Christine Hertz is a second-grade teacher, professor, and co-author, along with Kristine Mraz, of the book Mindset for Learning, which explores teaching the "traits of joyful, independent growth" through the implementation of five attitudes: optimism, persistence, flexibility, resilience, and empathy. Hertz spoke with Education Dive.

What motivated you to write this book?

The initial work of writing this book began years ago when we were working together in Kristi's classroom in New York City. At the time, and for the most part still today, the dialogue around administering the Common Core Standards and around educational reform centered on the increased rigor to prepare children to be college and career ready. We started to question what it really meant to be teaching 5, 7, and 10 year olds with increased rigor and how we could help them be not only college and career ready, but also "love, life, and agents of change ready." This book acts as our rally cry for educators. We wrote this book because we don't just seek to create a mindset for learning, we aim create a mindset for change and hope and equality– and we believe that that work starts in our classrooms today.  

Why is it important to teach habits of mind in the K-12 classroom, in addition to skill and content mastery and ​Common Core-aligned content proficiency?  

After reading Mindset by Carol Dweck we realized that her theory and research – the difference between a fixed and growth mindset – could be the answer to our attempt to redefine "college and career ready." Yes, we want our students to be able to read critically, to solve complex problems, and to write effectively. But more importantly, we want our students to leverage those skills to take on challenges with zeal and to see themselves not as static, but as ever-evolving and powerful agents of change.

How did you and your co-author initially define the five attitudes that support a growth mindset for learning? Did these five attitudes change over time?

All of the research and all of the books we read converged on a single idea: There are habits or stances that we can build in ourselves that will make us more successful and happier. But everything we read was missing the how. How can we introduce and cultivate these stances in our students? So we started doing what teachers do: experimenting, researching, asking questions and reflecting.  Initially, we started with persistence. But then we found that persistence alone was not enough. Sometimes our students would be trying something again and again, with little improvement and a lot of frustration. So next we introduced flexibility – giving our students options when something became tricky and then resilience. We talked a lot about bouncing back from mistakes and the importance of optimism and the willingness to give things a try. Finally, we realized that all of this was for naught without empathy. Empathy provides a system of checks and balance for all other thinking: is persisting on this goal harmful to myself or my community? Should I help this friend with flexibility or optimism? Year after year we have seen our students take ownership over these five stances and use them to leverage both their own growth and the culture of the classroom community, as well.  

Why should having fun matter in K-12 schools? How is a positive classroom culture constructed?

Having a classroom culture of joy and risk taking and growth is integral to students' learning. Students learn the most when they are engaged in tasks in their zones of proximal development and are able to take just-right risks. We can leverage this engagement by providing opportunities for learning that allow for choice, that are authentic and relevant to students' lives, and where students can see themselves growing and improving.

Especially for younger students, play is the most powerful place of learning. It creates safe and accessible situations for experimentation, risk taking, mental dexterity and social problem solving. As teachers, we can use the efforts of children engaged in playful learning to help them build narratives of themselves as resilient, persistent, empathic, and optimistic individuals.

The work of creating a positive classroom culture starts with co-constructing a community rather than just enforcing compliance and rule following. Teachers and students work together to establish classroom norms and expectations and to set the tone of the classroom as one of joyful effort and growth.

Can you explain the concept and practical applications of kid-watching?

Kid-watching, or closely observing children, has been the cornerstone of early childhood education for decades. Long before formative assessment and data-based decision making became the norm, teachers were taking on the role of researcher in their own classroom. By doing so, they are able to observe and record the actions, patterns, interactions and habits of their students. After hours, days, or weeks of gathering qualitative data – often in the form of notes, audio recordings, photographs or interviews – teachers can begin to form working theories about their students and next steps for their learning, growth and development. By getting to know our students well, we can make them the drivers of our curriculum and their own learning. Teachers might ask themselves, What habit or self-talk phrase or goal do most of our students need next? What should I work with a small group on? What does this one child need to be successful and joyful? Often, in our hectic teaching days, it's tempting to plow forward with our curriculum with little thought to what our students really could benefit from next. Kid-watching holds us accountable to our students and their very unique strengths and needs.

Have you heard feedback from teachers who are trying to implement the mindset explained in your book? What has their experience been like?

One of the most exciting things to hear from teachers is that they are finding that building their students' mindsets is not "just another thing' to add in. From what we've heard, teachers can weave these five stances and the strategies for reinforcing them (self-talk, storytelling, goal setting, and reflection) into what they're already doing. We think this work is really powerful, but we also want it to be practical, so that feedback has been especially meaningful. It's also wonderful to hear anecdotes about specific students talking about their optimism, encouraging their friends to be flexible, or teaching their parents about self-talk. We've also heard from teachers that this book is timely. Many teachers are joining us in questioning what it means for our students to be college and career ready and together we're trying to determine what is most important to cultivate in our students today to prepare them for the complex world of tomorrow.