In the BHPS PERMA wellbeing model, Growth Mindset (with the character strength, Persistence), belongs to the “Accomplishment” category.

WHAT IS GROWTH MINDSET?

We all have beliefs about our own abilities and potential. These beliefs are part of our mindset which is so powerful it can fuel our behaviour and predict our success. Mindset shapes our everyday lives, helping us interpret our experiences and future possibilities.

In her research at Stanford University, Dr. Carol Dweck identified two different types of mindsets, growth and fixed. Growth mindset occurs when we believe our intelligence and abilities can be improved upon with effort and the right strategies.

A willingness to confront challenges, a passion for learning and viewing failure as a springboard for growth are all characteristics associated with a growth mindset. Not surprisingly, this type of mindset is strongly linked to greater happiness and achievement in life.

In contrast, those with a fixed mindset believe their intelligence and abilities cannot be altered in a meaningful way. As a result, mistakes are often seen as failures rather than opportunities to grow and learn. When stuck in a fixed mindset, we may fear new experiences, avoid risks, and feel the need to repeatedly prove ourselves over and over.

https://biglifejournal.com/blogs/blog/teach-growth-mindset-kids-activities

The best thing about knowing about a growth mindset is knowing that you have the power to change your brain!

Your brain is like a muscle and the connections (neural pathways) between areas of your brain strengthen and grow with practise.

Mojo and Katie from Class Dojo

This clip uses the metaphor of a plant to explain the process…

Your Fantastic, Elastic Brain

Write and draw examples of when you have shown a growth mindset

This week at BHPS we will be looking at the Character Strength “Friendship” through the Emotional and Social intelligence lens.

Our Learning Intentions are for students to:

• Recognise and identify their own emotions
• Compare their emotional responses with those of their peers.
• Describe the influence that people, situations and events have on their emotions
• Investigate how emotional responses vary in depth and strength
• Understand how to interact positively with others in different situations
• Examine how success, challenge and failure strengthen personal identities.

There are many different words that can be used to describe your own emotions. You can also use these words to identify how others are feeling and empathise with them. Emojis are also a good visual to show a range of feelings or emotions, or symbols such as these.

It is not just your day to day interactions with others and identifying your own emotions that can benefit from having a bank of emotion descriptors.

Understanding a range of these words increases your emotional literacy and assists with comprehension, especially inference when reading. When writing, these words can be used to describe how characters are feeling which makes writing more descriptive and interesting to read.

Name That Emotion

Exploring Emotions

In My Heart

People with wisdom are wise and understand what is important in life. Having wisdom means being able to give advice and recognising different sides before making decisions.

People with wisdom are often understanding and have a bank of knowledge or learning from the past that they use to choose from. They think before they speak or offer advice.

“I forgive people who hurt me and give people a second chance. I put my sadness behind me and move forward”.

Forgiveness means letting go of hard feelings like anger, sadness, or frustration that happen when you or someone else makes a mistake. It’s saying “Thank you” or “That’s okay” when someone apologises and not staying upset about what they did. It’s having patience with yourself and others, and recognising that no one is perfect—everyone makes mistakes.  It’s letting go of hurt feelings, and moving ahead, ready to do things. It doesn’t mean that all of a sudden what someone did doesn’t hurt or isn’t wrong. It means that you find it in your heart to give the person another chance.

In many ways Forgiveness is about taking power back by “flipping” the mood/situation. I use the analogy of the sparkle jars. Harbouring hurt or anger as a result of someone hurting your feelings can feel like a whirlwind in your tummy but as soon as you forgive it can lead to a sense of calm like when the sparkles fall to the bottom of the jar.

Little Life Message: The best revenge is to move on and find your happy.

Forgiveness Activities:

• Take 20 minutes and write about the personal benefits that resulted from a negative incident.
• Think of someone who wronged you recently. Put yourself in their shoes and try to understand their perspective.
• Write a forgiveness letter. You don’t have to send it, but read it to yourself each day for a week.
• If someone hurts or upsets you, try to understand things from their perspective, then think about whether your reaction is hurting them or you.

At Barwon Heads PS, we promote respectful relationships. We believe that it is important to embrace diversity and have empathy for others. For our upcoming Pos Ed Day our student PosEd leaders have come me up with the slogan; “Not everyone wants to be what you want to be.” These students identified the importance of respect, courage, self-belief and hope as the main ingredients for respectful relationships. They also encouraged others not to be scared in being who they want to be AND in sticking up for others who may be different to the norm. Research has shown that learning about and having respectful relationships modelled leads to healthier relationships at home and at school. It also enables our children to be resilient and confident.