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The Importance of a Growth Mindset in Teachers

Much attention has been given recently to the importance of a growth mindset in students, but what about the importance of a growth mindset in teachers? As a teacher, how do you want students to respond when they don’t get the grade they expected? Do you want them to argue they deserved a better score, or ask how they can improve? You may focus on how your students should receive feedback, but consider how you reacted the last time you received a suggestion for improvement.

Like students, educators need to embrace a growth mindset. To teach effectively, you need to model the behaviors you want pupils to emulate. How can you cultivate this state of mind and share it with students and colleagues?

What Is a Growth Mindset?

You can choose to adopt a fixed mindset or a growth one. A static mindset says, “I know everything there is to know about teaching. I become defensive when someone suggests I can improve.” Instead of responding to a negative evaluation as an opportunity to grow, people with this attitude may feel inclined to argue or resist feedback.

A growth mindset continually seeks opportunities to improve and strengthen skills. It trusts that even if you can’t do something now, you can learn. Those with a growth mindset are likely to learn by embracing challenges and putting in the effort to learn. They know setbacks are a natural part of the process, and they bounce back by doubling down on motivation. As a teacher, such an attitude carries forward to your students.

Studies have proven a growth mindset has a positive effect on students’ academic achievement, engagement and willingness to attempt new scenarios. This outlook teaches students that intelligence is not a fixed quality. It’s malleable — something you can nurture and grow through challenges.

Developing a Growth Mindset in Yourself

The first steps towards bettering your mindset are taking negativity out of your vocabulary and staying open to ongoing learning.

Developing a growth mindset means realizing you’re not perfect and welcoming opportunities to develop new skills. It begins by taking an honest self-assessment of your strengths and weaknesses. What can you learn at your next in-service to improve your classroom performance? For instance, do you want to incorporate experiential learning into your lesson plans? You can sit with colleagues who successfully use these practices and ask them to share their knowledge.

A growing mind is a curious one. Ask a lot of questions and avoid falling into the assumption trap. If the classroom next door is noisy, don’t jump to the conclusion that poor management plays a role. Perhaps the students are acting out a scene from a novel or working on a team-building activity. If students seem engaged, ask your colleague about the lesson. You may learn valuable tips.

Practice open-mindedness, and make sure to reassess every time you find yourself thinking, “This information can’t benefit me, so I’m going to tune out.” Use this as a tangible reminder to pay attention and reframe the thought. Instead, consider what you can get out of the experience.

Cultivating a Growth Mindset in Your Students

Once you develop a growth mindset, it’s easier to impart it to your students. Children unconsciously imitate the behaviors they witness, including in teachers. Design your lessons to encourage an attitude of continuous improvement. You can:

  • Encourage mistakes: Communicate the notion that mistakes are expected and provide an opportunity for learning.
  • Craft individual rules: Many teachers consider a lesson complete after the final assessment. Yet this grade does not seem like a tool for improvement. Implement self-assessment procedures and help students set individualized goals for their progress. Kimberly might decide to focus on improving her word choice in her essays. D’Shawn may opt to work on perfecting sentence structure.
  • Use formative feedback: Feedback should be a continual process, not a one-and-done evaluation. Give students multiple attempts to take quizzes and work one-on-one on challenging problems. Break larger projects down into step-by-step parts. If you’re teaching how to perform a scientific experiment, for example, the first step may entail setting out necessary supplies. The second step involves reviewing safety procedures. Allow students to demonstrate mastery of one before progressing to the next.
  • Provide immediate, explicit, corrective feedback:  Students given grades alone or grades with descriptive comments have been shown to learn less and be less interested in working harder than students who were only given constructive comments about their work. Students must understand that feedback is not criticism but simply guidance to help with learning.
  • Encourage problem solving: Like you tell your students, use your words. Instead of telling someone they’re wrong, say they’re close, but not quite there. Try to guide them to look at the problem in a new light. Phrasing feedback in a positive, forward-thinking manner tells students it’s okay to make mistakes, as long as they learn and remain persistent.
  • Praise students’ effort: It is important to praise students for engaging in the learning process—not for their intelligence. Always ensure that praise is process specific, not person specific.

A Growth Mindset Leads to Educational Excellence

When you cultivate a growth mindset, you learn that even the worst setbacks provide opportunities. By modeling this attitude to students, you can improve your own career — and instill a sense of self-determination and persistence they’ll use positively throughout their lives.

For more on cultivating a growth mindset in students and teachers, view the product page for the laminated reference guide, Cultivating a Growth Mindset in Students, by Jacob Williams.

About the Author

Alyssa Abel is an education blogger with an interest in experiential learning, educator resources, early education and higher education. Follow her updates for students and educators alike on her website, Syllabusy.

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