Growth Mindset – What Does this Mean for Coaches?

I’ve been thinking a lot about growth mindset lately and what this means for us coaches.

A few years back we read the book “Mindset” by Carol Dweck with our staff and did some really great learning around it’s central message: it’s not just our abilities or talent that brings us success – but whether we approach our goals and work with a fixed or growth mindset. If you haven’t read the book, here are a few of my favorite excerpts to help give you some more background:

Believing that your qualities are carved in stone — the fixed mindset — creates an urgency to prove yourself over and over. If you have only a certain amount of intelligence, a certain personality, and a certain moral character — well, then you’d better prove that you have a healthy dose of them. It simply wouldn’t do to look or feel deficient in these most basic characteristics.

There’s another mindset in which these traits are not simply a hand you’re dealt and have to live with, always trying to convince yourself and others that you have a royal flush when you’re secretly worried it’s a pair of tens. In this mindset, the hand you’re dealt is just the starting point for development. This growth mindset is based on the belief that your basic qualities are things you can cultivate through your efforts. Although people may differ in every which way — in their initial talents and aptitudes, interests, or temperaments — everyone can change and grow through application and experience.

As you begin to understand the fixed and growth mindsets, you will see exactly how one thing leads to another—how a belief that your qualities are carved in stone leads to a host of thoughts and actions, and how a belief that your qualities can be cultivated leads to a host of different thoughts and actions, taking you down an entirely different road.

At the time of reading the book, I was totally pumped up and inspired to work on my own growth mindset, but I haven’t honestly thought about it for a long time. Then last week I happened to hear a really terrific podcast with Carol Dweck as the guest, and I got to thinking about it all over again.

After listening to the podcast that morning and heading into school, I found myself much more aware of different fixed vs. growth mindset thoughts that came up in my head that day. And when the fixed thoughts came up, I was bugged with myself, because “Hey! I’m a coach! I should be radiating a growth mindset!!”

But the truth is, I’m not always growth mindset perfect. I get down on myself and can be hard on myself. I can sometimes be harsh in my judgment of teachers qualities and abilities.

Now do I need to be perfect? Maybe not. But I can certainly be more aware, and take steps to get better.

So what’s a helpful first step in this growth mindset building process? How about changing your thoughts and words. Check out the infographic below for ideas on what this might sound like.

And how about some specific ideas for how to foster a growth mindset at your school and in your coaching?

Read the book “Mindset” as a staff and facilitate discussion circles.
Embrace the idea and word “YET”
Develop and use growth mindset statements with staff consistently as part of school culture.
Make the connection between “process” and “achievement” in your feedback.
Incorporate growth mindset activities for PD icebreakers.
Emphasize learning as a process.
Create a growth mindset language wall in the PD room – help teachers recognize when they are having a fixed or growth mindset
Highlight mistakes as an opportunity for learning.
Work with teachers to develop a bank of language for feedback that can foster a growth mindset in students.
Read “How Children Succeed” with staff, and watch the Angela Duckworth Tedx video.

YOUR TURN

In the comments below, I’d love to hear:

What are YOUR hidden fixed mindset thoughts? How can you adjust this to a growth mindset?

What’s one thing you can do to foster a growth mindset at your school?

Thanks for spending some time with me. Happy Friday and I”ll talk to you soon!

The First Few Weeks of School – What Do I Do?!

Teaching Tips

Remember when you were a classroom teacher and you’d get all pumped up to head back to school because you had a clear plan, you knew exactly what you needed to do, and you were so ready to get after it?

Now fast forward to your current back to school mental status as a coach. Do you feel the same?

I’ll bet you’re still pumped up, but I’d also be willing to bet that “clear plan” piece has escaped you somewhat. And maybe you’re feeling a little nervous, unsure, or anxious as a result — What do I do? It’s too early to start coaching, right? If I do something, will it be the right something? Bahh!!

This beginning of year uncertainty is a feeling lots of coaches have struggled with. But don’t worry. Here’s what you do…

Think like a teacher.

Yep, turn that classroom teacher brain back on. Now ask the question again – It’s the beginning of the year, what do you do?

Alright, you got it! Now translate those same action items to your work as a coach.

Great job! Now let’s break this down.

One of the first things all teachers have on their minds at the beginning of the year, is getting their classroom all set-up. Although we don’t have a classroom as coaches, there’s likely a space, big or small, one or more than one, that we can work on getting set-up.

For me, I started with updating my office set-up this year. There were some spaces that weren’t working for me and I also just needed to freshen it up a bit. And this week I’m working on setting up our new PD pad. We downsized a bit this year, which meant a classroom was freed up. Woo Hoo! I’m excited to make it a creative space that teachers will look forward to learning in. I’ll be sure to share some pics when I’ve got it done.

Here are a few other ideas of spaces you can set-up for yourself or teachers at the start of the year:

your desk
your Planning Kit
your coaching bag (if you travel as a coach)
a staff welcome or photo wall
a literacy/book room
a teacher meeting/planning/PD space

I’m sure you may be able to think of a few more spaces that you can work on setting up. Push yourself to think outside of the box!

Teachers at our school were busy, busy last week and early this week attending PD, meeting with their teams, and gathering resources to support them with planning out their instruction. And if you think about it, we do a lot of the same type of work as coaches at the start of the year.

We meet with our Principal or leadership team to discuss goals and coaching objectives for the first few months. We may meet with coaching colleagues to brainstorm and hash out our thoughts. And we gather resources, read and learn about whatever we need to in order to be prepped and ready for meeting with teachers. Check your first few weeks calendar – are any of these on it?

One of the tasks teachers were anxious to get accomplished this week was laying out their schedule. As a teacher I can definitely remember working hard to get my schedule put together. And after I got it done, printed it out and posted it my room, things just felt so much…better.

Coaches build schedules too. But not right away. Although this is something you’ll likely start to draft out and bring to life after you meet with your principal and plan for coaching {hopefully within the first few weeks}. Then once your schedule’s solid and it’s officially part of your calendar, you’ll also feel so much…better.

One of the most important things teachers can do in the first few weeks of school, is get to know their kids. Like really get to know them. Not just their reading level, or who their teacher was last year, but things like what they enjoy doing in their free time. Do they have pets? Do they like art? Where do they live? Do they have brothers or sisters? This is the kind of stuff you can learn about kids that will help you make the kind of connection with them that’s really going to count.

And the same is true for coaches working with teachers. Get to know the teachers you’re going to work with, like really get to know them. What did they do this summer? Ask them about their family. What are they super interested in outside of school? Do they like coffee? – maybe you can grab them a Starbucks!

There’s no better time than the beginning of a new year, to make a strong, positive, and lasting impression with teachers you’ll be working with.

What’s the most important thing teachers can do the first few weeks? – TEACH! What’s the most important thing coaches can do the first few weeks? – COACH! Although you won’t be stepping into any formal coaching cycles just yet, you’ll for sure have lots of opportunities to do lots of coaching. Let’s think through a few:

classroom set-up
how to organize a library
how to give beginning of year assessments
how to manage beginning of year anxiety and stress
how to support new students who may not speak English
where to find math or literacy resources for planning
planning out the first day
classroom community building ideas

And lots more. You’ll be doing all sorts of really valuable coaching these first few weeks. You just may not see it at first as “coaching.” But it is. Lend an ear, offer a shoulder to lean on, be a springboard for ideas. COACH.

You’re in this position for a reason. You have experience and wisdom to share. Someone recognized a special talent, ability, and potential in you to help teachers and their students reach great heights. And so you were hired do this job. And you’re going to do it amazingly well. Believe in yourself and don’t stress.

Do the best you can with what you know, and you’re going to rock these first few weeks.

Then keep getting better from there.

Keep me updated. I’ve been getting lots of emails, and I love reading and responding to every single one.

Thanks for spending some time with me, and I’ll talk to you next week. Go get em!

Back to School Checklist. And a Little Catching Up.

Teaching Tips

After I published last week’s post, I realized I hadn’t even stopped to say “Hi!” or catch up a bit after not chatting with you all summer. Sorry! So how has your summer been?? Mine was an amazing whirlwind of goals accomplished, new goals set, and oh, a wedding! Luke and I were married on July 18th, and it was picture perfect. All our friends and family were there, and the sun came out after a ton of rain, right before the ceremony. We don’t have our photos back yet, but here are a few pics captured by our friends.

In addition to all of the craziness and fun that goes into a wedding, I was also hard at work towards other goals. The first one was wrapping up my first product launch for the Time & ToDo Planner. This has been A LOT of work {packing up 200 planners just a few days before our wedding!}. My sister thought I was totally crazy, but it was work that I was and am so happy to be doing. Stepping into the world of ecommerce was a big and at times challenging first step for me. I had some setbacks, but I learned a ton in the process, am grateful for how far I’ve come, and super excited for some revisions and additions I have planned moving forward!

Headed to school with planners to ship!

I also decided it was time to update the style of MsHouser.com. We kept the foundation of the design, but updated the color layout and revised the organization a bit. I was excited to get this goal accomplished this summer, and I’m hopeful you like the updates!

Alright, enough about me. How about you?! I wish I could shuttle you over here to catch me up on your summer over a refreshing glass of iced coffee, but alas, I cannot. So the next best option is to shoot me an email or share in the comments below!

Now. Moving onto the checklist. As I was putting my Simplified Coaching Planning Kit together last night, my mind was racing a hundred miles an hour about everything I needed to do and wanted to do next week when I officially head back to school. And with all the racing thoughts, I kept worrying that I would forget something. You know that feeling, right?

So to make sure I have all of my ducks in a row, I put together a handy back to school checklist. And I wanted to share it with you in case you also have a case of the back to school racing thoughts going on.

I designed the checklist to coordinate with your planning kit, so you can just pop it into your planning section!

I also left some blank spaces, in case I forgot anything or there is any work specific to your role you’d like to add to your list.

Download Here

Oh, and here’s a blank one in case you’d like to start fresh.

Download Here

Alright, now your homework is to print out this checklist, pop it into your planner, and get after it!

For those of you heading back to school next week, I hope you have a terrific start to the year.

ps – am I missing any big back to school to-dos? Let me know in the comments below!

Ms. Houser

Inspiring and Motivating Instructional Coaches and Teachers with Tips and Resources

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