Growth Mindset

Have you ever thought what it means to fail? Society paints failure in a negative light, but that's only true if we don't learn from our failures and try again.   

This week in Language Arts, we are working with the idea of a growth mindset. We are exploring what a growth mindset is and how to go from a fixed to growth mindset.  We are discussing the importance of accepting that failure is a part of life and what to do when things don't go the way we hope/expect.  

The purpose of learning about the growth mindset is to show that learning goes outside the four walls of school and if we don't accept that we fail on a daily basis, we will never be true lifelong learners.  Knowing what to do when we have failed is a large part of the developmental process, and being able to make changes to avoid continuous failures is a skill that we will practice throughout the year.
It is my job as your child's teacher to be their coach, not critic.  It's my promise to help navigate failures and come out on the other end as a well-rounded individual. 

I have included the videos we watched with this lesson.  They are moving and meaningful.  Please take a moment to enjoy these with your child.

Other resources:
Encouraging Growth Mindset: A Principal's Blog
The story of Amy Van Dyken: Paralyzed Olympian 

Welcome to the 2015-26 School Year

Welcome STORM students! I am very excited for this school year! Bookmark this website so you can keep up to date on everything that is happening in our classroom. It will be a great resource for you to not only know what we are doing, but to find links to important documents, assignment information, and due dates.

Middle school has a reputation for being tough on children socially and not important academically. This could not be further from the truth. These are important years for your children to grow socially and create academic habits that will set them up for success in high school.

Through my Language Arts class, I make it my mission to combine learning and growing in literacy with expanding students' social awareness and thinking about things on a global scale. We will explore overarching concepts such as maturity, perception, self-awareness, personal accountability, and recognizing struggle in self and others. We use these concepts to expand ourselves as readers and writers while thinking beyond ourselves.

I encourage you to work with me this year to make it a successful and enjoyable experience for your child. Let's get after it! GO STORM!

Book Recommendations: Classics

For fans of Holes

The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton (1967)

Appropriate for ages 12 and above

The murder of a “Soc” by a “Greaser” gets under Ponyboy’s skin, causing his divided world to crumble and teaching him that pain feels the same no matter which side your’e on.

For fans of The Fault In Our Stars

Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Patterson (1977)

Appropriate for age 9 and above

Unlikely friends Jess and Leslie become inseparable. Together, they create Terabithia, a magical kingdom in the woods where the two of them reign as king and queen, and their imaginations are the only limits.

For fans of The Boy in the Striped Pajamas

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee (1960)

Appropriate for age 12 and above

Compassionate, dramatic, and deeply moving, To Kill a Mockingbird takes readers to the roots of human behavior, to innocence and experience, kindness and cruelty, love and hatred, humor and pathos.

For fans of Hatchet

Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O'Dell (1960)

Appropriate for age 10 and above 

Karana is the Indian Girl who lived alone for years on the Island of the Blue Dolphins. Hers is not only an unusual story of survival, but also a tale of natural beauty and personal discovery.

For fans of Harry Potter

A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle (1962)

Appropriate for age 9 and above

Meg’s father had been experimenting with this fifth dimension of time travel when he suddenly and mysteriously disappeared. Now the time has come for Meg, her friend Calvin, and Charles Wallace to rescue him. But can they outwit the forces of evil they will encounter on their heart-stopping journey through space? 

For fans of Good Omens

The Princess Bride by William Goldman (1973)

Appropriate for age 10 and above

This is a tale of a handsome farm boy who, aided by a drunken swordsman and a gentle giant, rescues a beautiful princess named Buttercup. But the twist is in the telling.

For fans of Tuck Everlasting

The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett (1911)

Appropriate for age 11 and above

Mary Lennox discovers the arched doorway into an overgrown garden and soon begins transforming it into a thing of beauty, unaware that she is changing, too. 

For fans of Percy Jackson

20,000 Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne (1870)

Appropriate for age 12 and above 

In the year 1866, ships of several nations spot a mysterious sea monster, which some suggest to be a giant narwhal. The United States government assembles an expedition in New York City to find and destroy the monster.

For fans of Peter Pan

Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson (1883)

Appropriate for age 10 and above

While going through the possessions of a deceased guest who owed them money, an innkeeper and her son find a treasure map that leads them across the Spanish Main to a notorious pirate’s treasure. This classic novel introduced the world to the dreaded Long John Silver.