Optimistic Child: Developing Growth Mindset, Wellbeing and Sisu with children.

What does it mean to have a growth mindset? We have an incredible responsibility and tremendous opportunity as early childhood educators to support children’s confidence, curiosity and resilience and to develop their capacity to think with a Growth Mindset and become life-long learners. This session explores the practices and current projects that support services applying the learnings from Positive Psychology by Dr Martin Seligman, Growth Mindset by Carol Dweck and Sisu by Fins (Finnish word for resilience and persistence), we will talk about the language, practices and ideas to support this. 

Recommended for: This session would be great for anyone working in the ECEC or OSHC sector.

In this session we will cover:

• Growth Vs Fixed Mindset – we will explore the concepts offered by Carol Dweck’s work.
• The optimistic child – Dr Martin Seligman’s research about what makes children optimistic.
• Child Development – we will consider how important knowing about child development is to the work we do and the ability to notice what children are learning.
• The importance of the language we choose – when working with children, the language we use is integral to their learning journey.
• Asking questions to support children’s play and learning – being intentional with our teaching is important, to say the least, and one way to support learning is to practice the art of question-asking.
• The role of the educator in play – supporting play can be confusing, do we step in, do we play with children or do we observe from afar? We will talk about what play is and how we can be effective with our responsiveness to children.
• Fostering curiosity as lifelong learners – Learn a bit more about Finnish education HEI Schools approach. We will discuss this and how to use loose parts in the learning space to create curiosity.
• Children are confident and capable – do we really see children as capable learners, or do we sometimes overstep and rush them beyond their capabilities? Let’s discuss!

We will unpack many concepts and I will share some real examples and templates with you. 

Please also feel free to bring some examples of what you are currently doing, all your questions AND your willingness to learn and be open-minded. 

Can't wait to see you and laugh with you! My sessions always have lots of fun and laughter. 

Michelle  Walsh 

Feel free to call or email for more information. 0422104756 or michellewalshconsultancy@outlook.com