It was shortly after finals when I received a call from Sarah.* No, she wasn’t inquiring about her final grade. Rather, she wanted me to send her the short video I had shown on the first day of class that semester—a video about the growth mindset.

“Why didn’t I know about this sooner?” Sarah asked. “I feel like this should be shown in all schools,” she said.

That’s a great question, I thought.

A Prerequisite for Learning

All too often I meet students who have never been taught how to be successful learners. Before I can ask them to master the material I’m about to present, I have to teach them the mindset that’s a prerequisite for learning. That’s why in all my classes, I open the semester by talking about the growth mindset.

In Mindset: A New Psychology of Success, psychologist Carol Dweck coins the term “growth mindset.” She distinguishes the “growth mindset” from the “fixed mindset” as they represent different ends of the spectrum of our beliefs about learning and intelligence.

Those with a fixed mindset believe that their intelligence is fixed; at a certain age, intelligence can no longer be changed. Those with a growth mindset recognize that the brain is highly elastic, and we can continue to grow, learn, and change across the lifespan.

Since the discovery of neuroplasticity, we know that the fixed mindset is simply a false and limiting belief. Nonetheless, it is the predominant belief held by many. Therefore, before I teach my students how to write a research paper or how to read Shakespeare, I ask them to learn how to learn.

Language as a Vehicle to Success

First, I teach them about the growth mindset. I talk to them about the importance of using language to set themselves up for success. An unfavorable grade isn’t a “failure.” Rather, it’s a “challenge.” Indeed, we naturally learn through trial and error. Then, I illustrate how the growth mindset can practically be applied in our course.

I present them with a scenario: Let’s say you receive your first essay back, and the grade you receive was not what you wanted. Now, if you have a fixed mindset, you might say something like, “Well, I knew I wasn’t the best at writing, anyhow.”

Yet, if you have a growth mindset, you would look at the comments I left on your essay and outline a plan with concrete steps to work on for next time. For instance, if my comments advise you to work on your grammar and organization, you would break down how you’re going to do that for the next paper. Perhaps you will add in 30 minutes of extra study time per week on grammar, or you may start to read sample essays and dissect them to focus on how they are organized.

By the time you receive the next paper with comments, you’re successful if you’ve made progress. If not, it’s back to the plan. This time, you may want to ask me what I would suggest to help improve your grammar and organization, or you may want to seek additional help at The Learning Center.

Adding Relevance Through Goal Setting

After we speak about the growth mindset and I introduce the course content, I ask each student to write 2-3 goals for the semester related to their writing, reading, and/or critical thinking skills. I ask them to look at the bigger picture and connect their goals to their future career or graduate school. This helps make the material relevant to them.

Then, I ask the students to break those goals down further into process goals, which are the habits that help them reach their main goals. For instance, if a student’s main goal is to increase her vocabulary, her process goal might be to read for twenty minutes a day since reading can help increase vocabulary.

I walk them through this process with some examples, and they share what they plan to work on for the semester. Some students say they want to have a more sophisticated vocabulary so they’ll be taken seriously in their field of study, while others want to develop their analytical skills to use throughout their careers and lives.

The Growth Mindset Is a Life Skill

Throughout the semester, I inquire into their progress and help them refine their plans and process goals, as necessary. At the end of the semester, we reflect on their growth. We celebrate successes, and we see the challenges as new goals to work on moving forward.

The growth mindset is an educational skill, but it’s also a life skill. It’s how we perceive that unwanted grade, that rejection letter, or that missed opportunity. Is that a failure or a challenge?

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*I’ve changed the student’s name.