What is a Growth Mindset?

During the holidays, I found myself engrossed in the book called "Mindset" by Carol Dweck. It discusses her findings, as a psychologist, that there are two mindsets that people have when they face challenges. She explains that the people who achieve the greatest successes exhibit a set of traits that allow them to grow through the issues that they face. She gave many different examples in the book of people who have shown both mindsets.

The benefit of reading a book like this can show each one of us a way to become the best that we can be.

In stage 3, as a way of introducing these concepts, we started with looking at the book "The Dot". It is about Vashti who is a little girl who faces a challenge which she uses to learn from.

We discussed the question: What did Vashti learn?
Some of the things that we thought she learned were:

• that anyone can draw
• She didn't know that she could do something until she tried
• small things lead to big things
• she was able to teach someone else and pass her knowledge on.
• she learnt not to give up. 

The students then wrote about a time when they faced a challenge in their life like Vashti's. An example that I gave was from when I was younger. I used to ride horses and was very competent. The area that I found difficulty with was in showjumping. I felt that I couldn't get my horse to jump the height of the jumps. The students were able to find many different examples too. Some found speaking in public, others found sporting skills were challenging. 

We discovered as we talked about these challenges that it was often the words that we spoke to ourselves were very negative such "Give up" or "This is too hard".

We then watched another short video that showed the difference between Fixed and Growth Mindset. 

The Video gives the example of the Hare and Tortoise. The Hare has a fixed Mindset and the Tortoise has a Growth Mindset. The hare feels because of his talents that he will be successful and stay successful without any effort. The tortoise however shows a growth mindset. He keeps making an effort to finish at a steady pace, while also learning about how he can improve as he runs his race. The picture below shows some of the responses that we had about the video. 

The students were then asked to consider the situation that they wrote down. Did they think their response to the situation showed a fixed mindset or a growth mindset? The students then had to discuss in a small group, how in each of the circumstances that they could have changed their mindset. 

It is important that to remember that there will be challenges that we face. When we determine that we will learn from these challenges, through setting goals, making an effort, using ours strengths and improving our weakesses, that we will overcome and grow. 

What do you know about Mindset? Is there an experience where you have been encouraged to try something new?