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1.3 Learning Mindsets
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Posted by CUNY Mindset Initiative on March 11, 2024 at 11:02 am💬 Reflection/Discussion:
- How does cultivating a growth mindset benefit educators in their professional development and teaching practices? Why is it important to you as an educator to learn about and growth mindsets and apply that knowledge in your teaching?
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Hi Elizabeth, I appreciate your perspective on community learning. Your example of the reading group on contract grading highlights how collaborative experimentation can lead to significant improvements in teaching practices. Building a community where educators support and inspire each other is crucial for fostering innovation and positive change in our classrooms.
Having a growth mindset benefits educators by promoting self-efficacy skills toward the power of decision making for learners of all ages. A growth mindset allows learners to have a flexible mindset, to be open and willing to change their mind based on evaluating text and critical data. This also works in tandem with teaching learners to listen well, to pause and to evaluate.
A growth mindset means that education never ends. It promotes curiosity in learning new things and sets stage for promoting lifelong learning.
How does this pertain to higher education? Reflective teaching is about professional development and thinking about one’s craft. But it is also about making key when teaching is not going well. For learners who are studying education or similar fields, it is crucial that they learn how be intentional about getting input from instructors, but also from advisors, peers and mentors in the field.
Growth mindset also benefits instructors and learners in that it takes the stigma out of failure and allows individuals to grow in a safe space. This is important for theoretical courses and field-based courses. It is important for learners to have modeling, guided practice and for there to be a gradual release when interning or completing a practicum course. Practicum-based courses and seminars or courses that align with the fieldwork are arenas for discussing how to grow as a budding professional.
Summarily, growth mindset increases positivity and reduces feeling a sense of not being good enough.  Setting up a growth culture is beneficial for Professors, K-12 educators and educators in adult education settings as it allows learners to feel a sense of accomplishment when they do well and identify where they need to grow. The spirit of growth mindedness cuts through perfectionism and feelings of futility. To implement a growth mindset well, educators can start slowly by creating a self-support team of mentors, friends and colleagues that will support them.
Having a growth mindset benefits educators by promoting self-efficacy skills toward the power of decision making for learners of all ages. A growth mindset allows learners to have a flexible mindset, to be open and willing to change their mind based on evaluating text and critical data. This also works in tandem with teaching learners to listen well, to pause and to evaluate.
A growth mindset means that education never ends. It promotes curiosity in learning new things and sets stage for promoting lifelong learning.
How does this pertain to higher education? Reflective teaching is about professional development and thinking about one’s craft. But it is also about making key when teaching is not going well. For learners who are studying education or similar fields, it is crucial that they learn how be intentional about getting input from instructors, but also from advisors, peers and mentors in the field.
Growth mindset also benefits instructors and learners in that it takes the stigma out of failure and allows individuals to grow in a safe space. This is important for theoretical courses and field-based courses. It is important for learners to have modeling, guided practice and for there to be a gradual release when interning or completing a practicum course. Practicum-based courses and seminars or courses that align with the fieldwork are arenas for discussing how to grow as a budding professional.
Summarily, growth mindset increases positivity and reduces feeling a sense of not being good enough.  Setting up a growth culture is beneficial for Professors, K-12 educators and educators in adult education settings as it allows learners to feel a sense of accomplishment when they do well and identify where they need to grow.
Hi Elizabeth,
Thank you for your very thoughtful response to this. I really like your focus on the power of decision making and how growth mindset helps to scaffold those skills that build confidence in one’s learning that then translates into powerful decision making. I also agree that reflective writing / thinking / speaking (etc). is a key to helping people unpack what they know. I think metacognition in our courses is a powerful way to help students really see what they’ve learning. I often do this by asking them to cite themselves from things we’ve done during the semester. I want to see how they know they’ve learned and where they see their own growth. It sounds like this is also an important pedagogical strategy for you! How do you frame the idea that growth mindset creates a different learning environment for students? How do you help them see the benefits of growth mindsets?
Dear Elizabeth,
These are excellent questions. I assign a brief article on growth mindset and teaching. We go back and discuss this in reflections and in class. There are some students that need a little more feedback. Your question has me considering that I may need to show more examples of what growth mindset looks like terms of major projects.
Best,
LIzSince the beginning of my career, I struggled with fear of failure fed by me being a Hispanic woman with dyslexia. Learning about growth mindset in the past and now has allowed me to let go of feelings of shame or embarrassment when I underperform and has increase my productivity by letting go of paralyzing fear of failure. By incorporating teaching practices to develop growth mindsets I am practicing and reinforcing my own growth mindset.
In addition to helping my own development, I incorporate a sense to the class that mistakes are ok and are part of the learning process in my courses, to help other minority and non-minority students grow beyond the course content. My hope is that promoting growth mindset will help let go of the terminal feeling of failure and turn setbacks into growth opportunities. Importantly, cultivating growth mindset improves the course performance in untapped student groups that include minorities, women, neurodivergent, those with trauma, etc. and provides these groups a tool that can be used to improve themselves and their lives beyond college.
I discussed in the prior submodule some the approaches used in my genetics class to promote mindsets of growth (See quote below).
“In my course, I often do problems with the students on the board. I allow myself to make mistakes or even give the students problems answers with mistakes for them to fix. I want the students to see that it is ok to make mistakes, that I make mistakes, and that together we learn to understand genetic problems more deeply. I ask the students to solve in groups very difficult genetic problems. Much more difficult than they need to know for the exam. After they give the problem a good try as a team, we work it out together as a class. We go through the different solutions teams came up with and often combine approaches from different teams to solve the problem. After the problem is solved I ask the students to try to find the answer taking a different approach. The students are told that they are here to learn and that only in the assessments they need to perform but that to perform better they need to work out problems that are not cookie cutter problems. I never thought these activities and pedagogic approaches may be helping them develop a growth mindset. In the future, I will connect these activities and approaches directly to a growth mindset for the students. I think that students being cognisant of this connection will allow them to develop a growth mindset outside the course.”
Very insightful post, thank you! I especially find the point about reducing the feeling of not being good enough. My students often say “I am not good at math or calculations” they accepted failure and became gave up on growth when it comes to calculations and probabilities, which is a big part of my course.
Also interested in the connection you make between teaching learners to listen well, to pause, and to evaluate. Can you elaborate? How can I incorporate this in tandem with growth mind set into a class that is not about education and has a packed required content?
I truly identify with your post and have also felt overwhelmed by trying to implement too many changes at once, also, overwhelmed when implementing many changes, and having to evaluate which combinations worked out well. Interestingly, incorporating a more flexible mindset when teaching has not YET allowed me to regularly have this growth mindset in all aspects of my job/career and life. Your post has left me thinking about how to help my students use flexible and growth mindsets beyond the course…
Thanks for this. I totally agree. I include a line about “how we all learn from one another” and that we learn together and everyone has something to contribute in my syllabus. However, I have not yet truly created an environment that cultivates this type of learning. It is something I am “growing” toward.
I am a fairly new instructor making lots of mistakes and learning, learning, learning from my students and my mistakes. If I didn’t have a growth mindset, I would have had to throw the towel in after my first week of class!
I’m still teaching some courses for the first time and I always let my students know when it is the first time. I am open with them about the fact that I will make mistakes and also about what I will do differently the following semester. I also ask all of my classes for feedback on what I could do better. This not only helps me improve my teaching but it also tells my students that I value their experiences and opinions.
Cultivating a growth mindset is incredibly beneficial for us educators in both our professional development, teaching practices, and approach to student support.
When we adopt a growth mindset, we are more likely to seek out professional development opportunities, collaborate with colleagues, and stay open to new teaching strategies and technologies. I believe continuous learning allows us to better meet the diverse needs of our students and create a more dynamic and engaging educational environment.
For me, as an educator, understanding and applying growth mindset principles helps me foster a culture where mistakes are seen as learning opportunities, effort is celebrated, and students are encouraged to take on challenges without fear of failure. By modeling a growth mindset, I want to inspire my students to develop the same attitude, which is essential for their academic and personal growth.
How many times have I walked away from the classroom thinking, “Today I was the worst teacher in the world!”? A little dramatic perhaps, but the feeling of defeat is real, at least in the moment. But without a growth mindset, I would walk away from that classroom experience and just keep walking! The alternative is falling into a hole of unsuccessful or unresponsive teaching practices. My commitment to teaching requires a growth mindset.
When you promote a growth mindset culture in the classroom you are letting students know that it is ok to make mistakes or not know something. This encourages people to ask questions and to be more curious, rather than staying quiet when confused because they do not want to be judged for “not knowing.” I think it also allows the instructor the freedom and humility to admit when they don’t fully understand something and have open dialogue with the class.
I believe that cultivating a growth mindset can be beneficial for me and all educators in professional development and teaching practices. On a professional level, it is important to have a growth mindset in the nursing profession, which is grounded in best practice guidelines. To maintain currency in the profession, I need to attend conferences, read nursing journals, and attend workshops to acquire new knowledge. With the knowledge acquired, I will have to adjust in the way I perform some nursing skills, for example, patient-centered care and culturally responsive care.
In my teaching practice, it is also important for me to have a growth mindset to optimize students’ academic outcomes. Information technology plays a critical role in learning and can foster student engagement. To increase student engagement, I need to pivot to a flipped classroom, use technology during lectures for polling and research topics, and pay attention to end-of-course evaluations. These evaluations provide an opportunity for me to engage in self-reflection, learn from my mistakes, and formulate an action plan for future classes by focusing on student-centered learning.
Finally, a growth mindset is essential for motivating students to learn from setbacks and become effective, patient, and compassionate.
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