How can the incorporation of the 4 steps communicate the message of "yet" and promote a growth mindset?

• Why is the growth mindset so important?: 

  • A growth mindset is important because we can’t operate on a fixed mindset as humans. 

  • “I can’t” is an excuse, but if we say, “I can’t do this yet,” we know it’s a placeholder and will return soon. 

• How will you incorporate the four steps? As a teacher and leader, I currently promote the Growth Mindset in the classroom. However, as a leader, I think the only way for me to promote it is through these four steps and by being honest with myself. I have to incorporate these steps into my life to promote them in the workplace and classroom. I view this as a great lesson to promote in the classroom or as professional development for teachers. 

  • 4 Steps of the Growth Mindset

  • 1. Learn to hear your fixed mindset “voice.”: prove your fixed mindset “voice” wrong. Sometimes, that voice will say, “Are you sure you can do this?” which undermines you and your thoughts. 

  • 2. Recognize that you have a choice.; challenge yourself to shift out of the fixed mindset and into an area of development. 

  • 3. Talk back to it with a growth mindset voice: Learn with time and effort; don’t listen to your fixed mindset voice. 

  • 4. Take the growth mindset action.: Taking on a new challenge, learning from setbacks, persisting through the discomfort, adjusting your actions based on feedback. 

• How will you communicate the message of "yet" to others? 

  • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rf8FX2sI3gU

  • As a teacher, I communicate the message of “yet” as a placeholder for now, and that they will get the idea or concept soon. I like to show my students a video about Growth Mindset and how to approach what they don’t know or believe they can’t do throughout the year. Obviously, it is a cute video, but it provides a great explanation of the growth mindset vs. the fixed mindset. 

• When and how often will you promote the growth mindset?:

  •  As a teacher, I promote a growth mindset every day for my students. My homeroom currently is filled with SPEDS, 504’s or students with an RtI, therefore, I am constantly spreading that Growth Mindset for them and being positive for them. They need it as a group. It has worked, but some days, one of them begins with the “I can’t do this” or “I am not a good writer and never will be”. I will never forget when I began the school year with a new set of students…it was stressful. A lot of them in 3rd grade earned zeros on the 3rd grade Reading STAAR test. My RLA partner and I were shocked by the number of zeros. Now, we’re in March, and I couldn’t be happier with their results and how far they’ve come. I told them at the beginning that they wouldn’t understand this “yet”, but they will get there. It is all about looking at this through the Growth Mindset lens. If I stayed on the course of the fixed mindset approach, then we would all be stuck in a fixed mindset. 

  • How will the growth mindset influence or impact the way you approach your work in the program?:

    •  I think I see everything right now as an “I am never going to get this work done!” or “I give up! I can’t do this anymore!” or the “Why am I doing this?” I then change my mindset quickly and stop myself from being in a “fixed mindset” for a couple of seconds. I snap out of it quickly. I always have to remember my “Why?” as I am doing school work, as well as my future and where I want to be in about 2-3 years. Recently, I’ve applied to jobs, and while I know there are far better applicants applying for the same jobs I applied for, I’m glad I did because it proves my Growth Mindset is growing, and I’m ready for the next step. As I transcend through the program, I feel more confident and more evolved in my growth mindset. Up until now, I think I’ve had small moments of growth mindset, but I fully know and am aware of those moments and keep pushing myself to overcome them.