When I started my masters of education in applied digital technology degree through Lamar University I was introduced to the growth mindset and the power of “yet”. Although I had never heard of the power of “yet” before, it turns out that I had already been doing it in my classroom, with my own kids, and with myself. I just didn’t realize it because I had never been introduced to that term before. I was already telling my students they couldn’t do it “yet” every time they would say they couldn’t do something or it was too hard and they didn’t know how. My answer was always, “You can’t do it yet, you don’t know how yet. That is why we are here, to learn. You will get it, you just don’t have it yet.” I would always do the same thing at home with my kids, and myself when I encountered something new or challenging. I was never the person who just gave up. I always looked for different ways to approach things until I succeeded. I was already embracing the power of yet and the growth mindset, I just wasn’t aware I was doing it. I started off by reading Carol S. Dweck's book, Mindset: The New Psychology of Success, where she discusses the steps for individuals to reach their full potential. This book has been my favorite book I have read in the last 16 weeks. I think this book is essential for all educators to read. The sooner into their career the better, but it will help everyone if they are really ready to embrace it. As an educator, having a growth mindset will help empower our students to develop their abilities, learn to use different strategies, and give them the desire to learn. Having a growth mindset lets us focus more on the learning experience, take our failures and look at them as learning experiences instead of an actual failure. Grow from those mistakes and truly become a lifelong learner. Once we as educators embrace a growth mindset we can lead by example in our classrooms and help introduce our students to the same concept. The more they see us model that growth mindset instead of a fixed mindset the more they will do the same.
As the first 8-week courses continued, I was able to create my own growth mindset plan. I continue to self-reflect and ensure that I stay in the growth mindset instead of falling into a fixed mindset. If I find that I am falling into a fixed mindset I step back and remind myself where I need to be and what I need to be doing to get back on track. As I continue in the program, I am noticing in some meetings I have been to that the majority of the people I work with are in a false growth mindset or a fixed mindset. Sometimes if I am sitting near them or know them personally, I will try to show them a different perspective in a professional and kind way. I never try to insult anyone or come off like I am attacking them or their views. I simply try to give them a different way to look at it. Sometimes it works and I tell them about a growth mindset, other times it doesn’t. I understand that it’s not everyone's thing, and they could be like me and have never heard about it before. I have suggested Carol S. Dweck's book, Mindset: The New Psychology of Success to my administration because they send a survey out every month asking if we need anything or want to share anything good with them. I have also suggested it to other teacher friends, some of which have already read it. We were able to sit down and discuss it and how it has changed our lives and the way we teach in class.
I plan on continuing to tell others about embracing a growth mindset as much as possible because it can/will help change the whole dynamic of an environment. The more people embrace the growth mindset the more changes we can start to make within the education system and our students' lives.
References
Carol S. Dweck (2019, Feb. 19). Mindset: The New Psychology of Success
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