APPRECIATION #76: GROWTH MINDSET

We’re putting together a map of Africa, listening to the soundtrack of Dave Grohl’s documentary “Sound City” on vinyl, and my daughter picks up the blue racquetballs I use to juggle. She picks them up and plays with them, and she says this:

I can’t quite juggle yet. But I try.

Quite. Yet. But I try. Beautiful. She turns four this Friday.

I’m so tired of hearing: I can’t. I won’t. It’s too difficult. I’m not good at it. I can never do it. Why try?  A version of this interaction keeps being played in school after school:

“I suck at this.”

“You can get better.”

“I doubt it.”

I don’t buy it.  And that’s what a growth mindset says. The opposite of a growth mindset is a fixed one. This says you can’t improve. This says, “I’m just not good at math. I can’t stand up in front of people. I can’t spell. I’ll never be able to write. Etc.” If your abilities are fixed, this means you can’t improve. I don’t believe that our abilities are fixed. I believe we can improve.
Ye Olde GROWTH MINDSET and Carol Dweck is one of the new buzzwords and names in education (see also: GRIT), but I like it nonetheless. I can’t quite…YET. But I try. And I try because I believe that I can eventually. I believe this about my students, and that’s why I keep showing up to the classroom. 

We can learn to juggle.