For teachers

Mind Garden in the classroom

Twelve chapters, four exercises and an appendix written for adults. This page says how to get copies and what the book does not do.

What the book is good for

Mika fails a maths test and stops trusting himself afterwards. The story is about what children tell themselves internally, and about mistakes as a condition for learning. Both are hard to handle in class because they cannot be tested.

Reading age 9 to 12. Mika narrates in the first person, including the parts where he is stuck.
Twelve chapters of six to ten pages each. One fits a reading lesson.
Four tools in the second part that Mika learns during the story. Each has a scene to refer back to.
An appendix written explicitly for adults: where the idea comes from, what children take away, how to read it aloud.

Discussion prompts for each chapter

Three questions per chapter, each tied to a specific scene. They are phrased so that there is no right answer and nobody has to share more than they want to. If you only need one per chapter, take the first.

1. The Maths Test Jitters

Mika revised the night before and still goes blank the next morning. Do you know that feeling? What happened there?
A sentence plays in Mika's head: “Failing = repeating the year.” Who actually says things like that? And is it true?
The teacher says whoever improves may join the camp. Does a promise like that help you learn, or make it harder?

2. Attic Dust and Grandma Ella's Book

Mika goes up to the attic before he has to mention the test at home. Do you have a place you go to when something has gone wrong?
The box says just one word: Mind Garden. What do you picture before Mika explains it?
Grandma Ella talked to Mika about thoughts when he was younger. Do you remember something someone told you that you only understood later?

3. Seeds or Weeds?

Mika checks every morning whether anything is growing. Nothing happens. Why is waiting so hard?
He tells himself: “I will find my way, even if it hides.” What do you notice when you say that out loud?
Is there something you are sticking with even though nothing shows yet?

4. The Self-Talk Mirror

Mika feels silly talking to himself in the mirror. Why? Who would be embarrassed, and in front of whom?
His three sentences are: I am creative. I can learn. I keep going. Which three would you stick on your mirror?
The English test goes better than expected. Was that the sentences, or would it have happened anyway? How could you find out?

5. Weed Alert in the Trial Run

Junis immediately names the group “Team Impostor”. What does a team name tell you about how confident people feel?
The three laugh at their own ideas. When does laughing help a group, and when does it get in the way?
Mika has an idea that sounds odd at first. How do you tell a good strange idea from a merely strange one?

6. Compost from Mistakes

Ada turns the broken pieces into a mosaic instead of throwing them away. What was the mistake, and what came out of it?
“Mistakes are fertiliser” is an image. What fits about it, and where does the comparison break down?
Can you think of a mistake that later turned into something useful? It does not have to be a big one.

7. Team Thought Assembles

Jonas shouts: “Mistakes stink like compost!” and the class laughs. What does a remark like that do to the person who just showed something?
Junis asks beforehand whether the sign will block the light. Why is it useful to have someone in a team who raises objections?
Mika puts the sign up anyway. Where does someone find the courage to make something embarrassing public?

8. The Watering Can of Habit

Mika now says his sentences every morning, even when tired. What is the difference between doing something once and doing it daily?
The three practise secretly in the school toilets. Why is that easier with two or three people?
What do you do every day without thinking about it? And how did it become a habit?

9. Hail on Young Shoots

Weeks of work are destroyed in minutes. What would you do first in that moment?
The old thought flickers up in Mika: “Why always us?” He is startled by it. Why do you think that is?
Five plants survive. Is that a comfort or an insult? There is no right answer.

10. The Ideas Competition

Mika's first thought is a loud no. He agrees anyway. How do those two fit together?
Speaking in front of the whole school: what would be the worst part for you? And the best?
Mr Stark asks rather than assigns. Does that make a difference?

11. A Harvest of Courage

Waiting for the result is worse than the presentation itself. Do you know that from somewhere else?
What would Mika have lost if the result had been bad? And what not?
The chapter is about harvest. What did Mika actually harvest across the school year, besides a grade?

12. New Seed: Dreaming of a Moon Rover

Mika sketches something on a napkin that he cannot do yet. Why does anyone start like that?
At the start of the book a thought was a problem. At the end it is a beginning. What changed in between?
What would your napkin plan be? Something that sounds impossible today.

What it is not

No tested teaching unit, no ready-made teacher pack. If you need a verified scheme of work with assessment, this is the wrong book. What there is: a story and four exercises children can do alone or in pairs.

Worksheets

The German edition contains four worksheets to fill in; the English edition does not include them. If you teach in German, the printable A4 version is on the German page.

German worksheets (PDF)

What you may do with them

Print and copy them for your own class.
Provide them in a closed course area only your group can access.
Use them in clubs, after-school care and reading projects.

Not permitted:

Publish them openly online or upload them to teaching-material platforms.
Pass them to other groups or colleagues outside your course.
Use them in anything sold for money.

The permission covers these four worksheets, not other pages of the book. They work best once the class knows the story.

Review copies and class sets

Digital review copy: The complete book as a PDF, free of charge. Please mention which school or institution you teach at.
Printed review copy: On request. Please include the school's postal address.
Class set: Directly from me rather than through Amazon, with an invoice to the school. Please ask for a quote.

German fixed book price law applies to the German edition; discounts for school orders are set by statute, not by me.

How an order works

Send me the number of copies, the delivery address and who receives the invoice.
You get a quote with price, shipping and delivery time. Books are printed to order, so allow one to two weeks.
Delivery with invoice, payable on receipt. Damaged copies are replaced.

One note to save you time

The book carries an Amazon-issued ISBN and is not listed in the German books-in-print register. It is therefore usually not available through local bookshops or the usual library suppliers. If your school does not order from Amazon, ordering directly is the practical route.

Contact

All enquiries to info@mika.page. I read these myself and usually reply within a few days. Also for questions about the age range or discussion prompts for individual chapters.

Mind Garden: As You Think, So You Grow