Growth Mindset: The Power Of The Word “YET”
Mindset plays an integral part in a child’s education. It affects how they perceive their experiences and often has a significant impact on whether or not they are successful. The two main types of mindset are growth mindset and fixed mindset.
Growth Mindset
When you break it down to its simplest definition, a growth mindset is believing that while you may not be the best at something yet, you will get there eventually. The key for growth mindset is the word “yet.” The power of yet lets students know that they have not mastered the content yet, but they are on their way. It’s a positive way to look at failure and teaches students that it is okay not to be perfect all the time.
Fixed Mindset
The opposite of a growth mindset is a fixed mindset. A student who has a fixed mindset gets stuck on failures. They believe that they will never get it because they did not do it perfectly the first time. Students with a fixed mindset often struggle in school because they feel that they are not successful. They don’t believe they can learn from failure and give up if things don’t go the way they want.
Benefits of a Growth Mindset
There are many advantages to having a growth mindset:
• Allows students to improve upon weaknesses
• Provides opportunities to embrace challenges
• Teaches students to value the process versus the end result
• Emphasizes growth
Improve Weaknesses
With the power of yet, students can take their weaknesses and improve upon them. It is essential to have children reflect on what they did not do well and develop a plan on how they will do better next time. Teach them to say phrases like, “I’m not good at using commas, yet.” Then discuss with them what they can do to improve on their comma usage for next time.
Embrace Challenges
Students with a fixed mindset do not want to do anything that is challenging because they are concerned they will fail. A growth mindset and the power of yet allow students to embrace challenges, knowing that they can plan how to improve if they don’t do well. Allowing children to do challenging tasks can be a great way to develop their confidence in themselves. Even if they do not do well, they will learn important lessons and can make improvements and try again.
Value the process
Many students focus on the end product and not the process that got them there. This is a result of a fixed mindset. The child only sees that their final product was not received well and does not consider anything they learned along the way. Students with a growth mindset find joy in the process and make improvements to try to enhance their final product. Even if the end product isn’t exactly what they wanted, they can take what they learned from the process and apply it to their next project.
Emphasize Growth
The power of yet emphasizes the growth of the student. A growth mindset allows students to take their failures or weaknesses and turn them into strengths. Being able to improve themselves at a young age will help prepare students for life outside of school. The power of yet plays a massive part in a student’s successful growth mindset. Teaching students that it is okay not to be perfect every time and emphasizing the desire to improve, will help them be successful in school and beyond.
At Futures Academy, we embrace and teach a growth mindset. We utilize cutting-edge research from the fields of positive psychology, neuroscience, evolutionary biology, and beyond. We teach our students the researched-based principles of how learning works so they can improve their study habits, manage stress, overcome obstacles, approach homework successfully, and meet deadlines. We also provide a variety of workshops and opportunities for students to develop the habits proven to increase happiness. Our goal is for your student to learn to work independently and to adopt the behaviors and actions that are proven to lead to happiness.
Contact us today for more information at https://www.futures.edu/request-information.
