Right now, how true are the following statements for you?
⦁ After I make a mistake, I always look for ways to learn from it.
⦁ I love challenges because they make me smarter.
⦁ I truly believe that people can change.
⦁ I can always change how intelligent I am.
How do I encourage growth mindset in others?
Much remains to be discovered about how teachers and parents can encourage a growth mindset in young people, but here are some preliminary suggestions.
Model it. Share stories of when you fell short of your expectations but nevertheless learned an important lesson: “I made the wrong decision that day. At first, I avoided thinking about it, but eventually I realized I needed to learn from the mistake. What I realized was…”
Celebrate it. Avoid praising young people for being “gifted,” “talented,” or “a natural.” Instead, praise the process of learning: “I’m so proud of you—when you got stuck on the problem, you tried a different way to solve it and didn’t give up!”
Enable it. Create authentic opportunities for learning. Give students meaningful challenges, consistent support, and timely, constructive feedback. To calibrate your efforts, ask them directly: “Let’s set a stretch goal together—what’s something you want to accomplish but can’t do yet? What can I do to help?”
