Elementary Ed Tech Blog
Growth Mindset Plan
Fixed versus Growth Mindset
Those with a fixed mindset avoid challenges, give up when frustrated or faced with failure, and usually focus on the outcome instead of the possibilities (Bansal, n.d.). Whereas, those with a growth mindset encompass resilience, showcase effort when faced with failure, and will look within to develop themselves (Jefferey, 2024)
Importance of the Growth Mindset
The growth mindset gives students a sense of freedom to engage more deeply in exploring learning, embrace setbacks and criticism, accept feedback, and focus on possibilities instead of the outcome (Bansal, n.d.). Prodigy, a popular educational gaming platform, described the importance of the growth mindset in students as helping students be cognizant of how persistence and trying new learning techniques nurture their abilities (2022).
Proud To Be Primary, a primary educator in Canada and popular blogger with over 13,000 followers, lists that the growth mindset fuels a child’s belief system in themselves, and when children believe in their abilities, they are capable of anything they set their minds to (Proud To Be Primary, n.d.). In essence, the growth mindset can make dreams come true for children when they truly see their own potential. As teachers, we are responsible for feeding opportunities for growth so students can blossom into their own talents, skills, and abilities.
Four Steps to a Growth Mindset
Step 1: Learn to hear your fixed mindset “voice.”
Step 2: Recognize that you have a choice.
Step 3: Talk back to it with a growth mindset voice.
Step 4: Take the growth mindset action. (Jefferey, 2024)
Putting the Growth Mindset into Practice as a Teacher
Acknowledgment of the voice inside you as an educator is a key factor in shifting yourself from negative thoughts to more positive thoughts. For example, as a teacher, during data meetings, you may compare data to another colleague and question what it is that you’re not teaching correctly compared to your colleague. Their scores are better than yours, and you don’t understand what it is that you’re doing ‘wrong.’ Acknowledging this fixed mindset is important to recognize because you have a choice as a teacher in either believing it’s a fixed ability that you just can’t teach well enough compared to your colleague, or you could have the choice to change your strategies and review how you teach to reach your students.
Talk back to the fixed mindset with a growth mindset voice and say, “I didn’t teach the TEKS how I could have, but I will strategize a plan to reteach the TEKS more effectively for my students so their scores improve.” Imagine your success in reteaching what you believed you couldn’t, and professional growth possibilities are endless. Learn from the experience of how you taught and what the data presented, and create an action plan to persist through negative comparisons in the future, because every teacher is valuable and capable of reaching students in their own way.
The Power of “Yet” in a Classroom
The power of “yet,” as described by Dr. Dweck, involves acknowledging that there’s a learning curve to a setback (Standford Alumni, 2014). For example, when a student feels like they have failed it’s vital to empower their brain to remember that he or she did not fail, but rather there’s opportunity to practice and practice makes better! Studies Weekly described the power of “yet” as students learning that perseverance requires grit and determination to grow from what they deem as failures, whether it’s their test scores, grades, learning, or personal abilities (2019). The power of “yet” in a classroom allows students to correct their errors, see their mistakes in a safe space, and progress in an environment where growth is encouraged (Studies Weekly, 2019).
Resources
Child-friendly Reading of the Growth Mindset
Beautiful Oops! by Barney Saltzberg
The Magical Yet by Angela DiTerlizzi
Adult Reads on the Growth Mindset
Mindset: How You Can Fulfill Your Potential by Carol Dweck
The Growth Mindset: A Guide to Professional and Personal Growth by Helen Glasgow and Joshua Moore
Videos
https://youtu.be/8rNTu_To-Xc?si=JG8nkIEfSNCwAfKv
https://youtu.be/46UhAtPyXw4?si=byUjVBMohB2mCWVi
https://youtu.be/hiiEeMN7vbQ?si=-yl9kbdYCgWXwB-D
https://youtu.be/_X0mgOOSpLU?si=HyswiKpRB5ZlCZ3k
Websites
https://www.prodigygame.com/main-en/blog/growth-mindset-in-students/
https://proudtobeprimary.com/teaching-a-growth-mindset-in-the-classroom/
https://www.techtello.com/fixed-mindset-vs-growth-mindset/ https://scottjeffrey.com/how-to-change-your-mindset/ https://www.studiesweekly.com/power-of-yet-in-the-classroom/
Is There a Timeline for Promoting a Growth Mindset?
The growth mindset isn’t fixed, so believing there’s a timeline to achieve a growth mindset is an adversary to this ideology. Having a goal in mind is great, but there’s no need to set yourself up if setbacks to your timeline don’t happen. Ironically, the previous sentence ties back into the notion of not falling into the trap of a fixed mindset when you feel you haven’t achieved your goal. Changing your mindset doesn’t happen in one day. The growth mindset takes you on a journey that ebbs and flows with various changes in your life and career. Accepting that time isn’t a permanent fixation on goals can relieve the stress that comes with our careers as teachers at times.
Influence of the Growth Mindset in Concepts of Educational Tech and Future Applied Digital Learning Courses
The current course's growth mindset allows me to challenge myself in what I not only learn but what I believe about myself as a student and teacher. Not only that, but it allows me to reflect on my innovation proposal from 5305. There may be instances where I am faced with a setback in igniting my plan. Having the growth mindset enables me to question those negative thoughts I may possibly have and empowers me to restate those beliefs in a way where I can speak to my fixed mindset. The influence of the growth mindset in future ADL courses sets me up for success because I can collaborate with my peers and professor to create an effective innovation plan and better my skills with digital learning and technology as a whole.
References
Bansal, V. (n.d.). Fixed mindset vs growth mindset: How to shift to a path of learning and growth. TechTello. https://www.techtello.com/fixed-mindset-vs-growth-mindset/
Guido, M. (2022, May 24). 10 ways teachers can instill a growth mindset in students. Prodigy Game. https://www.prodigygame.com/main-en/blog/growth-mindset-in-students/
Jefferey, S. (2024, January 2). How to change your mindset from fixed to growth: a definitive guide. Scott Jefferey. https://scottjeffrey.com/how-to-change-your-mindset/ Proud To Be Primary. (n.d.). Teaching growth mindset in the classroom with 9 powerful strategies. Proud To Be Primary. https://proudtobeprimary.com/teaching-a-growth-mindset-in-the-classroom/
Standford Alumni. (2014, October 9). Developing a growth mindset with Carol Dweck [Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/hiiEeMN7vbQ?si=picN1uwTnBwelaEW.
Studies Weekly. (2019, February 12). On education: The “power of yet” in the classroom. Studies Weekly. https://www.studiesweekly.com/power-of-yet-in-the-classroom/