Tag Archives: Mindsets
Understanding the Fixed and Growth Response: The First Step to Changing Mindsets
The Fixed Mindset has been getting a bad rap. We know how people with a Fixed Mindset tend to behave. They avoid challenges. They give up easily. They dislike effort. They are threatened by the success of others. These behaviours are sometimes described as “lazy”. It’s often assumed that people with a Fixed Mindset simply […]
Why are we still talking Fixed vs Growth Mindsets?
So much of what you read about Mindsets these days considers that there are only two opposing Mindsets. That is, the Fixed Mindset versus the Growth Mindset. Looking at Mindsets this way has helped us understand psychologist Carol Dweck’s work. It has also highlighted the importance of developing a Growth Mindset. However, an over-emphasis on […]
Where are you on your Growth Mindset Journey?
Becoming a Growth Mindset Teacher, takes more than the incomplete messages of “Not Yet“, “Praise Effort” or “Celebrate Mistakes” which abound on social media. To go beyond the Growth Mindset gimmicks requires deep thinking. You’ll need practical tools and strategies to be successful in this journey. Developing a Growth Mindset culture at your school requires […]
It’s not as simple as “Praise Effort”
Praise is a powerful thing. It has the potential to motivate, guide and support a student’s learning. But it can also derail it. When our praise is focused on outcomes and abilities (“You’re so clever!”, “You’re a real natural at this!”), it contributes to the development of a Fixed Mindset. Students with a Fixed Mindset […]
Fixed vs Growth: Two ends of a Mindset continuum
One of the biggest social media myths about Mindsets is that there are only two: the Fixed Mindset and the Growth Mindset. This is simply not true. The reality is that our Mindset lies somewhere along the Mindset Continuum. This confusion has led to many misapplications of psychologist Carol Dweck’s work. While Dweck herself typically […]
Belief is Not Enough
A Growth Mindset is critical to growth and success. Without the belief that we can change ourselves for the better, our motivation flounders. It’s at the heart of a Growth Mindset, which world-renowned Stanford University psychologist Carol Dweck describes as “the belief that you can change your most basic characteristics, such as your talents, abilities […]
Beyond “Not Yet” to “What’s Next?”
A quick survey of social media suggests that a key element of nurturing a Growth Mindset is the word “yet”. In her renowned TED talk, “The Power of Yet”, Stanford University psychologist Carol Dweck espouses the virtue of “yet”, describing a school with a grading system that includes a category for “not yet” instead of […]
Mistakes about Mistakes
There’s a lot of talk these days about mistakes. Should teachers be encouraging students to make mistakes? Should we celebrate mistakes? Are mistakes good or bad? I want to try and put the record straight about mistakes and clear up some of the mistakes I’ve noticed about mistakes. In his blog “Not all Mistakes are […]
You’re not born with a Mindset. You catch it!
I met a mother recently who told me she had read Mindsets. The New Psychology of Success, 5 years ago when she was pregnant with her first child. The book had a profound impact on her parenting and she had resolved to develop a Growth Mindset in her new daughter. She told me that as […]
Beliefs don’t work! So why do Mindsets?
Carol Dweck has shown that student’s who hold the belief that they are capable of developing even their most basic characteristics, tend to do just that. But why should a belief work? Believing in fairies doesn’t make them real. Believing I’ll win the lotto this weekend won’t make winning any more likely. And if I […]
