At PNA, students and teachers are expected to exercise their growth mindset everyday.  Carol Dweck, a professor of psychology at Stanford University, coined the term after studying the attitudes of thousands of children regarding failure.  She found that “In a growth mindset, people believe that their most basic abilities can be developed through dedication and hard work—brains and talent are just the starting point.”

While second graders practice their growth mindset every day in a multitude of ways, they are usually within the comfort of a classroom.  Last week, students took their resiliency and grit to a different and quite literal stage for Brown Bag Performances.  These weeklong gatherings of the whole school allow for a casual brown bag lunch while enjoying various performances of our amazing students.

For some students, it is easy to hop up on stage and entertain the crowd and for others, they really had to exercise their growth mindset in order to be able to do that.

Students also were given the opportunity to learn about another person who had a great growth mindset during our annual MLK Jr. assembly and day of service.  They can see how having a growth mindset can provide results and spark a positive change in those around you!