Growth Mindset

How we learn and the mindset or attitude we bring to the table are among the most important questions of the day in education circles. Why is it some skills or content seem to come easy for some, while other people may struggle with those same skills? The faculty was in search of those answers on March 6th when we loaded up the bus and headed up to Central Rivers AEA to participate in a workshop with Trevor Ragan. Trevor is a renowned speaker who studies learning and is known for working with large fortune 500 companies worldwide including the US Olympic team, and multiple colleges and universities. He can now add working with the Hudson Community School District faculty to his resume! When the opportunity arose for our faculty to participate in this day, an adjustment to the calendar seemed wholly appropriate!

The lessons of the day were numerous, but perhaps most important was a discussion about the differences between a fixed mindset and a growth mindset. And an understanding perhaps, that attitude is everything. The concept is really quite simple. Someone with a fixed mindset believes they were/are born with a set of skills or gifts and outside the guardrails of that skill set, they are limited. For example, if you were told [or believed] as a young person that you were not a math person then you probably also believed that you would never be good at math. Because of this, you may not have spent a lot of time practicing this skill. And why would you, it would make little sense to practice or try to do something you are not very good at! Unfortunately this type of mindset can create a self-fulfilling prophesy. 

On the other hand, a person with a growth mindset believes an skill deficit can be overcome with practice. Not a math person? Practice math and you'll get better. Not very good at typing? You can get better if you practice typing. How about shooting three point baskets? Practice. Truth be told, this isn't just a belief, the brain science proves this point. 

Here's the interesting thing though. We are not all of one or the other at any given time. In some instances, we may have a growth mindset whereas in others we may have a fixed mindset. This can be totally dependent on the skill, the time of day, or even the level of interest we have. So, if we have a low level of interest in an activity (say math), we may approach that particular content with a fixed mindset. By the way, that low level of interest may be perpetuated by a belief that we are already not good at something. Or, if we try something and aren't immediately successful we may also end up viewing it through the lens of a fixed mindset. But if you really think about it, we are always bad at new things! I promise you this, the first time I sat down at a piano I was terrible. The only way I got better was to practice and sharpen that skill!

Just a couple of things then to think about when considering our learning process. For educators: we can always improve our skills in the classroom. If classroom management isn't your strong suit, we can sharpen that saw by seeking out opportunities to learn new strategies. The whole point of professional development is to improve our skill sets. We must realize that we didn't learn everything we needed to know about teaching and learning in college and that new research based strategies are the key to improved student outcomes in the classroom. For parents: your children are math people! Or good readers. Or whatever! Let's try not to lower our expectations by believing skills can't be improved. For students: Don't allow yourself to be limited. I promise, the first time you learn a new skill you probably won't be very good at it. But the second time you'll be better. Practicing skills will certainly make you better! We'll always be bad at first!