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Fail-A-Bration

ABC BUILDING YEAR LESSON 6

PROJECT CORNERSTONE

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ABC: Building Year

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Key Phrases:

The power of YET!

I can!

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Information for ABC Readers

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ABC Readers: Information�Growth Mindset

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It’s OK that:

We’re all a mixture of fixed and growth mindsets.
We will probably always be.
If we want to move closer to a growth mindset in our thoughts and practices, we need to stay in touch with our fixed mindset in our thoughts and deeds.

Carol Dweck, author of Mindset

Mindset author, Carol Dweck warns us to be aware of misinterpreting mindset as good or bad.

Watch for a fixed mindset reaction when you face challenges.

Do you feel overly anxious, or does a voice in your head warn you away? Watch for it when you face a setback in your teaching or when students aren’t listening or learning.
Do you feel incompetent or defeated? Do you look for an excuse? Watch to see whether criticism brings out your fixed mindset.
Do you become defensive, angry, or crushed instead of interested in learning from the feedback? Watch what happens when you see someone who’s better than you at something you value. Do you feel envious and threatened or do you feel eager to learn?
Accept those thoughts and feelings. Work with them and through them. And keep working with and through them.

Excerpted from:

http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2015/09/23/carol-dweck-revisits-the-growth-mindset.html

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ABC Readers: Information�Growth Mindset

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Recognize your own mindset.
Praise the process of learning.
Mistakes are a natural part of the learning process.

“When caring adults view failure as an opportunity to be embraced rather than something to be avoided, kids will be more willing to take on new challenges and will develop the strength to cope.”

-Jenny Friedman, Executive Director of Doing Good Together

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Conversation

Starter

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*The word OK is said to be the most frequently spoken (or typed) word on the planet. It was even the first word spoken on the moon. It is "OK"--the most ubiquitous and invisible of American expressions, one used countless times every day. Yet few of us know the hidden history of OK--how it was coined, what it stood for, and the amazing extent of its influence.��Allan Metcalf, a renowned popular writer on language, here traces the evolution of America's most popular word, in which OK survived and prospered. He describes how OK was born as a lame joke in a newspaper article in 1839--used as a supposedly humorous abbreviation for "oll korrect" (ie, "all correct")--but should have died a quick death, as most clever coinages do. But OK was swept along in a nineteenth-century fad for abbreviations, was appropriated by a presidential campaign (one of the candidates being called "Old Kinderhook"), and finally was picked up by operators of the telegraph.

Over the next century and a half, it established a firm toehold in the American lexicon, and eventually became embedded in pop culture, from the "I'm OK, You're OK" of 1970's transactional analysis, to Ned Flanders' absurd "Okeley Dokeley!" Indeed, OK became emblematic of a uniquely American attitude, and is one of our most successful global exports. (Excerpted from OK by Allan Metcalf.)�

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Conversation Starter: Grades K-5

Winds of Change

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Conversation Starter: Grades K-5�Bend under pressure��WE CAN CHOOSE HOW TO REACT

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Reading

The Book

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Reading: Grades K-5

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Begin by asking students what comes to mind when they hear the word fail. Write their responses on the board. Explain that "fail" is just another word for when something doesn't work out the way we planned.

Next, ask your students what they think of when they hear the word celebration. Write their ideas on the board.

Now, it's time to put those two words together! Write Fail-a-bration on the board. Ask your students what this new word might mean.

Explain to your students that a Fail-a-bration is a special kind of party. It's a way to celebrate that we tried something, even if we didn't get it right on the first try. It's about being proud of ourselves for trying and learning from our mistakes.

Introduce "Growth Mindset": This is the perfect age to formally introduce the concept

of a growth mindset, which is the belief that abilities and intelligence can be developed.

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Contrast this with a fixed mindset, where people believe their abilities are unchangeable.

You can explain that the characters in the book have a growth mindset.

Have students listen to how the main character, the OK Kid, feels about various experiences.

How does the OK Kid choose to react?
As I read this book, try to practice a growth mindset.
Do you think it can be OK for you to be just OK at something you like to do? Think about this as I read.

Read the book completely through the first time. Next, show the students selected pages. Give them time to really look at the illustrations before asking the discussion questions.

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Discussing

The Book

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The following was excerpted from Sheryl Sandberg’s commencement address to Sequoia High on June 7, 2013:

Your life’s course will not be determined by doing the things that you are certain you can do. Those are the easy things. It will be determined by whether you try the things that are hard.

The moments when you feel alone ask for help, and create a bond with someone because working together helps them as well as you. The times when you see things nobody else sees, and fear speaking out, but you speak out anyway… and convince everyone else. Those are the moments where you can have real impact.

Don’t let yourself off the hook by deciding that something is out of your reach. You’ll never know what you’re capable of unless you try. If you believe in yourself and are willing to ask for help, you can do anything – absolutely anything.

https://leanin.org/discussions/sheryl-sandberg-to-sequoia-high-school-what-would-you-do-if-you-werent-afraid/

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Discussion: Grades K-5

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Activity Ideas

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Activity Ideas: Grades K-5�Failabration games

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Refer to New Lesson Plan, Activity Options, pages 5

Refer to Outline, Group Activity section, page 4

Have the students try some of the activities the OK Kid does in the book. Set the tone for the activity as something fun to do for the sake of trying and doing, not mastering. Talk about how trying something new may be out of their OK zone and more in their Dare to Try zone. Stress that they have control over how they react to trying the activity.

Create a signal that the students can flash after each of these activities that show if they were OK (OK signal, one thumb up) or felt a little more daring (two thumbs up). Stop after each activity to ask the students how they felt about the activity.

As you try an activity, ask if there are students who would like to be teachers or leaders and lead the class in an activity.

Ask students to show how they climb the jungle gym.
Bring in small Kleenex or handkerchiefs to juggle.
Walk on the balance beam.
Throw and catch softballs, basketballs, footballs, Frisbees.
Do headstands, somersaults, and cartwheels.
Use a spatula to flip a pretend pancake made of playdough.

How did it feel to give the OK or dare to try signal? Did they find a new interest that they would like to learn more about?

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Activity Ideas: Grades K-5

The Almost Tower

Challenge yourself!

What did you learn?

What should we try next?

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Activity Ideas: Grades K-2

Badges

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Activity Ideas: Grades K-2

What's My Next Step? Role-Play (Grades K-2)

Building Blocks

A student is trying to build a tall tower,

but it keeps falling down. The student is

frustrated and throws a block down.

Take a deep breath; Ask a friend to help

hold the base; Try building on the floor

instead of the table; Use wider blocks on

the bottom; Try again, but only make it

half as tall.

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Activity Ideas: Grades 3-5

Hotel of Feelings and Failures (Grades 3-5)

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Closing:

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Refer to New Lesson Plan, Closing, page 6

Refer to Outline: Three Minute Huddle section, page 4

You cannot control the tough situations, challenges, and other people’s choices that we face in life. With practice, you can learn ways to control yourself and your reactions. You can learn ways to use your lid and choose how to respond to challenges.

Using an I can attitude, we can practice responding to stress, worry, frustration, and failure with a growth mindset.
The exciting thing about The OK Kid is that they are happy exploring and trying new experiences and not bothered about making mistakes or feeling pressured to be an expert. This attitude helps The OK Kid develop confidence and resiliency.
Think about something you have thought about doing but haven’t tried. It may be something you’re excited about, something you want to start doing, or do at a different level. What would it be and what is the first step you can take to achieve it?
Turn to the person on your right and share your thoughts with them. Tell them one thing you will be OK to be OK at trying!

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Wrap up:

Have ideas on how to improve training or lesson plans? Join us as a lead! Email pcbubb@gmail.com if interested
If you haven’t already done so, report your volunteer hours!
Our last training will be May 6 at 8am. Be ready to celebrate all we’ve done this year!

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