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Growth Mindset

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Lesson Plan

Growth Mindset Session Plan

Introduce 3rd grade students to growth vs. fixed mindsets, guide them through reflective journaling, and help them set a personal growth goal.

Building a growth mindset helps students reframe challenges as learning opportunities, boosting resilience and perseverance in classroom tasks.

Audience

3rd Grade Group

Time

25 minutes

Approach

Interactive slides, guided journaling, and self-assessment.

Materials

Growth vs. Fixed Slides, I Can Improve Prompts Journal, and Mindset Reflection Criteria Rubric

Prep

Setup Materials

5 minutes

Step 1

Warm-Up: Mindset Check

5 minutes

  • Ask students to share a recent challenge they faced (academic or personal).
  • Prompt: “Did you think you couldn’t do it, or did you believe you could learn with effort?”
  • Highlight words that show a fixed mindset (“I can’t”) vs. growth mindset (“I’ll try”).

Step 2

Teach: Growth vs. Fixed Mindset

7 minutes

  • Use the Growth vs. Fixed Slides to define each mindset.
  • Discuss slide examples: learning a new skill vs. avoiding mistakes.
  • Invite students to identify which mindset they’ve used and why.
  • Pose questions from slides: “How might someone with a growth mindset respond?”.

Step 3

Guided Practice: Journal Prompts

8 minutes

  • Distribute the I Can Improve Prompts Journal.
  • Read prompt 1 together: “Name a time you found something hard. How did you respond?”
  • Students write their responses silently.
  • Circulate and offer Tier 2 supports: sentence starters, one-on-one check-ins.

Step 4

Reflection: Rubric Review

3 minutes

  • Hand out the Mindset Reflection Criteria Rubric.
  • Model how to rate a journal response: look for evidence of effort, strategy, and positivity.
  • Students quickly self-assess one journal entry using rubric checkboxes.

Step 5

Wrap-Up: Share & Goal-Setting

2 minutes

  • Invite 2–3 volunteers to share their growth goal for next week (e.g., “I will ask for help when stuck”).
  • Reinforce that effort and strategy lead to improvement.
  • Encourage students to keep their journals and rubric handy for future sessions.
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Slide Deck

Growth vs. Fixed Mindset

Let’s discover how we talk to ourselves when things get tough.

Get ready to spot fixed and growth mindset statements!

Welcome students! Today we’ll explore two ways of thinking—fixed and growth mindsets—and learn how our thoughts can help us learn and grow.

What Is a Mindset?

• Fixed Mindset: Believing abilities are set in stone—"I can’t do this."

• Growth Mindset: Believing abilities can grow with effort—"I can learn with practice."

Read each definition aloud and highlight key words: “can’t change” vs. “can improve.” Ask students to point out those words.

Spot the Mindset

  1. “I’m not good at math. I’ll never get it.”
  2. “I tried hard and got better.”
  3. “This is too hard; I give up.”
  4. “Mistakes help me learn.”

Show each statement one at a time. Ask: “Fixed or growth?” Invite volunteers to explain their choice before revealing the label.

Why Growth Mindset Matters

• Encourages us to try new things
• Builds resilience when tasks feel hard
• Helps us improve with practice and feedback

Explain that our brain is like a muscle: it grows when we challenge it. Emphasize that effort and strategy help us overcome challenges.

Think & Share

  1. Recall a time you thought “I can’t.” What happened?
  2. How could you reframe it to “I can learn with effort”?
  3. What strategy could you try next time?

Pose the questions and give students a moment to think or turn-and-talk with a partner before sharing with the group.

Next Steps

• Use your I Can Improve Prompts Journal to write about a challenge.
• Self-assess with the Mindset Reflection Criteria Rubric.
• Set a personal growth goal!

Connect today’s learning to journal work and goal setting. Remind students we’ll use our I Can Improve Prompts Journal and rubric next.

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Journal

I Can Improve Prompts Journal

Use these prompts to reflect on challenges, notice your thinking, and set goals for growth. Write your responses in the space below each prompt.

  1. Describe a challenge you faced recently (at school or elsewhere). What happened, and how did it make you feel?












  2. How did you respond when the challenge felt hard? Did you try a new strategy, ask for help, or feel like giving up? Use sentence starters if you need them: “I tried…,” “I asked…,” “I noticed…”












  3. Reframe with a growth mindset. Write two or more ways you could think differently about this challenge to help yourself learn and improve.












  4. Set a personal growth goal. What is one specific goal you will work on this week? List the steps you will take and who or what can help you.












  5. Reflect on progress. After working on your goal for a week, how will you know you’re improving? What will you celebrate?












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Rubric

Mindset Reflection Criteria Rubric

Use this rubric to self-assess your journal responses. Circle the level (1–3) that best describes your work for each criterion.

CriterionLevel 1 (Beginning)Level 2 (Developing)Level 3 (Proficient)
Challenge DescriptionProvides a brief or vague statement of the challenge with little or no details.Describes the challenge and how it felt, but may lack some context or emotional insight.Clearly and thoroughly describes what happened, including context, actions, and feelings.
Growth Mindset ReframingAttempts to reframe but shows limited understanding (e.g., one generic statement).Offers at least one specific growth-oriented thought about learning or effort.Provides two or more clear, positive reframes that show a strong grasp of how effort and strategy help.
Goal SettingWrites a general or vague goal without clear steps or support identified.Defines a specific goal and identifies one or two steps or supports to reach it.Establishes a clear, actionable goal with detailed steps and resources or people who can help.
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