DEPUTY PRINCIPAL REPORT
Teaching Learning and Innovation
The Riverina Anglican College
Activating a Growth Mindset
My personal mantra is Be All You Can Be. It doesn’t mean I am the best, or that I come first at what I do. It means that I am reaching my potential whenever and wherever I can by activating a growth mindset. It is vital that our students see learning success though this frame as well. We cannot all be the smartest, we cannot all be first and we cannot all be the best. What we can be is the very best version of ‘me’.
Importantly, this attitude may be most important for those who are the smartest or best in their small sphere. If they are content to just be the best in a small pond then they are not reaching to be all they can be, nor are they reaching their absolute potential.
In class, there are some basic principles for our students that can help them with a growth mindset. It includes recognising that:
1. We all have the right to be safe and able to learn at all times.
2. We have responsibilities that correspond with those rights. In particular, the need to maximise attendance and come organised with our laptop and other learning materials and a ‘ready to learn’ attitude.
3. Comparing myself to someone else in my class is not as powerful as comparing myself to my own development of knowledge and skills. The real question is, ‘am I improving’?
Learning and Wellbeing are the core of what we do at TRAC- if something is getting in the way of your learning you need to act to overcome that obstacle, in particular talking to your teacher, wellbeing mentor, Head of House or Year.
If you would like to discuss growth mindset and what it means at TRAC, please feel free to email me at the college any time. Anthony.heffer@trac.nsw.edu.au
‘Learning never exhausts the mind’- Leonardo da Vinci
Anthony Heffer | Deputy Principal - Teaching, Learning and Innovation