Cultivate Growth Mindsets: Reflect on the Failures and Successes of Learning Something New
It’s only when you risk failure that you discover things. When you play it safe, you’re not expressing the utmost of your human experience.
– Lupita Nyong’o
INTRO
Challenge students to learn something new. Develop a space within classrooms to celebrate and reflect on the failures and successes in learning something new. This is a great opportunity to focus on and practice effort-based learning and disrupt fixed mindset habits.
KNOW skills and behaviors include classic content knowledge and skills in core subject areas such as reading, writing, and math. It is not enough to have students learn high-quality content, they need to understand that success at learning content is a function of their effort much more than aptitude.
OBJECTIVES
- Foster students’ growth mindset development by creating a brave space in which failure is embraced as a means for success.
ACTIVITY
- Challenge students to learn something new.
- Develop a space within classrooms, or in a common area such as a display board, to celebrate and reflect on the failures and successes in learning something new.
- This is a great opportunity to focus on, and practice, effort-based learning and disrupt fixed mindset habits.
TIPS
- Little Things are smaller efforts you can do tomorrow, or within the next week or so.
- While these quick and easy practices can produce big impacts, remember, this is not a quick fix: You’re establishing schoolwide changes that should better serve all students for years to come
- Like this activity? Check out Inflexion’s full-page KNOW document for more ideas.
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