“The Growth Mindset is based on the belief that your basic qualities are things you can cultivate through your efforts, your strategies, and help from others.”
Carol Dweck, Author of Mindset The New Psychology of Success
Growth mindset is the ability to accomplish tasks through hard work and effort. Growth mindset is important because it can help you achieve many things that may seem out of reach. This is especially crucial for students in school, while learning new content every school year. When people have a growth mindset the possibilities are unlimited.
The Power of Yet!
In middle school, we used trial and error. It was a procedure teachers wanted us to use in class, especially in Math and Science, and it was to try the strategies we knew to find the answers. Teachers would tell us to keep trying until we found the correct answer and check our solutions. I can relate to the power of yet because we had to try different strategies to find the answers. We could not give up on the first try. The video “The power of yet” with Gromo & friends – Growth mindset for students shows that if you fail the first time, what else can you do to achieve what you want. My message to students, educators, and everyone else is to keep trying until you get the desired results.
Your Inner Persona
Carol Dweck asked her students to give their fixed mindset persona a name. This short clip from the Disney movie, Luca, is the perfect example to show students how to control their fixed mindset persona.
Since I have English Language Learners in my classroom, I created Growth Mindset and the Power of YET in Spanish. It is important for me that my students have visuals in their native language.
While reading, Mindset The New Psychology of Success by Carol Dweck, I learned that I could have both a fixed and a growth mindset. I realized that having a fixed mindset has held me back in my life in many ways. I tell myself that my ideas are marinating, but in reality, I am covering up a fixed mindset. Getting started on my master’s to further my career in education is one of those ideas that I had marinating for a while. I wanted to make sure I entered the program with a purpose. I told myself the time was now that I had put it off for too long and needed to apply to get started. When I first learned about creating an E-portfolio, I checked out. My fixed mindset convinced me to finish the course and not return. After the first semester, I felt accomplished; if I could do this, I could certainly do the rest of the program; all I had to do was put in the effort and receive help from others. If I quit now, what message would I be giving to my students or daughter? I want my students and daughter not to give up and keep trying until they achieve their goals. And when they achieve those goals, set new ones, and work towards them with a growth mindset.
Thank you for the resources!
I love how you incorporated popular movies our students can relate to. This form of metacognition helps build resilience. They can reflect on their thinking and know nothing is ‘set in stone.’ And they too like their favorite movie characters can continue to grow as learners and achieve the goals they have set for themselves. I am so glad you realized that going back to school for your masters was being hindered by your fixed mindset. You’re a blessing to your students and having that growth mindset is only going to take you further in your personal and professional life. Proud of you!