TILS Standard C

3: Provides and engages in data informed, differentiated professional learning

opportunities for educators, aligned with the Tennessee Standards for Professional
Learning

Fixed/Growth Mindset Professional Development Session

During the 2013/2014 school year, Hamilton County was really big on Carol Dweck and
Fixed/Growth Mindsets. At the beginning of the year county professional development sessions,
there was information on how to incorporate Dwecks philosophys and practices into our daily
teaching and planning. I loved the ideas that were presented and quickly implemented them into
my classroom. After my principal conducted my first classroom observation, he saw how I was
using the growth/fixed mindset strategies in my classroom, he asked me to conduct a
professional development session on it to present to the staff and then follow up with grade
levels during their planning time to see how implementation was going.
What Went Well
The whole group and initial grade level planning sessions went very well. The whole
group session was short and informative. I showed a short video of how teachers are
implementing the theories and practices into their daily conversations and interactions with their
students, discussed what research says, and provided teachers with a ring of note cards with
sentence starters that would help them begin to move from fixed mindset comments to growth
mindset comments. Each grade level signed up for a date for me to attend a planning session and
discuss any questions or concerns as well as see how implementation was going. About a month
after the whole group professional development session, I began my grade level visits. My
principal provided me with a sub so that I could go to 5th grades planning as well as go to the
other building to visit grades K-3. The visits took place over 2 days. While talking with the
different grade levels, it seemed that the majority of the teachers were on board and using the
ideas. It was fairly simple to do and simply required teachers to be more mindful with the ways
they encouraged or praised students. With some grade levels, teachers shared what they were
already doing, others had questions, and others wanted to create more sentence starters to add to
their ring that I gave them at the whole group session. It was great to see teachers excited about
trying something new.
What Did Not
My 1st round of grade level planning meetings was my last. After I met with my principal
and debriefed on what I saw during planning sessions, he said that he would continue to look for

signs of implementation during his classroom observations. Carol Dweck and her growth and
fixed mindset was never heard of again at a professional development session for the rest of the
year and I was afraid it implementation was not being monitored during classroom observations.
I felt like wed started something good and the majority of the staff was on board, but it quickly
fell by the wayside. I know that it was unreasonable to request more time away from my
classroom to follow up with teachers during planning sessions, but I wouldve liked to continue
to meet with teachers to share ideas and to hear what impact this shift in dialogue was having on
student motivation and participation. We always had packed agendas during faculty meetings, so
my requests for a 10-15 minute follow up was met with a no, but I understood. I sent a few
emails to grade level chairs to see how their teams were doing with implementation, but after a
few weeks responses became very simple. People responded with Its going good or We love
the note cards. I wasnt able to get any real feedback and eventually it was a thing of the past.
Given the chance to do it again, what would you do differently?
I would create short follow up surveys to occasionally pass out faculty
meetings or send out to the staff via email. Since it was not feasible for me to
continue to visit grade levels during their planning or take time at other faculty
meetings to follow up, I could create something that wouldnt take a lot of time to
complete, but would provide me with information on teachers progress. I know that
I may not get everyones participation in completing the survey or questionnaire,
but those who did complete it would provide me with a sample of how it was being
used. As a leader, I have to be creative with how I follow up with teachers. Even
though it wouldve taken some work, there were ways I couldve continued to
monitor progress after my initial meetings.