Growth Mindset

This is a growth mindset board placed in a grade 8 classroom I had the opportunity to experience. This board displays examples of each type of mindset, on the left is the fixed mindset of shutting oneself down. On the right side is the growth mindset, which shows the students have no boundaries for learning, and set themselves up for endless learning.


 Carol Dweck presents these two types of mindsets in her book as well as the article we read in class. I have experienced teachers promoting this mindset in the classroom in my second week of structured experience days. First, with my own associate teacher, a student received a test back and did not recieve the mark they were hoping for and their response was to the teacher, "I am just not good at science, I'm a failure". And my teacher immediately responded and told the student, "No, you need to take a different approach. What are some ways you can do better for next time?" And the student responded, "I will read more, I will ask questions, and maybe I can stay in for recess if I need to get extra help". Then teacher said, "see you came up with your own strategies and with all those you started off your sentence with "I will". You have the knowledge to do this and you just need to push yourself. You will do great on the next test." The teacher, without telling the student what to say provoked the student to create his own goals on how to succeed.

In Carol Dweck's book, the growth mindset is about empowering oneself with the belief in the ability to do things, and to try new strategies to facilitate learning. We can try to instil these strategies on our students and it all comes from word choice as we empower the students to believe and remind them that they have the ability to succeed.

The actions of the teacher also relate to the OCT Standards of practice in terms of commitment to students and student learning. This teacher facilitates the development of the student, demonstrating care and respect towards the student and their education.