Brock, Hundley publish handbook for teachers

In order to help teachers empower students and help them grow as learners, Holton educators Annie Brock and Heather Hundley have written “The Growth Mindset Coach: A Teacher’s Month-by-Month Handbook for Empowering Students to Achieve,” which is set to be released later this month. 

Published by Ulysses Press and already listed as a best seller in the academic educational psychology category on Amazon.com, the book is based on the growth mindset concept, which is the belief that, with practice, perseverance and effort, people have limitless potential to learn and grow.  

Opposing the growth mindset is the fixed mindset, which is the belief that people are born with a fixed amount of intelligence and ability, and, in turn, are prone to avoid challenges and failures. 

“Early on kids get into that mindset that ‘I’m not a math person’ or ‘I’m bad at writing,’” Brock said. “And it’s really about recognizing that we’re all in a different pace and place in our learning. No one it better or worse. It’s about normalizing mistakes and realizing that we all learn at different rates.”

The 224-page handbook builds off of the 2006 best seller book “Mindset: The New Psychology of Success” by Carol Dweck where the author outlined how the growth mindset can be used in business, sports, education, parenting and life in general. 

“Her research spans 20 to 30 years and she did some of her research watching students and looking and their mindsets, but it was within this larger body of research and so we kind of extracted that idea of mindset in the classroom and extrapolated on those ideas,” Brock said. 

Hundley and Brock wanted to specifically target the classroom to help teachers unleash their students’ potential. 

“Dweck definitely addresses how we, as teachers, can create that growth-oriented classroom,” Hundley said. “But we dug deeper and pulled in more research that was already out there, as well as used our experiences in the classroom at the elementary and secondary level. Using her phenomenal research, we were able to pull this together. My classroom has been structured with the growth mindset so I was able to pull out some authentic things I’d already been doing that were very applicable.”

In their book, Brock and Hundley include a month-by-month program for teachers that includes research-based activities, hands-on lesson plans, real-life educator stories and constructive feedback.  

“Each month, teachers have one area of growth mindset that they can really focus on, and at the end of the 12 months, they will have spent the year in this is immersive professional development experience. And the next year, you can put all the tools to use,” Brock said. “It’s a yearlong journey into developing a growth-oriented classroom.”

The women said that teachers aren’t taught much about child brain science unless they do master’s work, and in their book, they discuss neuroplasticity and the fact the our brains continue to grow. 

“The more you work on something the stronger your neural connections become,” Brock said.

Hundley said that there are several ways to foster growth mindset in a classroom setting such as incorporating positive feedback during “productive struggling.” 

“We want to develop a community of learners,” Hundley said. “So everyone has a goal they are working towards, and valuing mistakes is an important part of that process. It’s about infusing in the classroom the fact that everyone can learn and that we can make these connections by having a good learning attitude focused on growth and that our hard work will ultimately lead to success. I’ve told my students that we’re going to be active problem solvers, and we’re going to try different strategies in order to grow our brains.”

Once kids grasp the growth mindset, Hundley said, they begin believing in their abilities to learn and succeed and understand the value their mistakes. 

“These are tools they can carry with them throughout life,” Hundley said. “It helps them become lifelong learners and take on challenges and continue growing.”

In their book, the women also discuss strategies for discussing the growth mindset classroom with their students’ parents in order to keep that sense of open-mindedness at home.

 “It’s about praising the right things,” Brock said. “Instead of focusing on the person by saying ‘You’re so smart,” we focus on the strategies they are using and how hard they are working.”

Everyone is made up of both fixed and growth mindsets, and the women provide ways to address those opposing voices in their book. 

“The fixed mindset is full of fear. Fear of failing, of being judged by others, of looking stupid and not being the best,” Brock said. “At the end of the day, that doesn’t matter. What matters is that you’re putting yourself out there working hard. You’ll always get a better result by trying.” 

 Brock previously worked with Ulysses Press when she published her first book, “Introduction to Google Classroom.”

“They approached me about writing another book on an educational topic, and we narrowed it down to growth mindset and I asked Heather to write it with me because she’s the best teacher I know,” Brock said.

The women researched, outlined and wrote the book from December through April, and, due to a large number of pre-sold copies, the publishers have already asked the women to write a follow up. 

Brock is a former library media specialist at Holton and a language arts teacher at Royal Valley High School. She currently works as a freelance writer and educational technology consultant. She lives in Holton with her husband, Jared, and their two children.

Hundley worked as an elementary educator for 12 years, eight in Holton and one at Jackson Heights. She recently began working as an instructional support specialist with Greenbush Southeast Kansas Education Service Center. She was recently named a Kansas finalist for the 2016 Presidential Awards for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching. She lives in Holton with her husband, Matt, and their three children.