Mindset Assessments (Journal Writing) in 2nd Grade

I first gave a pre-assessment in which I asked students to choose between two math problems, one being very easy and the other more challenging.  Students had to explain their reasons for their choice, so it was interesting to see that even students who were very capable of solving the more complex problem chose to do the easier one.  

After teaching about how the brain gets stronger when it works on more challenging activities, I continued to use similar prompts to invite students to choose between easier and more challenging activities, for example, “Would you rather write your own opinion essay or copy the teachers’ writing?” I was pleased to see that the more we talked about growth mindset, more students were beginning to explain that they wanted to try the more difficult choice.  Here are some of the student responses to that question:

• I would rather do my own opinion writing because I would learn and my brain would get bigger, and it’s your own idea!
• I would rather write my own because I can learn from my mistakes so when I write the next opinion I know to not make that mistake.
• I would rather copy the teachers’ opinion writing because it is easier than writing my own opinion writing, writing my own opinion is hard because I have to think about 3 reasons, some details, and a conclusion

Other Mindset writing prompts I used, along with some student responses:

How do you feel when you try to do something new that is difficult?

• When you try something new and you can’t do it, it is because you didn’t practice yet.
• If you can’t do something like playing basketball you could always say “I can’t play basketball YET" because you can’t do it right now.
• When you try something new you might make mistakes but it's ok because you can learn something new and get used to it.
• When I try something new I don’t get frustrated. I just keep trying and trying and trying until I get it because if I cry, crying is not helping.
• You can’t do it yet because you're not used to it and you might be frustrated or tired. You might have messed up but it's ok you will get used to it.