“Becoming is better than being.” –Carol Dweck

I love learning and trying new things, but I am usually extremely stressed out when it comes time to submit a product. Sometimes, the stress starts in even before I start making anything. I always want it to be amazing. (Remember what I was saying about enabling constraints? sigh) As it turns out, this is because I tend towards a fixed mindset.

“Believing that your qualities are carved in stone—the fixed mindset—creates an urgency to prove yourself over and over.” – Carol Dweck

Dweck defines a growth mindset as a person believing “that their most basic abilities can be developed through dedication and hard work—brains and talent are just the starting point. This view creates a love of learning and a resilience that is essential for great accomplishment.”

One of my goals this year is to grow my growth mindset.

I think this will help me become a better teacher because I will begin to model reactions and use strategies in response to challenges that my students can imitate. There is no point in telling students to have a growth mindset if I am stressed out and overwhelmed by challenges myself.

“Picture your brain forming new connections as you meet the challenge and learn. Keep on going.” – Carol Dweck

“So what should we say when children complete a task—say, math problems—quickly and perfectly? Should we deny them the praise they have earned? Yes. When this happens, I say, “Whoops. I guess that was too easy. I apologize for wasting your time. Let’s do something you can really learn from!” – Carol Dweck

“Important achievements require a clear focus, all-out effort, and a bottomless trunk full of strategies. Plus allies in learning.” – Carol Dweck

“Just because some people can do something with little or no training, it doesn’t mean that others can’t do it (and sometimes do it even better) with training.” – Carol Dweck

“What did you learn today? What mistake did you make that taught you something? What did you try hard at today?” – Carol Dweck