Our school has a first-draft mindset

A few years ago we had a workshop on Growth Mindset.  This idea, made popular through psychologist Carol Dweck’s book “Mindset” is the belief  that success has more to do with having the right mindset than intelligence or talent. The workshop facilitator handed each of us a blank sheet of paper, a pencil, and asked us to find a partner. She then gave us two minutes to sketch a portrait of the person we’d been paired with. When the time was up she asked us to do what we were all dreading; share our sketch with each other! After a lot of giggling, apologies and blushing, she asked us how it felt.  “Embarrassing.” “I can’t draw, and I didn’t want to offend my partner.”  “Vulnerable.” “It was a lot of fun!”  “Wow, my partner was a great artist!”  “I was worried about how my partner would react.”

She then said, every great school needs to have a culture where everyone is comfortable sharing their “first drafts.” Wow, I loved that.  I am proud to say that TNSM works hard at having a “first-draft” culture in staff meetings and in the classroom. A culture where mistakes are allowed and expected. A culture where new ideas can be tested. Time and again, I see our teachers creating opportunities for this in their classrooms. Every time a 3-year-old walks across the room with a teetering tray of materials and the teacher observes but doesn’t intervene, a “first-draft” culture expands.  Every time I see  a conflict between two students and the teacher takes the time to sit with them as they explain their frustrations, misunderstanding and hurt to each other, a growth-mindset culture deepens here. Every time a hand goes up with the wrong answer and is met with encouragement for trying, the student understands “right answers” aren’t the only thing we are learning. Our goal as teachers, staff, and students is to better ourselves–and that is only possible when we feel comfortable enough to “Fail. Fail again. Fail better.” Each time new neural pathways develop, we grow our brains, our resilience and our confidence in knowing that mistakes are necessary steps. Mistakes expand our understanding, our empathy and our knowledge.