Creating a Culture of Helpfulness and Growth Mindset

It is easy to be trapped in a fixed mindset when we think that we are born with a specific set of skills that we can’t improve, no matter how hard we try. The reality is that we can learn to develop the belief that things that are difficult now may not always be. Having a growth mindset is not necessarily something that people are born with. Carol Deck (2006) states that the mindset is not something rigid. She says that people can have a fixed mindset at certain situations or challenges and a growth mindset at others. And your way of thinking can change over time too. Dweck describes a growth mindset as a mentality that believes that, with work and practice, a person can improve their abilities (Dweck, 2006), and that things that are difficult now may not always be.

Equally important as helping to develop a growth mindset in our students is to help them grow a helpful and cooperative environment. Promoting a healthy culture is key to alleviating some of the stressors that prevent them from participating or worrying about testing. It also makes the learning experience a rewarding one. In her Ted Talk conference, Margaret Heffernan concludes that groups that have empathy with each other and were connected as a team were much more productive than the brightest counterparts with all the resources. She says, “If the only way the most productive can be successful is by suppressing the productivity of the rest, then we badly need to find a better way to work and a richer way to live (Heffernan, 2015).

Helping our students to develop a growth mindset within an environment of collaboration will ensure our students feel valued and appreciated for their talents, ideas, and skills.

References:

Dweck, C. S. (2008). Mindset. Ballantine Books

Heffernan, M. (2015). Why it's time to forget the pecking order at work. TED Talk. Retrieved from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vyn_xLrtZaY