As part of my professional learning this year I am involved in a book study on Mindset by Carol S. Dweck. It is early in my learning, but it is becoming clear to me that I have to work on building a growth mindset. I have to make a swift in the way I think and react to things. And that all means that my brain is going to have to start working out if I want to reach a growth mindset.
The purpose of my training will be so that I can instill and develop a growth mindset in the students and teachers that I work with. My first several workout are going to be about really understanding what it is to have a growth mindset. I have discovered that I didn't have a clear picture of what it was exactly to have a growth mindset. My first thought when I was hearing about developing a growth mindset in students was that it was about building relationships with students. It was about taking the time to get to know the students, greeting them in the hallways, showing them respect in and out of the classroom and truly taking an interest in their lives. While this is definitely and important part of education, I realize now that this is NOT what it means to develop a growth mindset. Growth mindset is about changing the way I look at failure. It's about taking the risk of writing a blog post that is out there on the line for the whole wide world to read. It's about stretching both my body and mind to reach for more. To brush myself off and try again when I get knocked down. It's not that I can't do it, it is that I can't do it yet!
Recently, I have been challenged even more to develop a growth mindset. As I further my own learning by taking additional classes, I have been challenged in my current class to develop a personal learning network with the help of social media. This is hard for me as I have always been a very private person, and to put myself out there on Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest has been hard for me. But I am learning and trying to take risks. It is all about working my brain to become a better educator and coach.
