“If you imagine less, less will be what you undoubtedly deserve,” Debbie Millman counseled in one of the best commencement speeches ever given, urging: “Do what you love, and don’t stop until you get what you love. Work as hard as you can, imagine immensities…” Far from Pollyanna platitude, this advice actually reflects what modern psychology knows about how belief systems about our own abilities and potential fuel our behavior and predict our success. Much of that understanding stems from the work of Stanford psychologist Carol Dweck, synthesized in her remarkably insightfulMindset: The New Psychology of Success (public library) — an inquiry into the power of our beliefs, both conscious and unconscious, and how changing even the simplest of them can have profound impact on nearly every aspect of our lives.

One of the most basic beliefs we carry about ourselves, Dweck found in her research, has to do with how we view and inhabit what we consider to be our personality. A “fixed mindset” assumes that our character, intelligence, and creative ability are static givens which we can’t change in any meaningful way, and success is the affirmation of that inherent intelligence, an assessment of how those givens measure up against an equally fixed standard; striving for success and avoiding failure at all costs become a way of maintaining the sense of being smart or skilled. A “growth mindset,” on the other hand, thrives on challenge and sees failure not as evidence of unintelligence but as a heartening springboard for growth and for stretching our existing abilities. Out of these two mindsets, which we manifest from a very early age, springs a great deal of our behavior, our relationship with success and failure in both professional and personal contexts, and ultimately our capacity for happiness.

 

 

St. Anthony this week

Monday, January 11

Paul away at FETC Conference all week – in Monday until noon

Sabina in all week

Meg, Shannon, Natalie,  K-2 Math Inquiry

Tuesday, January 12

Dr. Olmsted in for assessment

Dorothy Stanyar, volunteer, in Mrs. Rupnik’s class PM only

Student from Dalhousie U to work with Mrs. Rupnik’s class

Orkidstra starts again today

Wednesday, January 13

Waste free Wednesday

In-school collaborative meeting-Maria presenting

Thursday, January 14,

Orkidstra  today

Recycle Day today 

Friday, January 15

Pizza Day!

Reporting Dates:

PD Day for writing reports – January 22

Report cards due to the office – February 12

Report cards going home – February 18

There will not be a formal interview night.  Please schedule telephone or in-person interviews for students who are at risk – please let me know which parents you will be meeting there – I am happy to attend any of these meetings if you would like me there

Individualized PD

Please use Code 80 when you book your supply teacher

Our next Gospel Value Focus for St. Anthony Superstars

Our next theme will be ‘I Care’

I CARE! I love God, myself and my family I care about and respect my ‘family’ at school, at Church, in the community, and the world I care about and respect God’s creation and everything in it Because I care, I pray for all my families, and I will live my life like Jesus.

We need a class to volunteer to present this theme and a date when the class wants to present