Dive Brief:

• For Edutopia, researchers Donna Wilson and Marcus Conyers outline key strategies that teachers can use to help students develop a growth mindset and unlock all its related benefits.
• They recommend modeling “practical optimism” — by pointing out examples of being optimistic and having it pay off and sharing examples of overcoming learning obstacles — as well as teaching students strategies for increasing their own attention spans.
• Wilson and Conyers further recommend having students create and continually refer back to success files, using formative assessments to track student progress, and letting students take some control over their own learning by choosing projects that personally interest them.

Dive Insight:

A growth mindset is critical for students to practice perseverance. All students will eventually find something challenging, and making sure they recognize initial failure is not a reflection of their capacity can ensure continued engagement until they succeed.

Not only do students need to develop a growth mindset, however, teachers need reflect their own belief in the growth mindset for their students. Implicit biases on the part of teachers routinely get in the way of high expectations for students, which in turn limits student expectations for themselves. While race is commonly cited as a trigger for low expectations, teachers should also be careful about how they think about students because of class, gender and ability. Professional development can help teachers confront all of these internalized biases and improve the learning environment for students.