Teaching a Growth Mindset
Over the years, many parents have asked me for my favorite storybooks to help kids build their growth mindset.
Growth mindset was first defined by psychologist Carol Dweck. She coined the term, along with the opposite, fixed mindset. She researched characteristics of accomplished people and found that people who believed they had the capacity to learn and grow were more likely to succeed.
I believe this is especially true for students. If students start to show verbal negativity or resistance to trying new things, it may be that they are afraid to fail. It shows up in student self-talk (i.e. "I can do it" versus "I'll never get it" or "Let's try" versus "It'll never work"). As teachers and parents, we must promote this idea early on by modeling a growth mindset through our words and actions.
I encourage you to have ongoing discussions with your kids about not being afraid to make mistakes. It's how we learn. I introduced the topic during one of our Morning Meetings. I let kids talk about a time when they made a mistake they learned from with a partner before sharing in our class circle. I made sure to write down some of these "learning mistakes" on a poster. It was so sweet to see kids later referring to the poster to cheer up their friends when they made a mistake.
Building a growth mindset is a process. Students need the right activities, feedback, and encouragement over time to build a growth mindset. A storybook is only one piece of the puzzle.
Here are some great story books to help launch your growth mindset discussion.
The Girl Who Never Made Mistakes by Mark Pett and Gary Rubinstein was the favorite in my class last year. My students regularly brought up this book when we talked about making mistakes. The story is silly. She is a "famous" young girl who everyone knows can do things perfectly until one day she does make a mistake. I won't ruin the ending, but suffice to say it's pretty cute.
The Most Magnificent Thing by Ashley Spires is one of my personal favorites. I've read it numerous times before class projects. It's an abstract story about a girl who wants to make something magnificent, but struggles. The "thing" isn't defined, but the message is clear, creating something takes determination.
Why Can't I Fly?
by Rita Golden Gelman and Jack Kent is an oldie but a goodie. I had a set of these books in a guided reading batch that another teacher gifted me. It's a great one for teaching reading because it contains plenty of sight words and rhyming words. It's a fun story about a monkey who wants to fly. Her animal friends help her by sharing tips, but nothing seems to work. In the end, they help her in a fun way.
The Magical Yet by Angela DiTerlizzi (Author) and Lorena Alvarez Gómez (Illustrator) is another abstract storybook. It's beautifully illustrated to represent the imagination.
The Berenstain Bears and the Truth by Stan and Jan Berenstain. Although a bit old, my students loved the Berenstain Bears. We sometimes watched episodes of the TV show when we had special treat days. I love the fact that these stories resonate with kids. They can relate to the situations brother and sister get stuck in. This book led to many discussions about making behavior mistakes we learned from. While reading a book like this, I love asking the kids, "What advice would you give brother and sister?" They have some amazing answers.
What Do You Do With an Idea? by Kobi Yamada (Author) and Mae Besom (Illustrator) is a great one.
It is illustrated quite simply and the story is a bit abstract. The idea is characterized as a sort of animal that grows bigger. I like reading this before introducing a STEM project, even if we've read it before.
Ricky, the Rock That Couldn't Roll (You Rock Group)
by Mr. Jay (Author) and Erin Wozniak (Illustrator) is such a sweet story. The characters are rocks who like to roll down a hill. One of their friends can't roll because he is flat on one side, but eventually he does. It's a celebration of small achievements.
After the Fall (How Humpty Dumpty Got Back Up Again) by Dan Santat is a fun book. It's from the fairy tale about Humpty Dumpty. It's about what happens after Humpty falls and gets put back together. He must rebuild his confidence to get up on the wall again.
If you want to read from the source, this is Carol Dweck's book, Mindset: The New Psychology of Success.
