Tips for cultivating a growth mindset as a teacher

As a teacher educator and instructional designer for professional learning and development, I consistently feel discouraged by the lack of a culture of critical reflection built on a high-quality professional conversation with colleagues.

My role as a teacher educator helps me to keep a close pulse on researched informed trends in teacher learning and development.

Over the past years, I have come to the frightening conclusion that a teacher’s mindset and professional learning are tightly interconnected. Together they form two sides of a triangle.

The third side of this triangle is often overlooked but is also integral to professional development which is embracing professional learning rigour and practices that yield a positive impact.

The lenses through which you seek out new experiences, and feedback and embrace change determine the extent to which you can confidently evolve, discover new career paths and even exceed your goals in the process is important.

Why Growth Mindset?

A “growth mindset,” as Dweck calls it, is pretty much exactly what it sounds like: a tendency to believe that you can grow. In her book Mindset: The New Psychology of Success, she explains that while a “fixed mindset” assumes that our character, intelligence, and creative ability are static given that we can’t change in any meaningful way, a growth mindset thrives on challenge and sees failure “not as evidence of unintelligence but as a heartening springboard for growth and for stretching our existing abilities.”

Developing a growth mindset as a teacher can have a positive impact on your learning and professional growth, as well as on your students.

With a growth mindset, you approach challenges as opportunities for growth and improvement, rather than as threats to your abilities.

This can lead you to expand more innovative teaching strategies, better professional relationships, and create a positive outlook for your career.

Additionally, when you embrace a growth mindset as a teacher, you help foster the same perspective in your students, leading to a more motivated and resilient student body.

Below are Five Ways to get you started with Growth Mindset:

1. Embracing challenges and failures as opportunities for learning and growth
2. Seeking out new experiences and projects that push beyond current skill sets
3. Engaging in continuous learning through courses, workshops, or attending events
4. Receiving constructive feedback and using it to improve
5. Seeking out mentors and coaches for guidance and support
   Collaborating with colleagues and peers to share knowledge and expertise