My take on the growth mindset posters

Over the past few years my classroom hasn't changed all that much, but last year I hopped on the growth mindset trend and added something new. After seeing tons of those "Change your words change your mindset" bulletin boards (originating here it seems) I wanted put my spin on it.

A few years ago when I hung up my simple rules posters I found that I got a lot more use out of them than I'd anticipated. When kids try to give up I point to the wall and tell them that unfortunately it's a rule that they're not allowed to give up. It seems to be lighthearted and they don't get as angry as if I just tell them they have to keep working.

So I liked the growth mindset posters for the same reason. While I really liked them all, for me nine was just too many. I feel like the more stuff that goes up around the room, the less kids are able to focus on it all and it's less meaningful. So I took out the four that I thought I could get the most use out of and made this poster:

I printed it at Staples as a 24"x36" engineering print (under $10). The color ones are more expensive so that's what it's black and white. I did however figure out that those big prints take watercolor paint really nicely so I used watercolors to color in the letters. I'm not in school so I don't have an actual picture, but imagine it something like this.

I also really liked those bulletin boards with the brain and found an image I really liked to do that with. I colored in the left side to be just grey and then colored in the right side. It was like a giant watercolor coloring book, it was great. I don't have a picture of it done, but below is during.

source

 

All done, picture something like this.

Before settling on that, I started making something along the lines of all the bulletin boards everyone else has. I didn't end up hanging them up, but this is along the lines of what I had in mind.

Downloads:

• big poster
• brain
• fixed/growth letters
• growth mindset pages: pdf ppt

fonts for the powerpoint file: The Skinny, KG Empire of Dirt, A Love of Thunder (all free to download)