Growth Mindset Plan

By Monica Osio

08/25/2023

We all harbor goals and objectives that we aspire to accomplish. As time unfolds, we may encounter challenges or shifts in circumstances that necessitate a reevaluation of our initial plans or a change in direction. In my personal journey, I must confess that becoming an elementary school teacher was not my original plan. However, upon setting this goal and embracing the profound responsibility of educating children, I have encountered a multitude of difficulties and challenges that I am determined to confront and conquer. While knowledge undoubtedly empowers, I firmly believe that honing and augmenting one's skills plays an integral role in achieving success. Hence, for any objective one sets out to attain, it is imperative to familiarize oneself with the concept of the growth mindset and learn how to cultivate it within oneself and others.

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Growth Mindset

Psychologist Carol Dweck introduced and expounded upon the concept of the growth mindset in her influential work, "Mindset: The New Psychology of Success" (Dweck, 2006). Through extensive research, publications, and interviews, Dweck elucidates mentality as an individual's self-perception, encompassing the belief in their capacity to perform specific actions or tasks. This perception can pertain to both physical and intellectual abilities. For instance, individuals may perceive themselves as adept runners or swimmers while feeling inadequate in mathematical pursuits.
In her article titled "Revisiting the Growth Mindset," Dweck (2015) and her colleagues uncovered a pivotal revelation: students' perceptions of their abilities significantly influence their motivation and their ability to attain their goals. Consequently, reshaping students' mindsets can be a catalyst for enhancing their academic achievements. Their research underscores that students who are convinced of the malleability of their intelligence, embodying a growth mindset, consistently outperform those who believe their intelligence is preordained.

Fixed Mindset versus Growth Mindset

Scott Jeffrey, in his comprehensive self-help guide "A Complete Guide to Changing Your Fixed Mindset into a Growth Mindset," delineates the distinctions between these two mindsets. According to Jeffrey, individuals with a fixed mindset assert that they possess innate abilities, and if they lack a skill, they simply will never acquire it. They also hold the conviction that innate talent is a guarantee of success.

Conversely, individuals with a growth mindset attribute their talents to dedication, persistence, and the application of effective strategies. They believe that anyone can cultivate skills, even if they weren't born with them.

Further disparities arise: those with a growth mindset concentrate on self-development rather than seeking validation, constantly striving to refine their talents. In contrast, individuals with a fixed mindset emphasize appearing intelligent, deeming it an innate trait. If they encounter initial difficulties, they tend to dismiss them by asserting a lack of inherent talent, or they rationalize their disinterest in acquiring such skills. However, beneath this exterior, they often grapple with feelings of envy and insecurity in the presence of those who excel.

It is imperative to comprehend the significance of identifying the mindset we employ across various facets of our lives, be it in the realms of work, personal development, or our professional endeavors. It is important to recognize that our mindset can differ across these domains. Moreover, it is not only essential to ascertain our own mindset but also crucial to actively cultivate a growth mindset in others, whether in roles as parents, educators, or supervisors.

For instance, consider a classroom setting where students exhibit a spectrum of abilities, with some being exceptionally talented while others are yet to attain the required proficiency. If the teacher were to employ a uniform approach by assigning the same type of activities to all students, it would result in varying responses. Some students may diligently engage with the task, striving to complete it to the best of their abilities. Conversely, there may be others who effortlessly excel, seemingly unaffected by the challenge at hand. This dichotomy extends further, as there will be students who become frustrated when confronted with difficulties, possibly refusing to attempt the task again. On the contrary, some students might conclude that tackling a more demanding task is not worthwhile, as they have already affirmed their intelligence by successfully completing the initial activity.

The scenario in the classroom is intricate and diverse, and it largely rests in the hands of the instructor to navigate it adeptly:

The teacher plays a pivotal role in promoting resilience among students who experience frustration. The teacher's task is to convince them that they may not have achieved success "yet," but with guidance, appropriate strategies, and tools, they can make meaningful progress through perseverance.

2. Acknowledge the achievements of those who have successfully completed the task, while also encouraging them to take on more complex challenges. This way, they can experience the gratification of realizing that there is an endless potential for further accomplishments.

3. Motivate those who may be hesitant to tackle more demanding challenges due to concerns about investing time in learning new skills to complete them.

Without a doubt, it is essential to provide a range of resources to enable the growth mindset to serve as a powerful tool in empowering all students to achieve their goals.

A 4-Step Process to Change Your Mindset

In his comprehensive self-help guide, "A Complete Guide to Changing Your Fixed Mindset into a Growth Mindset," Scott Jeffrey of CEOsage suggests that individuals can transform their thought patterns by recognizing situations that predispose them to adopt a fixed mindset. Moreover, he references the four steps originally proposed by Dweck on her official website:

Step 1: Identifying the Fixed Mindset Messages

The fixed mindset often entails inner messages that discourage individuals from embracing challenges. Dweck identifies these messages or inner saboteurs as self-critics that scrutinize individuals' actions, methods, and offer justifications for failure and complacency. This leads to underestimating the effort required and devaluing constructive criticism.

Step 2: Interpreting Sabotaging Messages

These undermining messages can be interpreted in two distinct ways. Those with a growth mindset also acknowledge them but leverage them as fuel for personal growth, adopting novel strategies and increased effort. These messages can also represent the fixed mindset, and thus, individuals must recognize that talents are cultivated, providing an opportunity to break free from the cycle of perceived failure.

Step 3: Responding with a Growth Mindset

This step entails using words and self-talk that motivate individuals to persist, recognizing that setbacks are temporary and signify the need for alternative strategies, greater effort, and time investment. In times of wavering or failure, it's crucial to recall the journeys of successful individuals, acknowledging that none of them achieved overnight success without facing obstacles. Embracing criticism with humility, viewing it as a roadmap for improvement, and avoiding blame are also pivotal.

Step 4: Acting with a Growth Mindset

This involves translating the appropriate response to fixed mindset messages into action. Once individuals identify how they should react to these messages, they should take concrete steps to develop the skill in question. This can involve accepting fresh challenges, acquiring new strategies, intensifying efforts towards goals, or refining existing approaches based on feedback from others.

Promoting a Growth Mindset

Returning to the classroom environment, it is the teacher's responsibility to identify when and in whom the first signs of a fixed mindset manifest, as well as to foster the creation and development of a growth mindset. I believe this can be achieved by implementing more challenging activities and designing strategies that inspire and motivate those with fixed mindsets.

Identifying the predominant mindsets of students can be a challenge; however, exposing them to showcase their behaviors when tackling classroom tasks and monitoring their performance can facilitate this detection.

My proposal is the integration of blended learning as a resource to cultivate a growth mindset. This blended learning model allows students to exhibit their behaviors and, consequently, their attitude towards challenges through flexible stations. In these stations, each group of students has a daily and limited time (20 to 25 minutes). Each station offers both online and offline activities tailored to the students' level of competence. Below, you will find a summary of this proposal.

This resource enables students to showcase their abilities through two distinct approaches. Firstly, they have the opportunity to collaborate with the teacher on specific activities, ensuring they can demonstrate their skills in a guided environment. Additionally, online activities are thoughtfully designed to incorporate applications that allow students to provide tangible evidence of their performance in areas such as reading and writing.

I suggest incorporating a collaboration station, as it encourages teamwork. While it may appear synonymous with 'group work,' I use 'team' to emphasize that students not only engage in the same activity but also actively support and assist one another in completing it.

In addition to exposing children to this blended learning through station rotation, I propose using Social Emotional Learning (SEL) lessons, which are taught once a month (according to the School District's curriculum), to teach children about successful and recognized individuals in the world and how they achieved that success. I reference this strategy to a comment made by Dweck in the interview “Stanford University’s Carol Dweck on the Growth Mindset and Education” conducted by Morehead where she states that people often believe that successful individuals are born that way and do not allow themselves to investigate all that was involved in reaching that success, the difficulties they had to overcome, and the effort they put in to achieve their goals. That's why with these SEL lessons, I aim to instill and reinforce the belief that every success deserves effort and dedication.

Finally, and no less important, in this same interview (Morehead, 2012), Dweck asserts that praising intelligence is counterproductive, as it discourages students from taking on new challenges due to the risk of making mistakes and losing the label they earned. She proposes praising students for their effort, strategies, focus, and perseverance invested in tasks. For this reason, I will implement a rewards system based on Dweck's proposal, thus contributing to the development of a growth mindset.

References

Dweck, C. S. (2006). Mindset: The new psychology of success. Random House.
Dweck, C. (2015). Carol Dweck Revisits the ‘Growth Mindset’. Education Week. http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2015/09/23/carol-dweck-revisits-the-growth-mindset.html.
Jeffrey, S. (n.d). A Complete Guide to Changing Your Fixed Mindset into a Growth Mindset. https://scottjeffrey.com/change-your-fixedmindset/#How_to_Change_Your_Mindset.
Morehead, J. (2012). Stanford University’s Carol Dweck on the Growth Mindset and Education. OneDublin.org. URL: https://onedublin.org/2012/06/19/stanford-universitys-carol-dweck-on-the-growth-mindset-and-education/.

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