graders literacy skills. Over the course of a four month period, I taught my students about the power of growth mindset and tracked their growth in literacy to see if I could prove that they had a positive correlation. Every week I spent time teaching my students lessons about what it means to have a growth mindset and why it is important that we make mistakes as learners. In order to do this, I used a number of resources such as Class Dojo, picture books, and TED Talks. I tracked their growth using standardized test results, independent reading level data, and survey results. Looking over my final results, I was able to observe significant growth in my students abilities in reading. I was able to observe growth in their test scores and reading levels, as well as growth in their attitudes towards reading. In the past I have had students give up on reading before they even got started, but now I have students who I have to ask two or three times to put the book down, which is a problem that I would much rather have.