Early Impact
Growth Mindset encourages students to seek out challenges and asks teachers to allow students to struggle to overcome them. However, sometimes the thought of struggling can be more frightening to students than the challenges themselves.
How do we help students who are struggling with this struggle?
Kerry Ann Murphy on “Letting Students Struggle”
One of the biggest lessons for me as a teacher was to learn that “It’s okay to struggle.” I thought I understood the message and was able to share it with my students, but when it came time for me to model the message, I realized it was more challenging than I thought.
It can be difficult for us as teachers to refrain from jumping in to help our students when we see them struggling, especially when we feel that time is ticking. But how can we teach them that “It’s okay to struggle” if we don’t actually let them struggle? When we teach our students strategies for facing challenges, they can become independent learners, perhaps struggling at first, but using strategies to become successful, all in their own time…and that is perfectly okay.
Need to Struggle
In this clip, teachers discuss the surprising results of leaving students alone and letting them struggle.
Student Reactions
In the clip, students discuss their first reactions to Growth Mindset and explain how it has helped them change.
Dámaris Ramirez on “Unexpected Challenges”
An unexpected challenge was having students shift their thinking from frustration as a negative mindset, to an understanding that they were productively struggling towards a goal. I realized how hard it was for me to allow this struggle to happen and not just ‘rescue’ them.
Yet allowing myself to simultaneously learn how to live Growth Mindset with my students, offered an outcome that was empowering! Students supported each other through actionable steps and were looking for new challenges. The unexpected challenge became an unexpected victory!
Harder Than We Thought
Growth Mindset isn’t simple to implement. In this clip, teachers discuss how their expectations were wrong and how they handled the frustration of early growing pains.