As a teacher, you look to evolve various classroom strategies. Like every other teacher, you too wish to create a conducive learning environment for your students. You want your students to value learning and meet their learning objectives with integrity. Having said that, you emphasize a lot on classroom management and student engagement. You look for novel measures to optimize these fundamentals consistently. You will be glad to know that you can attain greater success in these pursuits by promoting the idea of a growth mindset in the classroom.

Before your students understand the notion of a growth mindset, it is vital that you have a clear idea of it. Once you understand its meaning, significance, and prowess, you can relate it to your teaching objectives. You can look forward to developing a growth mindset for your career success and promoting the same among your students for theirs. So, let us shed some light on the concept of growth mindsets.

What is a growth mindset?

The essence of growth mindsets is quite easy to comprehend. When an individual has a growth mindset, they have a staunch belief that talents and intelligence can be developed. They have faith in the fact that they can develop their abilities with hard work and dedication. Furthermore, they propagate the belief that with challenges, effective strategies, and persistence, people can build capabilities and achieve their goals. To put it in other words, growth mindsets challenge the idea that intelligence and talent are natural and cannot be changed.

This is the kind of attitude and mindset you want your students to have. In fact, this is what you should aim for at a personal level too. With a growth mindset, you can overcome teaching challenges in a positive way like a pro. Along similar lines, you can prepare your students for future challenges by promoting growth mindsets among them. By promoting growth mindsets, you can align various classroom management goals. This blog highlights the merits of endorsing a growth mindset as a part of classroom strategies. Let us unlock the fascinating world of growth mindsets without much ado!

Advantages of promoting growth mindsets in the classroom

1. Growth mindsets inspire study motivationAs per the National Center for Biotechnology Information, U.S, growth mindsets are linked to intrinsic motivation. Having developed a growth mindset, a student can feel a greater sense of self-determination and hence greater study motivation. As an educator, helping students stay motivated is one of the prominent challenges you face. But by endorsing growth mindset interventions in the classroom, you can fix this issue. You can rather assist them in their struggles to sustain incessant study motivation, especially in subjects like science or maths.Enhanced study motivation will further optimize academic results. Motivation will lead to improved concentration spans and will encourage students to meet academic goals. Students will be able to manage their distractions well and would not have to look outside for motivation. Having a growth mindset will make them realize that their source of motivation lies inside them. That is how the conceptualization of intrinsic motivation works, after all. Students will feel motivation gushing through them. This will further encourage them to align their interests with classroom and learning objectives. As a teacher, you have more than half of your tasks sorted! All that you need to care for is imparting quality education then.
2. Growth mindsets will help students build a strong characterStudents often feel deterred when they are faced with challenges. Most of them would rather quit than fight the challenge down the wire. One common example of this scenario is seen in some students’ fear or reluctance of mathematics. They are so frightened of mathematics that they look to make career choices that involve no use of mathematical fundamentals. However, those who have growth mindsets are different. Individuals with growth mindsets have a strong character marked by undying resilience.By developing growth mindsets, students will not feel deterred by challenges. They would rather develop a knack for embracing challenges. Imagine how conducive and engaged a classroom will be wherein students look forward to challenges rather than being scared of them. Be it mathematics, physics, or accounts; students will accept the challenge wholeheartedly and give their best to accomplish their objectives. This will be the case because students with growth mindsets will have uncompromising faith in the abilities of hard work and persistence. They will know that they can surmount any hurdle with willingness and effort. Such characters among your students will become the change bearers in the near future!
3. Growth mindsets promote optimism in studentsWhen students feel a sense of self-motivation and will be open to new challenges, by default, they will feel far more optimistic than before. Growth mindsets promote positivity among individuals. Students with growth mindset intervention will know that they can achieve their objectives with challenges and hard work. With this realization, they will be able to counter the negative thoughts arising in their heads. They will be able to battle the negative influences and sustain positivity driven by self-confidence.Such optimism will prove pivotal when students deal with complex subjects. In subjects like physics, organic chemistry, or accounts, students are often underconfident. They are driven by pessimist thoughts that these subjects will take the better of them. In fact, in concepts like ideation and design thinking in STEM learning, students strive hard for positivity. But with a growth mindset, their perceptions and perspectives will change. They will rather view those aspects as opportunities that others will look at as hurdles. Based on this overwhelming optimism, students will be able to bring out the best efficiency in them and prove their mettle. In fact, such radiating positivity will influence others in the classroom, too, including you. As long as your students are optimistic, they can achieve anything they desire with the right amount of effort.
4. Growth mindsets will foster learning curiosityCuriosity is one of the most effective active learning strategies promoting greater student engagement. When students are eager to learn, they are happy to go beyond their comfort zone to grasp knowledge. In fact, it is an undeniable fact that all great stories and inventions start from curious endeavours. Students will become more curious to learn from multiple sources when they have growth mindsets. They will be driven by the enlightenment that they can augment their intelligence with learning and hard work.Having said that, they will become consistent learners. Apart from this consistency, they will be keen to explore new dimensions of learning to build their intelligence. So, the overall impact will be such that students will become persistent and curious learners. This will streamline active learning objectives and amplify student engagement in the classroom. Greater student engagement will further satisfy various parameters of classroom management. When students are eager to learn, they will not indulge in disruptive behaviours. Moreover, of course, better engagement will yield better academic results.
5. Growth mindsets stimulate healthy competition among studentsEventually, a growth mindset will promote healthy competition among students. Students will feel inspired when they see their fellow classmates do well in academics. When even one student starts believing in the power of growth mindsets, a template will be set for the entire class. The students will find the classroom environment conducive where they see their classmates improve their academic performance with continuous hard work. In the ultimate sense, students will find inspiration in each other.To add, such scenarios will drive healthy competitiveness in the class. Students would not want to pull each other down but rather raise the bar looking at others. Having such an environment in the classroom is essential to student engagement and the performance of students. Fostering healthy competition among students can be a worthwhile classroom management strategy. In this pursuit, as a teacher, you can leverage the power of growth mindsets.

To encapsulate, growth mindset interventions can prove to be a powerful classroom tool. As an educator, you can add more value to classroom management by endorsing growth mindsets. In fact, it can turn out to be a unique and performance-driven active learning strategy. Moreover, as a teacher, your objective is not limited to assisting your students in academic achievements. You rather want that your students should attain greater success in the future, bring positive changes in their surroundings and make you proud. By promoting growth mindset interventions in your students, you prepare them for future accomplishments as well. You help them develop a resilient character that is open to new challenges and values hard work. In the course of it, academic achievements will come along by default.

Happy teaching,

Jessica Robinson