Our MFG Newsletter - Issue One 2018

2/11/2018 Our MFG Newsletter - Issue One 2018
Teaching and Learning
Making your children’s
thinking ‘visible’: A few
tips for Parents and
Carers
1. Develop a growth mindset.
A belief that intelligence and the ability to
grow and develop over time - as opposed to
something that is fixed and set - encourages
greater risk taking, collaboration,
enjoyment of challenge, long-term
development, and continuous achievement
in all types of learning endeavours (Carol
Dweck, 2006). Develop a growth mindset in
your child by focusing your praise on
process, learning, and e ort (You really
worked hard on this and have learned a lot.
You did a great job of developing a plan and
following it through. You’ve really
developed as a musician.), as opposed to
ability (You’re so clever. Look how smart
you are; you did that so fast. You’ve got a lot
of talent).
You can support this change in mindset
through the language we use. Here are
some possible options to replace the fixed
mindset:
Instead of…
Try thinking…
It’s good enough
Is this really my best work?
This is too hard
This may take some time…
I don’t understand this yet
I made a mistake
Mistakes help me learn
I just can’t do this
I am going to train my brain
2. What questions did you ask today?
Our questions drive us as learners. When
Isidor I.Rabi won the Nobel Prize in physics,
he was asked, ''Why did you become a
scientist, rather than a doctor or lawyer or
businessman, like the other immigrant kids
in your neighborhood?'' He replied, ''My
mother made me a scientist without ever
intending it. Every other Jewish mother in
Brooklyn would ask her child a er school:
'So? Did you learn anything today?' But not
my mother. She always asked me a
di erent question. 'Izzy,' she would say, 'did
you ask a good question today?' That
di erence - asking good questions - made
me become a scientist!'' © Ron Ritchhart,
2012
When your daughter gets home from
school, ask her ‘What good questions did
you ask today?’
I share this article with new parents every
year. It’s a very interesting read about that
got me thinking about the other kinds of
questions parents and carers can ask their
children each day a er school…
http://www.hu ingtonpost.com/meg-
conley/we-ask-our-kids-the-same-3-
questions-every-night_b_11665530.html
MFG Curriculum
We have redesigned our Curriculum maps
which will appear on the new website.
Many thanks to Paula Hurley (a parent of a
new Year 7 students) for all of her work and
thinking relating to the redesign of our
subject o erings. I have included just the
Year 7 one in this newsletter.
https://inewsletter.co/issue/14DMn1/print/#/0 13/16