Growth Mindset in the Music Classroom

Growth Mindset is on my mind lately. Our principal has been emphasizing that we help kids think of working the process, getting better, and improving.

Growth Mindset at my School

As a group, our teachers came up with ideas that go along with the letters in our mascot name.  I made separate 8 1/2 inch sized posters and a large poster for our school that are all now posted all over the school to help us work with our kids. This is the 11 x 17 one.

 

Ideas for Using Growth Mindset in a music classroom Part 1

Here are some ideas:

I can help my students work together and collaborate as they make musical compositions. I can also guide them to help each other on the recorder. They can learn and decode the notes, and think about the meaning of a classical music composition.

Students can learn to persevere as they learn to improve at reading rhythms. They will also learn to persevere as they struggle to learn to read notes or play the recorder or ukulele. They can also learn to work hard at learning parts for our choir concert, learning to understand the musical alphabet or the pentatonic scales, and learning how to sing and identify them.

We can learn to ask questions as we listen to a new composition and think about why someone expressed themselves in a certain way. Furthermore, we can ask how one instrument, such as the piano, is like a ukulele and explore both to figure out the answer. In addition, we can ask and explore in 1st grade how the words of a song fit with the rhythm. In 2nd grade, we can also ask and work to understand how a half note is longer and where the solfege syllable re fits in with the notes we already know. We can ask questions to understand music better in every grade.

Ideas for Using Growth Mindset in a music classroom Part 2

As we explore musical concepts, we can think out loud in groups. This helps every student, no matter their level to learn to think in new ways. All are lifted.

We can offer solutions as a class or in small groups when we discuss or think out loud about musical compositions. Further, we can figure out the meaning of a song, how to move in a new or different way to music, or how to derive a rhythm for a song we know.

We can also reflect our learning in ways such as evaluating how well we are singing a song in the choir, our progression on our recorder playing, evaluating ourselves on our understanding of a new concept. One simple way of doing this is having students hold up one finger for not understanding and four fingers for knowing it well enough that they could teach others.

It doesn’t have to be hard. I made a recorder log so my 5th graders can keep track and evaluate their progress in our black belt system. Each student will write the date and the belt name. Then they will keep track of how many times they have practiced it before trying to pass it off, and whether they passed it off. I have occasional conferences with them to discuss their progress and give the log to parents at parent/teacher conferences.

Packs that Encourage Growth Mindset

Here are some FREE packs I have made to help your kids with a growth mindset.  Recorder Black Belt System Freebie, and Musical Moments Listening Sampler, Engine Engine Beat Book Sampler, Bubble Spot Active Listening Pack or my brand new I am Kind Music Composition Project pack.

More Growth Mindset Resources

I was inspired by a “We Are Teachers” blog post about Growth Mindset books to read in class. Check out some music books that look like gems.