Developed in Carol Dweck's book, a growth mindset is the idea that we can work towards our goals. It's not so much whether or not we're good at something, because we can be not good at something yet and still be working toward it. When a student says “I can’t do this,” you need to train your students to add “yet.” The understanding needs to be that they might not yet be good at something, but that hard work can get them there and in the classroom that’s what we do: get closer to that goal, even if we still don’t achieve it. As a teacher, a key piece of this is coaching. Acting as the coach rather than the sage on the stage, listening to students and believing in them, is key to developing a culture of grit in the Next Generation model.

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When a student is simply sitting there and listening, that is below their level of skill and is therefore not challenging. Once students are out of kindergarten and first grade and have developed a certain level of personal control, they can sit in their seats. They already know how to listen; they are no longer learning skills. They need to be challenged and given an opportunity for growth in order to extend that skill set. They need to be moved back into an area of challenge for a growth mindset as rapidly as possible.

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A fixed mindset is debilitating because it prevents teachers from removing the low-level goals that take time and energy away from the things that we really need to be focusing on. Perhaps doing a life science unit in the spring can be challenging, but the challenge is the goal we set, not the life science unit itself. The life science unit is just a means to an end, and it may or may not be appropriate.

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The fixed mindset has dominated classrooms for years, but it doesn’t leave room for students to really operate as scientists and engineers as the Next Generation Science Standards require.

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