I have written and talked about growth mindset in length before. However, developing a school and learners that are deep into growth mindset is nevertheless a sprint. It is a marathon, slow and steady is the mantra here.
Having a growth mindset means developing various attitudes (which I call Infinite Possibilities Manifestos in my book Infinite Possibilities) towards learning and life as a whole. If you are not familiar with the concept of growth mindset, the chart below is a great resource for a quick overview.
In this article, I would like to talk about one particular attitude – how to develop an attitude in your students to embrace challenges.
What does “embracing challenges” mean in a school environment?
The word “challenge” brings different emotions and images to people’s minds. I was curious about it and asked some people what do they think as challenges. I got responses such as “riding a roller coaster”, “going on a solo trip”, “being home alone”, “giving a speech” to “dancing.”
It’s time to look at “challenges” in a different light. You see many people perceive challenges as the hardest things they face in their life. But guess what? Challenges do not need to be the biggest or the scariest challenges you can think of. Of course they are challenges. But, it is conquering the less arduous challenges that lead to developing the attitude for confronting bigger challenges.
So as educators what can you do to develop that mindset and attitude for embracing challenges in your students? What I would suggest you to start with is the “Daily Challenges” activity.
Daily Growth Mindset Challenges Activity
This is what you can do. At beginning of every period, ask your students
What is the challenge you want to take in the class today?
Use this question to let your students know that taking challenges is an everyday affair. That leads to the question, what consists of challenges in a classroom?
Something one student perceives as a challenge may not be a challenge for another student.
You can find some of the challenges in the infographic below. You may paste copies of this infographic in your classroom and ask your students to choose their challenge for the day. You may download a copy of it here.
Benefits for the students
Once you make “Daily Challenges’ a daily habit in your classrooms, you will see many benefits. Many teachers have told me that those benefits go beyond the learning time.
- Responsibility: They become responsible for their own actions and behaviours in the class
- Taking challenges is normal and it doesn’t need to be big
- Achieving small breakthroughs: Sense of achievement within a short-period which could positively impact their self-confdence
- “I have the power”: Students feel that they have the power to transform their mental strength, behaviours and attitudes for a better outcome.
- Self-belief and self-motivation
- Setting goals and work towards achieving those
Do you use “Daily Challenges” in your classroom? What are the effects that you see in the classroom? I am excited to know the way you did it, the changes you observed and the challenges you faced in adopted this. Leave a comment below.
Don’t forget to read these articles too on growth mindset
5 Strategies Good Teachers Adopt to Provide Effective Feedback to Students
The secret ingredient that makes our children future-ready
14 things a teacher with a growth mindset doesn’t do
Shooting in the self created darkness: A growth mindset story
How To Boost Academics By Growing Growth Mindset
Have you read my latest book Infinite Possibilities: Unlock your real potential with the secret recipes from superachievers? It comes with 10 case studies, 11 manifestos and 55 steps to unleash your own real potential by boosting your growth mindset. Furthermore, it will show you how you can apply Infinite Possibilities in your personal, professional and academic lives. You can get a copy of it here or at Amazon for yourself, your team, your student or child.
After reading this article, could you please do the three simple steps below?
- Share this article with your friends and colleagues, so that they too are aware of this amidst their busy schedules.
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- Do you have any insights or tips that you use? Would you like to share that? Please use the comments section below and let me know!
You can find another version of this article here.
Have you read Sindu Sreebhavan’s latest book Infinite Possibilities? You can find it here.
Share this article with your friends and colleagues, so that they too are aware of this amidst their busy schedules.
Do you have any insights or tips that you use? Would you like to share that? Please use the comments section below and let us know!
© 2020, Sindu Sreebhavan. All rights reserved.
About Sindu Sreebhavan
Sindu Sreebhavan is the founder of As Many Minds Minds Pte Ltd and the founding Chief Editor of The Kidz Parade Edutainment magazine, Asia's premium publication for cultivating creativity and creative writing in children. Sindu is also the founder and the Chairperson of International Youth Leadership and Innovation Forum (IYLIF). Sindu is the author of 'Infinite Possibilities' and the lead co-author of Amazon bestseller 'Breakthrough'. With a passion to infuse innovation in education and inject growth mindset and innovative mindset in people and organisations, Sindu writes, speaks and consults on innovation and creativity in business and education. She says innovation does not start with invention, it starts with a mindset. “The best gift you can give a child is the power of Confidence, Creativity and Communication” is her tagline. She is passionate about educating educators, parents and children about youth development, youth leadership, education innovation and 21st century education. She supports children, parents, schools and several organisations in these areas.
