Mistakes are the Portals of Discovery
--James Joyce
I found this quote last summer when I was thinking about and preparing lessons for the first week of school. I knew that I wanted to spend some time talking about growth mindset with my students and emphasize the value of mistakes in the learning process. I don't want my students to be afraid of making mistakes. Instead, I want them to take risks and celebrate mistakes and use them as opportunities to learn new things. I love the words portal and discovery in this quote. The definition of portal is "a doorway, gate, or other entrance, especially a large and elaborate one." I love the idea of my students passing through a portal and discovering new knowledge and insight by making mistakes.
I liked this quote so much that I decided to finally become a bona fide teacher and order my first gross of custom printed pencils:
I had to change the quote slightly because 36 characters and spaces are the maximum allowed on a custom printed pencil from ForTeachersOnly. I also ordered some brain erasers to give out with the pencils throughout the year to recognize students who learn from mistakes and exhibit a growth mindset.
In class, after we talked about the differences between fixed and growth mindsets, students wrote growth mindset quotes and statements on lightbulbs, speech bubbles, neon starbursts and thought bubbles to decorate a mural with our classroom slogan.
Our Classroom Mural:
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