The Stadium Drive Star Where academics shine through the arts
March 2016
PARENT/TEACHER Mindsets CONFERENCES AVOIDING N COMMON PITFALLS PTO NEWS AND OPEN POSITIONS
BOX TOPS COME UP BIG
The Right Mindset Regarding Mindsets Stanford University psychology professor Carol Dweck has become something of a cult figure in education and parenting circles. Her research into boosting student motivation has spawned a mini industry of consultants, sold more than a million books and changed the way that many adults praise children. Dweck believes too many students are hobbled by the belief that intelligence is a fixed trait. She says kids with what she calls "fixed mindsets" stop trying when when confronted with a challenge because they've convinced themselves that they're not good at math or writing or whatever the subject is. She argues that adults can, instead, help foster a "growth mindset" – the belief that the brain is like a muscle that can grow stronger through hard work. Dweck theorizes that parents' well-intentioned praise contributes to the formation of unproductive fixed-mindset thoughts. According to the theory, it's harmful to tell your kids that they're smart because when they eventually do struggle in school, they might think they're not so smart after all. Ultimately, they become afraid of challenges and less resilient when faced with obstacles. Dweck's theory is so popular that I've had Brooklyn mommies at the playground reprimand me for incorrectly praising my daughter. But how to praise your kids properly is, apparently, quite complicated. Earlier this month, Dweck delivered a speech at Stanford, where she highlighted three ways that parents and teachers are going astray. "As the growth mindset has become more popular and taken hold, we are beginning to find that there are pitfalls," said Dweck. "Many educators misunderstand or misapply the concepts." Praising effort alone Many parents and teachers have interpreted Dweck's work to mean that they should praise a child's effort, such as "I'm proud that you tried really hard," or "I see how much effort you put into this." Or teachers sometimes give A's on assignments if a child has attempted all of the questions, regardless of whether the answers are good or not. "It's like the consolation prize. 'Oh, at least you worked hard,'" said Dweck. "What if they didn't make progress or they didn't learn?"
Praising effort alone, she says, is useless when the child is getting everything wrong and not making progress. Either students will feel misled when they are eventually confronted with the reality of their low achievement, or the hollow praise will convey adults' low expectations for them. Instead, she advises teachers and parents to praise a child's process and strategies, and tie those to the outcome. For example, Dweck suggests these phrases: "Wow, you really practiced that, and look how you've improved." "See, you studied more and your grade on this test is higher." "You tried different strategies and you figured out how to solve the problem." "You stuck to this and now you really understand it." Telling kids to try harder Similar to hollow praises of effort, many teachers incorrectly equate "growth mindset" with effort alone. Dweck often hears reports of teachers telling students, for example, "You would have done better if you tried harder," or "Keep trying and you'll get it." Effort, Dweck says, is only one route for a student to make learning improvements. If a student 1|Page
doesn't have strategies for solving a problem, or the necessary skills, or the steps for completing an assignment at his fingertips, all the effort in the world might not help. Instead of "nagging" the student to keep trying, Dweck says teachers need to sit down with a student and say, "Let's look at what you've done," "Let's look at what your understanding is," or "Let's look at what strategies you've used, and let's figure out together what we should try next." Repeating mindset jargon Growth mindset theories are becoming so popular that some classrooms are festooned with growth mindset motivational posters exhorting, "Don't give up until you are PROUD" and "Every mistake you make is PROGRESS." "You can't just declare that you have a growth mindset," said Dweck. "Growth mindset is hard. Many educators are trying to skip the journey." To do it right, Dweck says that many teachers have to change how they teach, offering more critical feedback and giving students opportunities to revise their work. Dweck cited a recent Stanford Ph.D. thesis by Kathy Liu Sun, now a professor at Santa Clara University, which found that students continued to have fixedmindset thoughts in math class when their teachers mouthed growth mindset phrases but didn't change their teaching practices. Dweck says she's found the same results with parents in her research. "We're finding that many parents endorse a growth mindset, but they still respond to their children's errors, setbacks or failures as though they're damaging and harmful," she said. "If they show anxiety or overconcern, those kids are going toward a more fixed mindset." Still, Dweck is finding uneven results even when parents and teachers implement her growth mindset strategies properly. She's seeing much bigger gains for low-achieving students than for highachieving ones. In other words, D students often jump an entire letter grade or more after a growth-mindset intervention just by reengaging with their work, but B+ students don't suddenly move up to A's. However, it's possible that high-achieving kids are profiting in other ways. Dweck noticed that high-achieving students were more likely to tackle harder math problems after an intervention,
compared to similar kids in a control group. Perhaps, over the long term a "growth mindset" will serve them well in college and in life, even if it doesn't boost grades. This column was written by Jill Barshay and produced by The Hechinger Report, a nonprofit, independent news website focused on inequality and innovation in education.
Arts Infusion In the late 1990’s a group of educators began exploring the notion of an Arts Infused focus school to benefit students and families in Lake Orion. Exhaustive research led to the creation of Stadium Drive Elementary of the Arts. The Arts Infusion approach at Stadium is rooted in the work of Howard Gardner. His “Theory of Multiple Intelligences” revolutionized our vision of what intelligence is. The Arts Infusion philosophy capitalizes on these intelligences: musical, bodily kinesthetic, interpersonal, verbal-linguistic, logicalmathematical, naturalistic, intrapersonal, and visualspatial. Stadium’s unique approach includes opportunities for students to recognize and make use of all of their intelligences.
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At Stadium, teachers and students readily make connections between “arts” concepts (patterning, classifying, sequencing, visualizing, organizing, symbolizing, etc.) and other curricular areas (language arts, math, science, social studies, and physical education). For example, “patterning” is recognized as it relates to music, visual arts, math, history, and dance. “Sequencing” occurs in reading, physical education, writing, life cycles, dance, theatre, and music. Throughout their school experience, all students at Stadium participate in dance, drama, music, and visual arts taught by experts in these fields. However, Stadium is not a school dedicated to “professional” performances. It is not designed as a place for students who are artistically “talented”. Instead, it is our belief that all students benefit from the study of arts and arts infusion. By engaging in all kinds of artistic thinking, our students develop a stronger sense of self and strengthen their thinking in all areas of learning. To learn more about Stadium’s Arts Infusion approach, be sure to check out the Arts Infusion bulletin board located between the main office and room 109.
Box Top Update I am excited to report that our February Box Tops for Education collection gave our teachers a total of $641.50! Thank you to all the families that sent in their Box Tops. It’s a wonderful way to support our teachers. The three classes with the most Box Tops collected were Mrs. Dabrowski’s first grade class with a total of 799, Mrs. Lareau’s third grade class with a total of 516, and Ms. Nye’s third grade class with a total of 496! Each class will earn an extra recess! Congratulations to our winners! Please click here to see totals for all classrooms. I also want to thank our team of volunteers who assisted in the counting: Aira Fornwall, Florie D’Annunzio, Patty Kostecki, Wendy Freeman, Windy Nuss, Jeanine Neering, Lindsey Combs, Heather Schott, Michelle Aisthorpe, and Crissy Jurj. You make an amazing team, and I appreciate your hard work! Additionally, after seven years, I have decided to retire from the Box Tops Coordinator position, and am happy to announce that Heather Schott will be taking over the reins for the 2016-2017
school year. Thank you, Heather, for stepping in and taking on this role! Remember to keep saving your Box Tops for next year! Our next collection will be in October 2016. Thank you! Angie Dempsey – Box Tops Coordinator
Variety Show A BIG thank you goes out to Gina Crowther and all those who supported or participated in this year’s installment of Stadium’s Got Talent. Both Show A and Show B were highly entertaining! Click here to see one of our “highlighted” acts.
Stranger Danger Stadium Drive and Carpenter Elementary will be hosting the Oakland County Sheriff’s Office on Wednesday, March 30 for a stranger danger presentation at Lake Orion High School. This event begins at 6:30 PM and is intended for both parents and students. No advanced sign-up is necessary.
Conferences Spring conferences are March 24, 29, and 31. If you haven’t had a chance to signup yet, please do so very
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soon, as appointment times are filling fast.
March is Reading Month Thanks to the efforts of many staff members, our March is Reading Month campaign is well under way. This year’s theme is “Get in the game and read” and features a March Madness style set up. We have many events planned, so be sure to reference information that was sent home last week for details.
PTO News The PTO’s 4th Annual Adult Trivia Night is tomorrow at 6:00 PM. The PTO would like to thank parents Scott and Jen Taylor for their work in organizing and executing this event. Another “thank you” also goes to Gina Crowther for all of her hard work with organizing Stadium Drive’s Got Talent Variety Show 2016. This endeavor is a huge undertaking with a ton of behind the scenes work required. Thank you Gina and thank you also to all of the parent volunteers that helped out during the rehearsals and shows. Our Valentine Gram sale was a big success. Thank you to all of the parents (and students) who participated in the program. We distributed over 1600 Valentine’s on Friday, February 12. Watch for details soon on our next Spirit Stick sale. We have some brand new, super fun sticks available for purchase! Speaking of Spirit Sticks, did you know that this year alone the PTO has provided over 2000 Spirit Sticks to students and to the school at no cost? Those Spirit Sticks are used as incentives and rewards for behavior and performance at school. They have also been used as prizes for participation in certain programs such as March is Reading Month, Color Run and Red Ribbon Week. While we do sell a lot of Spirit Sticks, a portion of those proceeds helps fund the purchase of these “earn only” sticks so that all students at Stadium Drive have an opportunity to have some. So, thank you to all of our Spirit Stick supporters! Our next PTO meeting will be on Thursday, April 14 at 4:05 PM. At that time we will begin to accept nominations for the PTO Board positions whose terms end in June. The positions of Secretary, Vice President and President are available. If you are interested in any of these positions and would like more information, please email Sue Louvar at stadiumdrivepto@gmail.com.
Upcoming Events 3/10 – Kindergarten Information Night – 6:30 PM 3/10-3/15 – Vision Screening for DK, Kindergarten, and Grades One, Three, and Five 3/11 – Dance-A-Thon – 4:00 PM 3/22 – Sunrise Stories – 7:45 AM 3/23 – Kindergarten Registration – CERC 3/24-3/31 – Book Fair 3/24, 3/29, 3/31 – P/T Conferences 3/24-3/25 – No School 3/30 – Stranger Danger Presentation – LOHS, 6:30 PM 4/4-4/8 – Spring Break 4/14 – PTO Meeting – 4:10 PM 5/12 – Spring Art Show, Open House – 6:00 PM 5/26 – Dance Spectacular – 6:30 PM 5/30 – Memorial Day Recess
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