Greene County elementary principal Scott Johnson wants to change the mindset of the community to include the word “yet.”
Johnson briefed the Greene County Schools board at its April meeting about a book study elementary teachers have done on Mary Cay Ricci’s “Mindset in the Classroom.”
He talked about the difference between a student saying, “I can’t do two digit multiplication” and a student saying, “I can’t do two digit multiplication yet.”
“If you put that word ‘yet’ behind it, it means ‘I’m going to get there,’ rather than putting that roadblock in there saying, ‘I’m done’,” Johnson said.
“We talked about how can we change a mindset in the community. We tell kids ‘you’re smart’ and that mindset starts to get in there, rather than telling them ‘that was a great effort trying to get to the root of that problem,’ or ‘you worked really hard to do that.’ Rather than being ‘smart’, you’ve got that grit.”
Johnson said that too many times when students who have been told they’re smat they get to a point, often in college, where they can’t do the coursework. “They’re very smart in Jefferson, or they’re the fastest athlete in Jefferson, but when they get to college they’re no longer the smartest or the fastest, and all of a sudden, they ask ‘how do I get past that?’
“Giving them that open mindset, that power of yet, will help them to get past those things,” Johnson said.
