La Grande Pride
www.lagrandesd.org • September 2019
11
OUTSTANDING FACULTY MEMBER
Fifth grade teacher spreads growth mindset
By Trish Yerges
Three years ago, Island
City Elementary (ICE)
teacher Tory Weimer be-
came intrigued by a new
motivational approach to
learning called the “growth
mindset.” He studied about
it on his own in 2016-17,
and when he realized its po-
tential benefi ts in the class-
room, he began to teach it to
his fi fth grade students.
“This is my third year
teaching it,” Weimer said.
“The fi rst year I picked this
goal for my class, and last
year I picked the goal of
making this a school-wide
culture. So at the end of
last year, I had students
report out what the growth
mindset means to them
and how it’s helped them.
About eight kids came and
presented their stories be-
fore the faculty for the fi rst
time.
One straight-A student
said she tried never to
make a mistake but when
she inevitably did make a
mistake, it felt like the end
of the world to her. The
growth mindset taught her
to perceive mistakes differ-
ently, as part of the learn-
ing process rather than a
road block to learning. She
knows now that her journey
will have “twists and turns”
and that’s okay.
When the kids adopt the
growth mindset of learning,
it fosters a new and healthi-
Elementary school teacher Tory Weimer teaches “growth mindset” to
Island City Elementary fi fth-graders.
er learning environment for
them.
“It allows for the class-
room to feel like a really
safe place where kids can
share their mistakes and
encourage each other and
learn and grow together,”
Weimer said. “In the past,
kids would hide their mis-
takes and not value their
mistakes as part of their
learning.”
The growth mindset also
impacted another student,
who gave his story before
the faculty. He had a senso-
ry disorder, and he had the
most profound things to say
about how it helped him.
“He had people in the au-
dience crying. I was tearing
up from the transformation
he made,” Weimer said.
Like these two aforemen-
tioned students, Weimer has
seen the changes in all his
students when they adopt
the growth mindset concept.
“Last year’s scores were
incredible for my group,”
he said. “I had several kids
pass the state test who had
never passed it before. I
had parents who would re-
port about how the growth
mindset has helped their
kids.”
So what exactly is the
growth mindset and how
does it change the way a
person learns?
“A person who has a
growth mindset has an
understanding about the
physiological processes in
the brain when they are
challenged,” Weimer ex-
plained. “One of the sayings
the kids know is ‘my brain
is like a muscle,’ so when
you do something hard,
your brain, like a muscle,
has to create new neurons
and neural pathways.”
Repeatedly addressing
those learning challenges
will strengthen those neural
pathways. If a child un-
derstands that hard work
is good for me and failure
means that I’m trying. The
child knows the “power of
YET” in that they may not
know a diffi cult thing YET,
but they believe their brain
is a muscle that can grow
and allow them to do it
eventually with continued
effort.
In contrast, a fi xed mind-
set is the opposite of that
and disallows students to
believe they can achieve
their potential. The fi xed
mindset doesn’t allow the
brain the opportunity to go
through that neurological
growth from going through
challenges.
“The brain will conserve
its energy and resources if
it’s not being challenged,”
Weimer said. “In fact, it
will prune neural pathways
that aren’t being used, and
it won’t put in more energy
if it doesn’t have to.”
The brain is very plastic
(malleable), and it can be
molded during a person’s
entire lifetime. Weimer is
using the concept himself.
“Growth mindset doesn’t
take away fear, anxiety,
shame, embarrassment or
all those feelings that come
from failure, but what it
does is it lets you deal with
them in a productive way,”
he said. “It’s not just for
kids.”
Due to Weimer’s ef-
forts and introduction of
the growth mindset in his
fi fth grade, a lot of other
teachers at Island City
Elementary have also made
the growth mindset their
professional goal.
“The thing that I’m most
interested in seeing is the
students that are getting
the growth mindset instruc-
tion from my colleagues
before they come to me in
fi fth grade,” he said. “It’s
defi nitely taking off as part
of our school culture.”
Long range, students
having grown up with
the growth mindset may
achieve great things by the
time they are seniors in
high school. Weimer is very
optimistic about how this
will benefi t these trained
students as they continue
their education through the
district.
“I believe in it at as
teacher and what it’s done
for my kids,” he said. “I’m
glad my colleagues are in-
vested in it too.”