Mindfulness and Growth Mindset at Our School

Mindfulness is gaining recognition as a resource to improve attention, the ability to 'deal', lower stress and anxiety, as well as improving overall well-being.

WHAT IS MINDFULNESS?

"Harvard University conducted a study on why some people were more successful than others. They tracked 1,000 people from birth to 32 years looking for reasons that set the successful people apart. At the end of the study they were able to point to one thing that underpinned success. 

It wasn’t race, class, gender, rich or poor- it was the ability to pay attention and to have self-control and this was across a wide band of people from many different backgrounds and circumstances.

These two qualities were shared by all successful people in the study; the ability to regulate emotions and thinking and focus. In short, if you can’t pay attention and focus you will not learn effectively and if you don’t have self control, you can’t work towards goals beyond ‘instant gratification’."  http://mindfulnzschools.nz

What has Mrs Jepson taught you about Growth Mindset?

Growth mindset is giving it a go even if you are not sure about it. If you are stuck and you don’t know how to do it, it just means you are in the learning pit and that’s great because you have more to learn. We’ve all said to ourselves “I’m not good at this” or “I give up”. But Mrs Jepson taught us to keep going and ask yourself. “What am I missing?” or “What can I do to make it better?” Mrs Jepson consistently says “If you are always getting 100% then I have failed you and your learning. I need to give you a challenge”. Challenges are good because they show you the things you don’t know yet so you can learn more. Remember don’t say I can’t do it. Instead say I can’t do it yet. By Luciella Pessione

Mrs Jepson has taught me that having a growth mindset is key and even if something is hard, I learnt that you should believe in yourself. Also, she taught me to persevere and I can then achieve great things. By Miles Coulson

Growth mindset is diving into a big learning pit and accepting the challenge to get out of the pit. When you are out you find a new challenge and jump into a bigger pit and try to put your fears behind you and push yourself to do your very best. By Enda Doherty

Growth mindset is thinking positively instead of thinking with negativity in the brain. Mrs Jepson uses Michael Jordan as an example of growth mindset. He trialed to join his High School A Basketball team and failed. He still practiced and practiced and eventually got into the team, and went on to be the greatest player of all time. By Hyuk Jang

Mrs Jepson has taught me that growth mindset means you can do anything you put your mind to, but you may just not be able to do it yet. So this refers to situations like not knowing how to do fractions but believing you can learn how to do them. Not everyone has a growth mindset but it is possible to grow one. Since you have heard you have the ability to grow one how about you plant the growth mindset seed now! By Hannah Matorino