Developing a Growth Mindset
When having a Growth Mindset, people believe their achievements and rewards are from their hard work and dedication (Dweck, 2016). Growth Mindsets help people venture off to learn new things and see what they are capable of. People who develop growth mindsets worry less about looking smart, and put forth more effort into being smart. To look smart and to be smart are two different things. To look smart, a person only focuses on things that they have knowledge on. They won’t venture out to learn new things because they don’t want to fail or hear negative feedback and this is a trait of a person with a fixed mindset. Dweck describes the growth mindset as belief that the basic qualities are things that can be cultivated through hard efforts, strategies, and feedback/feed forward from others (Dweck 2016).
Having a growth mindset can change someone's way of learning because it will open and expand their minds. Everyone’s mind should be altered and changed overtime because nothing stays the same. Having a Growth mindset can also change the way you receive feedback. With a fixed mindset, people think the way they are doing things is right and doesn’t need changes. But when you have a Growth Mindset, you are willing to accept all criticism and willing to accept and try some of the suggestions people give.
Growth vs. Fixed Mindset
‘Believing that your qualities are carved in stone (the fixed mindset) creates an urgency to prove yourself over and over again’ (Dweck, 2016). Whereas having a growth mindset means with the hard work and effort being put in, they believe they can be good at anything and look to develop themselves, rather than validate themselves.
4 Steps to a Growth Mindset
Step 1:
Listen to your Fixed Mindset "voice"
Step 2:
Recognize that you have a choice
Step 3:
Talk back to it with a Growth Mindset
Step 4
Take the Growth Mindet action
Everyone has that little voice inside their head that makes them doubt their abilities and capabilities. But, it's up to that person whether to actually listen to that voice or not. To change your mindset a person must follow four steps. First, the little voice inside your head is coming from a fixed mindset, take and listen to that little voice even if it's criticizing you. Next is recognizing that you have a choice to fix that little voice. You can either let it stop you and set you back, or you can fight and challenge yourself and continue to develop. After recognizing that voice, step three is to talk back to that voice in a growth mindset. If the little voice in your head is making you doubt yourself by saying “what if you fail?”, you talk back in a growth mindset and say “Even if I fail, I know I still tried.” or “At least I know I tried my best”. The final step is to take action in the growth mindset. Knowing you put forth effort in developing your mindset is an action to keep yourself determined to try and learn new things regardless of what the outcome may be.
Communicating the Power of 'Yet'
The most rewarding thing about being an educator is when students say what they can’t do, then come back a few days later and say they understand the concept. The power of putting “yet” behind those statements could have saved them from the anger and frustration they were feeling at that moment. I love the power of yet. Yet gives hope and motivation that although it's not happening right now, it will eventually. To really have the power of “yet” you have to have a growth mindset. Just because you can’t not do something doesn’t mean you are incapable, you just haven’t gotten there yet. A person has to believe in their own success and be able to change their mind and know that they can achieve what they set their minds to.
Promoting Growth Mindset
Promoting for Teachers
To promote a growth mindset to your students, as teachers we should not be afraid to show them that we make mistakes too. Showing and modeling to our students that we not only make mistakes but we also grow and learn from them as well can promote a growth mindset. Be open to having discussions and answering questions from your students and also the feedback they might give you on lessons and how to keep them engaged.
Promoting in the classroom
Visualization is an important way to promote the growth mindset to students. Positive recognition, posters, physical and verbal cues are all ways to not keep students on track, but also to help them think of other ways to handle their frustration and anger when trying to develop a growth mindset.
Promoting for students
Have your students think outside the box to teach their peers. Developing small groups, table discussions and allowing presentations not only forces the students to engage with each other, but it also gives them the opportunity to learn from one another. When developing the growth mindset, it is also important to learn things from your peers and not just the teacher or educator.
"Do not go where the path may lead. Instead, go where there is no path and leave a trail" - Ralph Waldo Emerson
Growth Mindset Influence
Before starting the ADL program, I can admit that I had quite a fixed mindset. But since developing a growth mindset, I find myself more eager to try to task or learn how to develop a new skill. I now can look to my peers and ask them for their advice and feed forward on what I can change and do differently. I love in “The Power of Belief - Mindset and Success, Eduardo Briceno” he says that people with a growth mindset perform better when you tell them what they can do better and how they can perform”. My failures back then would hinder me from trying again or have me give up completely. I now look at my failures as an opportunity to try differently or develop another way of doing things. Instead of trying to prove what I already know, I now take that time to learn what I don’t know and to not settle on a mindset that is holding me back from reaching full potential.
Resources for Growth Mindset
Books:
Mindset: The New Psychology of Success by Carol S. Dweck
The Growth Mindset Playbook: A Teacher’s Guide to Promoting Student Success by Annie Brock and Heather Hundley
Websites
Mindset Works:
Videos:
Carol Dweck, Developing a Growth Mindset (9:37) https://youtu.be/hiiEeMN7vbQ
The Power of Belief - mindset and success, Eduardo Briceno (10:51) https://youtu.be/pN34FNbOKXc
The Power of Yet
References
Dweck, C. S. (2016). Mindset: The New Psychology of Success. Ballantine Books.
Jeffrey, S. (2020, June 23). Change your fixed mindset into a growth mindset [complete guide]. CEOsage. Retrieved June 23, 2022, from https://scottjeffrey.com/change-your-fixed-mindset/
The power of belief -- mindset and success: Eduardo Briceno: Tedxmanhattanbeach. YouTube. (2012, November 18). Retrieved June 23, 2022, from https://youtu.be/pN34FNbOKXc
TEDxTalks. (2014, September 12). The power of yet | carol S dweck | tedxnorrköping. YouTube. Retrieved June 24, 2022, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J-swZaKN2Ic