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MINDSET: Fixed and Growth Mindset

 

   • Studies  reveal  that  successful  people  have  a  certain  mindset  –  growth  mindset.  • Being  aware  of  your  mindset  is  important  because  you  can  monitor  it  and  change  it.  • You  want  to  change  your  fixed  mindset  to  a  growth  mindset  because  people,  who  have  fixed  

mindsets  quit  easily,  lose  confidence,  focus  and  motivation  quickly.  It  also  makes  learning  less  effective.  

 

  The  view  that  success  is  a  result  only  is  a  narrow  view.  Successful  people  celebrate  improvement  and  see  that  as  a  sign  of  progress  and  success.  They  also  see  failure  differently  to  most  people.  For  them  failure  is  “feedback”  or  “information”  about  how  to  improve  and  get  better.  

 

So why are mindsets (how we think and what we believe) important?  

 

We need new definitions of success and failure!  

 

 

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Now  create  a  wall  poster  so  you  can  see  these  definitions  every  day  in  your  study  or  bedroom.  

 

 

1.  Fixed  Mindset.    Many  students  believe  that  intelligence  is  fixed,  that  each  person  has  a  certain  amount  and  that's  it.  This  has  been  described  as  a  fixed  mindset.  Students  with  this  mindset  worry  about  how  much  of  this  fixed  intelligence  they  possess.  A  fixed  mindset  makes  challenges  threatening  for  students  (because  they  believe  that  their  fixed  ability  may  not  be  up  to  the  task)  and  it  makes  mistakes  and  failures  upsetting  (because  they  believe  that  such  setbacks  reflect  badly  on  their  level  of  fixed  intelligence).  

 2.  Growth  Mindset.  Other  students  believe  that  intelligence  is  something  that  can  be  cultivated  through  effort  and  education.  They  don't  necessarily  believe  that  everyone  has  the  same  abilities  or  that  anyone  can  be  as  smart  as  Einstein,  but  they  do  believe  that  everyone  can  improve  their  abilities.  And  they  understand  that  even  Einstein  wasn't  Einstein  until  he  put  in  years  of  focused  hard  work.  Students  with  this  growth  mindset  believe  that  intelligence  is  a  potential  that  can  be  developed  through  learning.  As  a  result,  confronting  challenges,  learning  from  mistakes,  and  persevering  in  the  face  of  setbacks  become  ways  of  getting  smarter.  

The  table  below  is  a  summary  of  how  the  fixed  and  growth  mindset  attitude  affects  different  situations.  

Place  a  tick  or  cross  next  to  the  descriptors  in  the  table  below  that  best  describes  your  reactions.  

 

 

Write down your new definition of success and failure.

What are fixed and growth mindsets?  

 

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Situation Fixed Mindset Growth Mindset

Challenges Avoids Embraces

Obstacles Give up easily Persists in the face of setbacks

Effort Sees it as fruitless Sees it as pass to mastery

Criticism Ignores it Learns from it

Success of Others Feels threatened Finds lessons and inspiration

     

   Define  senior  school  success  in  a  growth  mindset  way  and  place  it  in  your  room.  

Action for you to take right NOW: