Growth mindset. This is a concept that I talked a lot about in my previous post. In this post, we explore the construct of a growth mindset a little bit further. David Stuart Jr. says that if you have a growth mindset, you believe that your abilities can improve with time. In contrast to this, is the fixed mindset or the belief that your abilities are already set and that there is no more room for growth.
Stuart suggests some strategies that teachers can use in order to help build a growth mindset. Some new strategies that have not been discussed yet include:
- Giving praise to students for their hard work and not for being smart. This is something that I am realizing that I have to do more of in my own classroom.
- Sharing stories with students about people who became successful because they worked hard, or fiction books about characters who worked hard and achieved success for teachers in primary grades
- Giving well-framed activities. This means that instead of asking your students who will be the quickest at solving a problem, you ask which problem is the most interesting, which will encourage children to personalize their own goals and understandings
One point that I want to highlight from Stuart’s argument is that teachers should teach students to attain a growth mindset as broadly as possible. That means to not focus on simply just expanding their mindset academically but also socially through relationships with others, through the arts, and extracurricular activities. I believe that this is an important piece to remember about growth mindset. Truly having a growth mindset means embodiment, it stays with you after you leave the classroom, after you graduate from school, and perhaps, even after you leave the workforce and retire. Helping to show our students the positive impacts of believing in themselves and of having a growth mindset is something that will benefit them for life. That, my friends, is powerful.
Reference:
Stuart, D. (2015). For noncognitive skill development, start with growth mindset – here’s how. Retrieved from http://www.davestuartjr.com/noncognitive-skill-development-growth-mindset/