Growth Mindset SEL Lesson | Activities & Presentation for Middle & High School

Go back to school encouraging resilience and grit! Help your students master their mindset from day 1 and do their best through this engaging introduction to Growth Mindset.

From the inspiring stories of 8 famous ‘failures’, to a ‘flipping our thinking’ challenge, this growth mindset lesson will empower your middle / high school students to embrace failures and setbacks as a part of success, and walk away feeling determined to achieve anything they set their mind to.

What is included:

✓ An editable and engaging PowerPoint (60 slides)

✓ A detailed lesson plan / teacher guide to take away any guesswork

✓ 4 printable resources to support learning and reflection

✓ Editable resources so you are able to adjust the tasks for different learners

Why you (and your students) will love this Growth Mindset lesson:

♡ It is an authentic investment in your proactive classroom management approach. The concept of growth mindset can be an anchor in so many restorative discussions around engagement, attitude, and behaviours.

♡ It supports students in developing autonomy and confidence. Not only does this help them to overcome challenges independently, but makes your life as a teacher easier. Students feeling more independent and confident = less time taken in individual instruction!

♡ It helps you to create a beautiful inclusive class culture, where students are taught that there are no limits to what they can achieve. This is absolutely paramount to all students (especially those who display the most challenging behaviours) engaging, learning, and thriving.

♡ I have designed this lesson following my principles of quality teaching and learning. The lesson is concept driven, the structure is clear, and differentiation is naturally built in through the prompts, cues, and visuals.

Some of the activities include:

→ GUESS WHO!? Students will be presented with 8 different famous figures who have had to overcome immense challenges to become successful. They will need to read the clues and guess who they are.

→ FLIPPING OUR THINKING CHALLENGE: Students will be given a list of fixed mindset statements, and in groups need to "flip" them into growth-oriented thoughts. You can adapt this to be an independent task.

→ MY PLAN TO PROGRESS: Students reflect on their own fixed mindset, choose one thing they believe they are not good at but wish they were, and make a plan to progress in that area.