9 powerful ways of teaching growth mindset in the classroom, including the power of YET, learning from mistakes, and ways of facing challenges.
9 Methods For Teaching a Growth Mindset
Children’s belief systems fuel their performance and academic success within the classroom. They will accept what they’ve been taught about their abilities and potential, and we, as teachers, have an opportunity within our classrooms to feed this by teaching a growth mindset.
The power of students’ beliefs about themselves affects them profoundly. A growth mindset is very closely related to self-esteem and motivation. A child with very little self-esteem will not perform as well as a child who believes they CAN and WILL. Children can develop a growth mindset at an early age, and it is our job to help students by promoting a growth mindset in the classroom as much as possible. If we miss the opportunity, they may not adopt this valuable characteristic.
Table of Contents
- 9 Methods For Teaching a Growth Mindset
- What is a “Growth Mindset”?
- Teaching Growth Mindset in the Classroom: 9 Powerful Methods
- 1. Provide attainable challenges.
- 2. Give opportunities to face obstacles.
- 3. Teach and model good attitudes.
- 4. Teach how to accept constructive criticism.
- 5. View failure as learning.
- 6. Provide group learning opportunities.
- 7. Celebrate Successes and Minimize Failures.
- 8. Provide Opportunities to Celebrate the Success of Others.
- 9. Teach perseverance and the power of YET
- Resources for Teaching Growth Mindset
- Growth Mindset Resources
- Social Emotional Learning Curriculum
- Learn More about Teaching Growth Mindset
What is a “Growth Mindset”?
First, it’s essential to understand what the term “growth mindset” means. A growth mindset is the exact opposite of a fixed mindset. If a child has a fixed mindset, they believe they cannot change their character, creativity, or potential for success.
But, in contrast, a growth mindset has a more positive outlook, as a child believes they have control over their successes and failures.
If learners possess a growth student mindset, they can approach classroom tasks with a “go-getter” attitude and bounce back from challenges with resilience and an optimistic perspective. When they fail at something or have a specific weakness, they understand they can use that experience to learn new ways to grow toward a goal.
Teaching Growth Mindset in the Classroom: 9 Powerful Methods
Helping kids develop a growth mindset means teaching them that mistakes are part of learning and that they can improve at anything with effort and practice. It’s about showing them that their brains are like muscles—they grow stronger when they try new things, even if they don’t get it right the first time. These nine simple methods will help you encourage your students to stay positive, keep trying, and believe in themselves.
1. Provide attainable challenges.
Students need to be given clear and concise steps to achieve a goal. Whether it’s how to solve a math problem or how to write a paragraph, smaller goals attained over a period of time are easier to manage.
The student will feel successful and accomplished by bravely attempting smaller steps toward a larger goal. In return, they will be more apt to put the necessary effort into more complex tasks. A series of smaller achievements builds the confidence needed to achieve.
2. Give opportunities to face obstacles.
You don’t want everything to come quickly for your students. Providing them with only easy tasks and praising them or giving unwarranted rewards will be counterintuitive to your goals. Learning a growth mindset requires facing challenges.
Give them the challenge words on their spelling list or the complex writing assignment. These are obstacles that they must be able to face, and it gives them the practice they need to build a growth mindset: “This is going to be hard, but I will try to follow the steps I know to tackle it.”
3. Teach and model good attitudes.
Find some good quality growth mindset books to read aloud that express or show examples of a growth mindset. One of my favorites is Flight School by Lita Judge, in which a determined little penguin achieves his dream of flying despite his many obstacles and apparent incapability.
You can also model good attitudes by speaking aloud as you solve problems and verbalizing your thought process. Use growth mindset quotes to show persistence, confidence, and capability. Teach the children why you talk to yourself in such ways and encourage them to do the same.
4. Teach how to accept constructive criticism.
Children must learn early to accept constructive criticism and use it as a stepping stone for growth. To do this, they must view moderate criticism from appropriate sources as good and helpful.
Teaching them this is no easy task. Some children can be highly sensitive and lack the perspective needed to receive constructive criticism. Be sure that constructive criticism is offered tactfully when it is given.
When you offer constructive criticism, dole it out with grace and kindness, emphasizing steps a child should take to meet the prospective goal. Take the time to teach a mini-lesson about constructive citizens and how they should be heard and received.
5. View failure as learning.
Children will pick up their cues from you – what you say, how you respond, and what you do about failure will also determine their attitudes. Whenever possible, express failure in more favorable terms. Instead of saying, “You failed,” say, “Your efforts were not 100%,” or “Your attitude towards this task was lacking,” or at the very minimum, “You didn’t take all of the necessary steps.”
Take the opportunity to review the actions or steps necessary to achieve the goal and encourage them to try again, practicing what they’ve learned from the experience of not meeting expectations.
6. Provide group learning opportunities.
Children learn by cooperating in groups, and their efforts and participation result in the group’s success. Their sense of responsibility for their group’s performance spurs them to try hard. As a result, they feel a sense of success upon completing the activity, building confidence that spreads into other activities.
7. Celebrate Successes and Minimize Failures.
If possible, reward children for their positive outlook and catch them in the act of showing a growth mindset. Listen attentively to conversations with them, and verbally praise them when you hear comments or see behaviors that show hard work, determination, following steps/procedures, or speaking affirmatively to themselves or their peers.
When mistakes and setbacks occur, show them ways to learn from the experience and tell them verbally instead of just giving them a grade. Give them opportunities to improve their poor performance by re-teaching and providing chances to re-do or edit their work after constructive criticism has been given.
8. Provide Opportunities to Celebrate the Success of Others.
Encourage students to share the joy of another student’s achievement in an area. Praise and reward things other than intelligence or good grades. When providing feedback or praise publicly, try to avoid saying, “Elizabeth is so smart. ” Instead, say, “Look at how well Elizabeth took my instructions and followed them to a T,” or “Congratulations to Elizabeth for putting forth such good effort into this task.”
9. Teach perseverance and the power of YET
Students must learn early on that learning new things is not easy. It requires effort, grit, and perseverance. Teach them important vocabulary and what this big and powerful word means (“Yet”) through class discussions, sharing examples, and praising them for their efforts.
Encourage students not to give up when things get hard and tell them that if they can’t do something now, it doesn’t mean they never will. Say the reminder, “You can’t do this YET, but keep going!” The word YET is a powerful one.
Encourage students to use it themselves when they get stuck or feel frustrated. They will feel empowered to “keep on swimming,” as Dory would say!
These nine techniques for encouraging and teaching a growth mindset in the classroom are generally accepted as best practices. They help build academic achievement and student success. What strategies do you use when teaching a growth mindset in your classroom?
Resources for Teaching Growth Mindset
FREE Mantra Posters & Coloring Sheets
Here’s a freebie for you to use in your classroom. Give students a growth mindset mantra poster to color and decorate. Hang in the classroom or take it home to teach families about a growth mindset.
Click the image to download.
Growth Mindset Resources
Adding growth mindset concepts to your classroom helps students build essential life skills like empathy, self-awareness, and problem-solving. The best part? It doesn’t have to be overwhelming. With an easy-to-follow curriculum, you can seamlessly integrate growth mindset lessons into your daily routine, giving kids the tools to navigate their emotions and relationships with these Growth Mindset Activities and Lessons from Proud to Be Primary.
Do you teach grades 3-5? The complete growth mindset unit includes many helpful lessons and activities to help older kids develop a growth mindset, learn about the parts of the brain, and set SMART goals.
Growth Mindset Lessons for 3-5
Social Emotional Learning Curriculum
Looking for more lessons and activities to help teach growth mindset and social-emotional skills?
Social-Emotional Learning K-2 Curriculum
Social-Emotional Curriculum for 3-5
Learn More about Teaching Growth Mindset
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Growth mindset is so valuable. I strongly feel we should be encouraging this in every classroom!
Great post with good ideas, I also think it needs to be a whole school approach, but there are many things a teacher can do in the classroom themselves.
Thanks for a fab post!
You are absolutely right! And something that should be taught at home!! Wouldn’t that be amazing?! 🙂
Hello,
I came across your post while taking a class about Growth mindset in a classroom. Would you please let me know when did you write this post? I need Resources that are published within the last five years.
It was published 2017/06/14.