Having a Growth Mindset

Thank you for the warm welcome you gave me last Friday. I really enjoyed our discussion. I hope you did too.

One of the takeaways from class for me was the importance of maintaining a growth mindset over the course of not only your internship year, but your career. Indeed, of your life. 

Certainly, there are going to be days where we are just happy to survive. Just finishing seems like a victory. As Roseanne Barr once said, “I feel that if the kids are still alive when my husband gets home from work, then hey, I've done my job.” We might sometimes feel the same way as teachers.

But we have to do more than survive. Or to put it more clearly, we must both survive and grow each day of our lives. This is especially so as teachers.

Certainly, in the job interview situation, one question we will receive will key in on this issue. The question will want to know how we came to improve in some area of our practice. 

I suggested that the ideal way to answer this question is  by framing it in positive terms. Something you have come to see as both as an area for growth and as something have gotten very good at. I think framing it this ways helps show that you live within a growth mindset.

If you talk about something you were not good at and were forced, through a situation, to deal with, then it perhaps suggests to me that you are not seeing that the maintenance of growth is the central calling of the profession. 

Having a growth mindset means you are pro-active, it means that you are constantly looking for ways to get better. It means that you are not just passively reacting to what is happening to you, but that you are taking responsibility for shaping your classroom into the most inspiring learning community it can be. 

Answering questions in a positive way demonstrates that you take it as a given that getting better is simply part of the job. That you expect yourself and your students to get better each day. That you don’t need someone watching over you in order for you to be a fellow journeyer on the path toward excellence.

One of the central goals of TE 801 and TE 803 is to help you develop such a growth mindset. We want you to see that you have some control over most situations that take place in your classroom. That though the laws of social interdependence, you are a part of every student behavior. That your own growth as a teacher can also create optimal growth opportunities for your students.

Your central assignment for this semester is the Case Study project. In it,  you have the opportunity to document for yourself and your future colleagues what a growth mindset looks like in your own life. You will have the opportunity to demonstrate the resourcefulness you can bring to helping others in their own educational journeys.

As you think about the student whom  you might want to focus on this semester, consider a wide range of possibilities. There are many ways to think about this. Here are some questions you might ask yourself, just to see if the answers surprise you or help clarify anything. What students are the last that tend to come to your mind when you think of a class? What students seem most open to your influence and assistance as a teacher? Which students are most like you when you were in high school--and which are the most different? 

Remember that you will email me the proposed subject of your Case Study by Saturday, January 24. In about a page of text, you will “frame the case” by telling me about the student, your relationship to the student, what you hope to learn by studying this student, and why this is important to you. I hope you will involve both your field instructor and your mentor teacher in this discussion.

Please let me know if you have any questions! Have a great week!

Kyle