Perception of the Growth Mindset

The first time I ever heard of the phrases "growth mindset" and "the power of yet" was about 3-4 years ago during the beginning of the year Professional Development.

At that time, I had a bit of a fixed mindset. However, it only took me a short time to buy into the whole growth mindset concept. I thought it was just another professional development that the district had set up to check a box. It stood't until I received my class roster that I decided to give it a try. Twelve out of 19 students in my class had either an IEP or a 504. Each of the 12 students had individual needs to be taken into account daily.

I knew that year would be one of the most challenging years for my students and me. So I decided to give the growth mindset thought process a try. That year I made sure to say things like "I like your thinking" instead of "good job" or "I like the way you...,". When students would say, "I don't know how to do this." I would always correct them with, "You don't know how to do that yet."

I explained to my students that it wasn't because they were not capable when they didn't understand a concept. It was because they had not learned it yet. We even watched the Sesame Street video the power of yet with Janae Monae several times! Often when they would get frustrated, I would sing the tunes of the Yet song to them. Eventually, as the year went on, most of them believed they were capable of learning. A couple of my shyest students opened up and started to participate and answer questions during class discussions.

In conclusion, it is evident that a growth mindset leads to greater success than a fixed mindset. A growth mindset allows people to learn from their mistakes and grow as individuals, while a fixed mindset leads to stagnation and frequent failure. It is important for students and teachers to understand the difference between these two mindsets in order to create the ideal learning environment.

The power of "yet" is just that…POWERFUL! Yet it gives hope!