“You have to apply yourself each day to becoming a little better. By becoming a little better each and every day, over a period of time, you will become a lot better” ~ John Wooden
K-12 educators are becoming more aware of the importance of promoting a growth mindset. While teachers across disciplines take a great deal of accounts of mind in the K-12 classroom, this idea has gained less coverage on university universities beyond departments such as psychology and education.
Mindset refers to a person’s belief in skills and intelligence. Those with a fixed attitude consider capacity and intelligence as fixed structures. In other words, capability and intelligence are perceived as stagnant and unchangeable. Conversely, those with a growing mentality believe that the result of effort and training can be capacity and intelligence.
According to these self-theories, students who have a growth attitude tend to put more effort into it, are more persistent, and have better qualifications and performance tests. Those with a fixed attitude might, however, believe that they lack the essential ability to succeed and to give up quickly in the face of failure.
Growth mindset for students
Growth mindset is the idea that, with effort, it’s possible to increase intelligence levels, talents, and abilities. Students who demonstrate a growth mindset believe their abilities develop over time, tend to seek out opportunities to gain new knowledge and broaden their skills, and do not typically shy away from challenges.
In contrast, fixed thinking is the assumption that knowledge and ability are immutable, causing students to assume that their capacity for achievement is dependent on how they already hold the abilities they require. These students are often tempted to give up when things get tough — they can run away from challenges, see mistakes as failures, or approach success differently from their growing-minded classmates.
Research has shown that students can effectively develop a development mindset, which can increase their engagement and achievement. Hence, teachers can teach students with empirical articles and incorporate this concept as much as possible and at key times. Teachers can conduct activities that give students the chance to practice, display visible reminders of growth-mindset vocabulary, giving feedback that facilitate a growth mindset, model growth mindset as an educator.
It is also pointed out that it is good to encourage reflection and to adopt alternative strategies, and it must be done when necessary. Even if they make efforts, some students will have difficulty. In these situations, allow the students to evaluate and explore alternative approaches for planning and success.
Growth mindset for teachers
While some educators believe that teaching is a natural skill you have or don’t, others believe that teaching skills can develop over time. However, as with students, a growth mindset for faculty is also beneficial. Let’s see what teachers can do and achieve with a growth mindset.
Faculty that believe they can improve will find opportunities for learning, including direct reading, observing experienced instructors, and participating in workshops and other training courses. As a teacher, the student assessments and/or findings are continually reviewed. Hence, those with a growing attitude will likely use adequate constructive criticism to improve teaching, whilst those with certain thinking are critical of limited teaching skills.
The drive to teach students 21st-century skills includes a call for learners to be adaptable and flexible collaborators. There is no room in the schools for obstinate thinkers — in the classroom or in the faculty room. Significant results can be done by letting go of or extending our rules, standards, or limits, and by including outside viewpoints. In order to continue to evolve as teachers, they will be able to adapt their work to the needs and best interests of the students and find a way to provide feedback and guidance from our colleagues.
Further, a faculty with growing thinking has no fear of trying new things in his/her classrooms. These people with a growing attitude continue to look for and do not give up new pedagogical techniques. Faculty that believes in continuous learning promotes our students’ success. Faculty with a growth mentality model this kind of thinking for their students. In fact, if one assumes that his talents are set, they are likely to say the same way about our students, which is restricting.
In order to continue to grow and improve, teachers must constantly take time to evaluate their work and analyze how they do it. One approach is to incorporate reflection activities into career learning or instructor meetings in order to create a regular and substantive schedule The brain will adjust and change no matter how much you set your path or adhere to your behaviors. If educators examine their strengths, weaknesses, triumphs, failures, and goals regularly, continually adjust, ensure that they are right on the track.
Conclusion
Our thinking is fundamental. It is more important than an inherent ability to learn performance, and it has an enormous impact on other areas of our lives, such as our careers and relationships.
All learning methods, resources, and techniques are almost worthless if we do not pair them with a solid, growth-based thinking mind-the basic conviction that the power to develop our learning ability resides in our own hands.
