Carol Dweck’s TED Talk on growth mindset is one that never seizes to be influential with each time I view it. Couple that with an illustration that is both easy to understand, yet informative, such as what can be seen in the RSA Animation video, and you have a perfect combination of information that allows you to connect to the content's meaning. As a person who enjoys visuals, the RSA Animation served as a reinforcement to the information discussed by Dweck herself, and further allowed me to dig deeper into my own approach to growth mindset.
Growth Mindset ties directly into the concept of grit, a concept explained in more depth by Angela Duckworth. Having been familiar with Angela Duckworth’s video on GRIT, I went into viewing it this time with the knowledge of growth mindset in mind. Grit, along with the growth mindset, seem to be words and slogans that schools have floated around quite a bit over the past several years, however without real action they remain just that, words and phrases. Listening to Duckworth speak about “passion and perseverance,” in conjunction with developing a growth mindset, reinforced how important the two are together. What makes each significant yet similar is that neither is talent based, but instead each requires effort and motivation to persist.
Revisiting my initial growth mindset plan opened my eyes up to areas that required more intentional work. I have realized that It isn’t enough to simply discuss or use terms such as ‘Growth mindset’ and ‘GRIT,’ but instead I have to establish environments where these concepts can develop as realities. Significant learning environments help foster and cultivate these ideals. Modeling the “power of yet” in a school climate, and providing the teachers that I work with resources and support to do the same within their classrooms is of high importance. Going forward I hope to continue to partner with teachers and administrators on my campus to help develop and build out classrooms that foster these characteristics.
Comments