This past week I started reading Dr. Carol S. Dweck’s book “Mindset: the new psychology of success” and it really opened my mind to the benefits of teaching/learning the growth mindset. The chapters I have read so far have been very interesting and Dr. Dweck writes as if she is having a conversation with you, so her writing is easy to read.

Dr. Dweck believes that you can have two mindsets in life- fixed and growth. A fixed mindset means you define yourself as one thing and believe that you are unable to change. For example, if you have a fixed mindset and you don’t get the job that you applied for, you would believe that you are incapable of ever getting a job in that field and that you should just give up now. In contrast, someone with a growth mindset would see that failure as an opportunity to improve and grow as an individual.

In chapter 1 Dr. Dweck recalls one of her old teachers who used to categorize/treat her students differently based on their IQ test scores. I found this horrifying to read and I really empathized with her students. This is a perfect example of teaching a fixed mindset because it teaches students that they can only be one thing and are incapable of change.

I highly recommend this book to any future/current educator because it really opens your mind to how important it is to teach kids to lead life with a growth mindset. Still confused about growth/fixed mindsets? Try this video.