As I established yesterday, I don’t like bulletin boards and I do like stealing ideas from other people. It’s ironic that I have posted two bulletin board pictures on this blog from my classroom in the last month since it is my least favorite part of setting up my classroom – but it makes more sense when you realize that I’m just building on the ideas of others.
I’m really emphasizing Growth Mindset in a big way this year, so both of my bulletin boards are aimed at that while I wait for my classes to start so I can hang up student work. (I am currently testing students for the Gifted and Talented program. Stapling their tests to the board would probably be frowned upon…) A few weeks ago, I mentioned my “Courage Zone” bulletin board. Today’s post is about a board I did that integrates a programming theme with thinking about mindsets.
All of my students from last year are familiar with Kodable, a great iPad game for learning the basics of programming. So, I “stole” one of Kodable’s beloved characters, Blue Fuzz, as well as a screen shot of the programming blocks and arrows. I made a little path of blue squares and added some gold coins to make it look more like the game. My twist was adding words to each path that represent Fixed and Growth Mindsets. To top it off, I have a list of questions for the students to consider in preparation for a discussion about the board.
I’m not very artistic, so the board isn’t as “pretty” as I would like it. However, I’ve noticed all of the students I’m testing have looked at it with interest, so I’m hoping it is sending the message I intended.
I’m also a terrible photographer (but I keep trying because I have a Growth Mindset!) so forgive me for the low-quality pictures! You might want to click on the top one to get a better view of my blurry photo 😉
For more mindset resources, check out my Growth Mindset Pinterest Board here!
