Growth Mindset

Passion is Developed, Not Discovered

By on October 18th, 2018

Author Angela Duckworth shares that passion isn’t discovered, it’s really developed.

What’s the difference?

If passion is just sitting in the wings waiting to be discovered, we don’t have much control over it. It’s there, we just have to find it somehow. But what if real passion, the kind that lasts, the kind that you build a life’s work on – what if that kind of passion isn’t discovered, it’s developed? Continue reading


Wait! You want me to fail?

By on September 4th, 2018

Have you ever heard of the term fail fast? I will admit that when I first heard the phrase “fail fast and fail often,” I was completely taken aback by the idea. After all, we live in a society that focuses on perfection.

Just look at anyone’s Facebook or Instagram and you’ll see how hard they work to portray a message of perfection with perfect selfies, perfect toddlers, etc. But remember, Facebook and Instagram are just the highlights, that perfect toddler just had an epic tantrum, and SEVERAL filters were used to snap that perfect selfie! Continue reading


Growth Knows No Limits

By on April 26th, 2018

Continuous improvement isn’t just for those who need to work on specific skills.

Continuous improvement is for every professional, every teacher, every student, every person. At Florida Virtual School, we engage in professional learning because we never want to stop growing, expanding our “good enough” to our greatest potential. Continue reading


Rain Clouds and a Growth Mindset

By on October 12th, 2017

I’m not a science teacher. But I know that when the dark, gray, thick clouds roll in, it means rain isn’t far behind. Most people see dark clouds as foreboding and impending doom.

When they roll in, they run for cover. Continue reading


Professional Learning at FLVS in 2017

By on April 19th, 2017

LightbulbAt FLVS, our growing and learning continues daily! Learning isn’t just something our students do each and every day – our teachers do too.

Our professional learning team is an incredible group of educators who work tirelessly to help our teachers grow and learn so they can all reach their students effectively.

There are all kinds of exciting initiatives rooted in the Professional Learning team that we’re focused on in 2017.

We have amazing team members who benefit our teachers and staff with their commitment to providing stellar professional learning opportunities across our district.

Here are a few of the exciting learning opportunities we have for our teachers and staff to keep growing and learning: Continue reading


Why Every Teacher Should Go See “Hidden Figures”

By on March 1st, 2017

Hidden FiguresLast month I saw the movie “Hidden Figures” and I was so incredibly inspired.

I am a former English teacher, so my love is words and writing and reading. But I ventured to see this movie because it empowers women and sheds light on some pretty amazing mathematicians who had the power to make this word-loving English teacher a fan of math.  I mean, as a teacher I’ve always loved data, but for me, seeing this movie reinforced why numbers are just as important as words.

We look at data a lot in education, but most of the time I believe we are just looking at numbers and not really grasping the full story data can tell us.

Data does tell a story.

Sometimes it’s a story we don’t want to hear; sometimes it’s a story we already know and we’re just validated. Sometimes it’s a story we never gave any thought and a whole new path is opened for us. If the data you look at regularly is just numbers on a screen and it’s not telling you a story, maybe some insights from “Hidden Figures” will help. Continue reading


Thankful for the Mountains We Climb

By on November 22nd, 2016

blog_thankful_challenges2016 is an incredible time to be a teacher.

I am grateful for each and every day I get to work alongside the best of the best in education.

While expectations are high, standards seem impossible to meet, and the everyday trials and struggles we face seem endless, this time in our country and our world is truly an incredible time to be a teacher. We have so much more access to research about how and why we learn. We have clearer pictures of our brains and all they can accomplish.

We might be up against some very difficult mountains to climb, but the teachers that have gone before us have never been as well equipped as we are today.

As a teacher I’ve always been fascinated with the brain – how it operates so much more than just our physical bodies. Each and every day, new research is published confirming something I think teachers have always known. Continue reading


Are We Teaching Girls to Fear Failure?

By on March 14th, 2016

Helping Girls Succeed through FailureMarch is Women’s History month, so what better time than now to ask a very important question:

Are we teaching our girls to fear failure?

Several months ago, my colleague Amy who teaches French for Florida Virtual School sent me an article on this very topic.

Of course Amy knew how passionate I am about fostering a growth mindset in all of our students, but when she sent me this article, the idea that maybe we need to look deeper into what we are teaching our girls really lit a fire inside me.

We have been researching the idea that we are teaching our girls to fear failure ever since – and the research is hard-hitting, significant, and extremely eye-opening. Continue reading


Help! I need somebody! Help!

By on January 19th, 2016

Learning to Ask for HelpMy daughter is not quite two, yet her little brain is abuzz – learning new things at every turn of the corner.

Almost constantly she comes up against something new, something strange or challenging, and every time without fail, she looks up at me with her big brown eyes and says “help!”

It astonishes me how easily she is able to admit she needs a helping hand. How quickly she recognizes she’s facing something new and challenging and she may not get it right the first time.  This mindset is what Carol Dweck calls a “growth mindset.” And most children my daughter’s age have it.

They are perfectly okay with asking for help, and not just asking, but receiving it.  Continue reading


Seven Survival Skills for Careers

By on November 3rd, 2015

Tony Wagner quoteIn his critically acclaimed book, “The Global Achievement Gap,” author Tony Wagner explores what he considers to be “Seven Survival Skills for Careers, College and Citizenship.”

After spending time with the most successful executives and professional people in the world, Wagner came to the conclusion that there is a gap between what our students need to be successful when they enter the real world and what we are teaching them in the classroom.

As a result, he created a list of essential 21st Century skills that all people need in order to be successful in college, in their career, and for their overall citizenship. Continue reading