Educators and parents want their kids to seek challenges and persist through difficulty—but so often, they don't. It's all too familiar: John always takes the easy way out; Angel gives up at the first sign of difficulty; Anna falls apart when she gets a disappointing grade.
Of course, struggling students are especially vulnerable to helplessness and fear of failure. But even high-performing kids fall prey to test anxiety, or avoid that one subject that fills them with dread. Why does this happen? And what can we do about it?
The sad truth is that many students feel very vulnerable in school. For lots of kids, school is above all a place where they are tested and judged—often publicly—and where they feel inadequate. Sometimes, this vulnerability extends to the home, especially if parents place a very high value on perfect performance or are intolerant of failure. It's not what we intend, but it's what they experience.
The good news is that it's within our power to change this, if we know the keys to creating a risk-tolerant home and classroom culture.
We often toggle between the two ends of the fixed-to-growth mindset spectrum. Despite where we fall on the spectrum, one thing we each have the power to do is move into a growth mindset zone. Training your mindset to move into the growth mindset space can change your life.
My growth mindset journey began 5 years ago when I started co-teaching with Jenn Maichin, a veteran growth mindset practitioner and Mindset Works Professional Learning Specialist. At the time I knew nothing about Jenn’s teaching philosophy. I felt excited but nervous; if I only knew that I would grow so much as a teacher that year.
As a teacher, we teach students how to think about their own thinking. This is a strategy used when learning how to read and comprehend the story on a deeper level and is commonly called metacognition. I use this technique a lot when reflecting on my own life and goals.
We know you want to keep your kids busy during this tumultuous time. Many teachers and parents are scrambling to find academic materials, but are finding that students also need to learn how to be independent learners and persevere through challenges.
First, let me start by saying: Read this blog. Don’t read this blog. Save it for later. Or make it disappear forever. Your choice. We all have decisions and choices to make right now. Small, big, life changing. Decision fatigue is real. Rapid change is here.