Whole-Group Activities to Establish a Growth-Mindset Classroom DAY 1: Interest Inventory Conduct an interest survey to establish a community of learners. Read the following four sentence frames, one at a time. Provide time for students to think about their responses— then challenge them to find another student in class who has the same or a similar response.
Outside of school, I like to _________________. One special talent I have or someone in my family has is _________________. My favorite website or television show is _________________. One thing that makes me happy is _________________.
Reflect: Read aloud the following questions. Record those interests that are unique to individual students.
What interests do you share with other classmates? What interests or talents are special to you?
DAY 2: What Is Your Mindset? Ask students to think of a time when learning something new was easy for them—when they were able to understand something in only a few hours or days. Have them share how that felt. Then have them describe a time when learning something new was challenging for them—when it took weeks, months, or even years to understand. Compare how that felt. Explain that this summer, students will experience both kinds of feelings, but the important thing to remember is that learning can be frustrating and confusing. It’s normal to feel this way. Explain that practice, work, determination, time, and strategies you use to challenge yourself all contribute to how smart you can become. Tell students that challenging your brain to think mathematically can make you smarter. You can strengthen your brain with an interesting math problem. Present the following problem to the class. If there are four students in a group and each person shakes hands with the other members of the group, how many total handshakes are there? Put students in groups of four to try it out and test their predictions. Explain that this is going to be a special summer school experience for them. Together you are going to learn how to decode mathematics and build number sense—much like they decode computer games. Math is all about putting together and taking apart numbers. It’s a way of reasoning and thinking. Mistakes are expected, for that is how we learn.
Grade 2 I Teacher’s Guide 5
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