Mindset Strategies

Being Mindful of Mindset

It's helpful to be aware of your own mindset when trying to encourage others. Sometimes, as we try to relate to them, the language we use about ourselves can send signals. Even if we are trying to encourage a student to develop a Growth Mindset, talking to them as though we believe they have the ability to improve, comments that reflect a Fixed Mindset about our own abilities can undermine our message.

It's also important to cultivate a Growth Mindset about teaching. No matter how well trained we are or how much experience we have, things will not be perfect. If a lesson or an interaction doesn't go well, try to see it as an opportunity to learn and improve in the future rather than proof that you're "not cut out" for teaching.

When trying to gauge someone's mindset, phrases like these can indicate more of a Fixed Mindset:

• "I'm not a hardware person."

• "I'm bad at math."

• "I don't like writing papers."

• "I could never debug that as quickly as you just did."

Phrases like these can indicate more of a Growth Mindset:

• "I don't have much experience with hardware yet."

• "With time and effort, I can get better at math."

• "I haven't liked writing papers in the past, but I think I'll have a better experience once I've practiced more."

• "Do you have any advice for learning to debug as quickly as you do?"

Phrases to use when helping students

One key component of developing more of a Growth Mindset is to not let the results of an individual activity lead to an assessment of a person as a whole, focusing more on the effort than the person and emphasizing the potential for future improvement.

Rather than saying "You're getting good at this," you could say "I know you worked really hard on this, and I can see your effort paid off."

Rather than saying "The way you do things is inefficient," you could say "If you'd like, I can show you ways to make this more efficient next time."

Rather than saying "You don't understand this concept," you could say "What you need to do in this assignment might be clearer if we take a step back and review this concept."