Mindset: A primer post

I’m helping to leading a Faculty Learning Community (FLC) on campus around the book Mindset: The new psychology of success by Carol Dweck.  The book was first published in 2006 but is being revisited by a lot of educational institutions as a way to jump start more student-centered instruction.  Our FLC has met a few times already and we’re really seeing a lot ways that Dweck’s work communicates to the roles that instructors play in students’ success.  This week, I thought I’d assemble some of the Mindset resources we’ve shared in our FLC and some of the ones I’ve come across over the years.

What is Mindset?  If you’re new to the mindset concept and wondering where to get started, this site is a treasure trove of resources to provide a great first step.

Who Gets to Graduate?  This is an article that appeared in the New York Times Magazine a few years ago and really showed the power of adopting a growth mindset at the institutional level.  The article is a little long but rich with ways that institutions are incorporating the growth mindset holistically.  The study that focuses on the impact of different messages in pre-orientation videos is particularly powerful.

Resources for Teaching Growth Mindset:  Edutopia has adopted mindset as one of its focus areas and has assembled loads of great materials to help educators incorporate the growth mindset in their teaching.  The section on giving better feedback to students can be really eye-opening, even for experienced educators.

Developing a Growth Mindset in Teachers and Staff:  This is another resource from Edutopia but focuses on more administrative processes that can help to foster the growth mindset in departments and schools.

Recognizing and Overcoming a False Growth Mindset:  Mindset definitely has some detractors.  While I think some people balk at the concept itself, other have trouble with how growth mindset is used (and misused) by educators.  In this Edutopia article from earlier this year, Dweck herself addresses these head on.

Nurturing Growth Mindset: Six Tips from Carol Dweck: This appeared in a recent Education Week and discussed Dweck’s keynote address at the Leaders to Learn From event in Washington, DC.    The tips can help provide some comfort for those of us who are still struggling with our own fixed mindsets.  Dweck identifies that we all have fixed mindsets sometimes and that we should recognize these and “name it, claim it and talk about it.”

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