Three Ways to Teach Your Students Growth Mindset
Helping your students develop a growth mindset is one of the most powerful ways you can set them up for long-term success.
But how does a well-meaning educator go about actually teaching the concept of a growth mindset in a way that makes sense to elementary-aged learners?
That can be a bit tricky!
Today we’re going to clearly define what a growth mindset is, so you feel confident in what exactly you’re trying to teach in the first place.
Then we will dig deeper into 3 ways you can teach your students what a growth mindset is, why it matters, and how to develop one themselves.
By the end of this post, you’ll be excited to take the power of a growth mindset (and the activities we’re sharing) to your heart-centered classroom!
What is a growth mindset anyway?
A growth mindset is the belief that intelligence and talent are not fixed. Instead, the work you put in leads directly to growing your brain and improving your intelligence and talents.
When a young student believes they are either smart or not smart – there is no incentive to put in the work it takes to learn. If they just aren’t “smart,” they never will be, so why try?
You can see how defeating and limiting this “fixed mindset” can be.
The alternative – embracing a growth mindset – gives students a reason to keep trying… even when something is hard or they repeatedly fail to master a new skill.
When a child has a growth mindset, they begin building grit and perseverance. These skills benefit children well into adulthood.
The concept of a growth mindset was first introduced by Carol Dweck in her book Mindset: The New Psychology of Success. She demonstrated that when students believed they could improve things like their personality, academic success, and creativity – they were more likely to put in the work and see positive results.
A growth mindset isn’t magic. We all know there are many factors that influence a child’s success in school, athletics, creative arts, and other areas. But we do know that developing the belief that our abilities can change is a powerfully motivating force.
This positive belief that growth and improvement is possible? That’s what we want to help our students understand, believe, and embrace!
Teach growth mindset through progress celebrations
When you think about celebrating your students, what comes to mind?
Typically as teachers we celebrate when students master new skills, reach new levels, and meet their goals. And those celebrations are meaningful! But they aren’t going to help your students develop their growth mindset.
In addition to milestone and achievement goals, make celebrating progress a normal part of your classroom structure.
Celebrating progress is essentially a way to highlight the work a student has put into learning or improving, regardless of the outcome.
Instead of waiting for a student to reach their next reading level, a progress celebration would call out how many books they have read at home and celebrate all the work they are doing to “grow their brain!” The focus of the progress celebration isn’t what they’ve accomplished, it’s the effort the student has put in.
Public progress celebrations can be an effective way to build your students’ awareness of what a growth mindset is.
Private celebrations – like writing notes to students or having a quick chat with them to let them know you see the work they’re putting in – are a good way to reinforce each individual student’s belief that their efforts are seen and that they matter.
You can also encourage your students to become progress celebrators! Talk about the importance of trying, especially when something is hard, and have students write notes to their classmates when they see them giving a task their all or persevering in the face of failure or challenge.
Roleplay growth mindset with your students
Our students learn best when they get to experience what we’re teaching them. Explaining growth mindset is a good place to start, but if you want them to really internalize the concept, you’ll want to use roleplaying activities.
To begin, choose a specific circumstance that your students commonly face. For example, you may outline a scenario in which a student is trying to do a new math problem and gets the answer wrong.
First, have the class brainstorm things the student might say in this situation if they have a fixed mindset. Write down things like “I can’t do this,” or “I’m bad at math!”
Then have your students brainstorm what the same student might say in that situation if they had a growth mindset. You’ll record things like “I’m going to try again,” or “It’s okay if something is hard at first, I’ll keep learning.”
Once you’ve got a few good examples of the way a fixed mindset sounds vs. a growth mindset, encourage your students to use the growth mindset language throughout the day.
You can model this yourself and remind students when they have an opportunity to use the growth mindset vocabulary throughout the day.
Teach your students to use power words
Words are powerful. And your young students are ready to learn just how they can use the power of their own words to help them develop a growth mindset!
As a class, choose a power word that you will all commit to using when you find yourself or a friend using fixed mindset language.
Some examples include:
- Yet – Change “I can’t!” to “I can’t… yet!”
- Learning – Change “I can’t!” to “I’m learning!”
- Growing – Change “I can’t!” to “I’m growing!”
Let your class vote on their favorite power word and then intentionally use it as much as possible.
You can model this for the class, too. If you have students line up late to go to lunch one day, say something like “I’m always late!” and then say, “Oh! I can use our power word to change my mindset today!” Try again with something like “I’m learning how to be on time!”
Choosing a class power word – and consistently using it to transform fixed mindset thinking to growth mindset thinking – is a fun, effective way to help your students believe in their ability to grow, improve, and change.
Unlocking the key to a growth mindset in your classroom
When we prioritize teaching how to develop a growth mindset, our students are more likely to understand the concept
And when our students develop a growth mindset, they are more likely to put in sustained effort and persevere, even when things are tough.
Now you have three great activities to use with your students to help them adapt their thinking!
Progress celebrations, intentional roleplaying, and power words are all effective ways to teach young students about the power of a growth mindset and give them the tools they need to develop their own.
Excited to teach growth mindset more?
Many teachers see powerful changes in individual students’ and their classroom culture when they intentionally focus on the idea of a growth mindset.
It can be hard to work this topic into day-to-day teaching, so in addition to the activity ideas I’ve shared here, I also have a Growth Mindset Activity Bundle you can download to get crafts, worksheets, and slides to use with your students!
This Bundle makes it super easy to share the transformative power of a growth mindset with your whole class! You can use the slides, worksheet, and activity all at once or spread them out over several weeks – whatever works best for your students.
Click here to download the Growth Mindset Activity Bundle today!
Click here to see this Growth Mindset discussion in our heart-centered classroom>>
What’s next? Join the Heart-Centered Toolkit Waitlist now!
I created my Heart-Centered Toolkits to walk you through exactly how to have a heart-centered classroom because so many teachers (including myself at one point!) need support and direction when creating a safe and supportive heart-centered classroom.
Click here to join the waitlist so you don’t miss out when doors open!
Lead your class with confidence and joy, showing up as the teacher you were meant to be each and every day. The Heart-Centered Method gives you all the strategies, language, tools, and support you need to create the classroom environment you’ve always dreamed of.
Adopting a heart-centered approach completely transformed my classroom behaviors, and I’m confident it will do the same for you.
