Growth Mindset Blog

Kathryn D. Cramer, Ph.D. is an author, speaker, and coach who helps people reframe their experiences and thoughts into a more growth-minded view. She calls it Asset-Based Thinking (ABT). We asked Kathy to share her ideas with the Growth Mindset Community. Her views and advice on feedback and mistakes add another layer to what we are learning about mindsets.

Kathy's Message

Asset-Based Thinking (ABT) means to look at yourself and the world through the eyes of what is working, what strengths are present, and what the potentials are. Conversely, deficit-based thinking means to look at yourself and the world in terms of what is not working, what is lacking, and the gaps between where you are and where you want to be.

With ABT you are more ready and able to Magnify What's Best in other people. When you can see and say what is best – strong, useful or valuable – in someone else, the person feels worthwhile in your eyes and the trust between you grows.

By Emily Diehl, Mindset Works educator consultant

Arriving with the implementation of the Common Core State Standards in 45 U.S. states is tremendous pressure for schools to get results and to be masters of the Core as quickly as possible.  Invoking the Growth Mindset as we accept the challenge of the Core standards will help our schools maintain the momentum and stamina we need to develop expertise.

How can schools set themselves up to cultivate Common Core experts?  None of us is currently an expert in the CCSS.  Expertise will emerge with classroom practice and experience implementing these standards with real students.  It will emerge with the willingness to take responsible risks and to participate in collective reflection.  It will emerge with strong collaboration and compassionate patience.  These qualities are only gained in a risk-tolerant system through strategic, purposeful effort which includes timely, formative feedback.

Risk Tolerance

3.3 million teachers will be asked to change their practices, routines, and lessons this year to align with the Common Core State Standards.  That is a staggering number when you think about that many Americans essentially experiencing a major job change at the same time!

It is inevitable that with all this change, some of us will fail.  We will mess it up.  We will get it wrong and forget some essential component (of a standard, a lesson, a concept).  Our central offices will mess up too.  Trainings will go awry, resources arrive late, and support will be well-intentioned, but spotty.  Are we prepared to tolerate this process and allow ourselves to take the necessary responsible risks to LEARN and grow?

I hope so.

Mindset at Work

Click the link below to view a sample lesson from Elk Grove, CA.  Have your students work together to write a class motto that helps them remember the Growth Mindset.

Growth Mindset Lesson: Class Motto

If you teach this lesson, consider entering your work in our 16th Growth Minded Educator Contest or email us to let us know how it goes at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

by Emily Diehl, Mindset Works Educator Consultant

We lead because we have a passion for our work. But leading in a complex system can get confusing, overwhelming, and discouraging sometimes. Rather than resort to seductively easy ways to manage there are times we can choose to truly lead, capture people's hearts, and reignite passion!

I guest-teach in an intervention class twice a week and my partner always tells the students: "You can choose the behavior, but what you cannot choose is the consequences of that behavior." This absolutely applies to leaders as well.  In school improvement, decision-making that results in change is very challenging to execute. Plus, that challenge is compounded by the sheer number of decisions that we must make every day.

Understandably, sometimes we aren't making the most growth-minded choices. After all, we still have to get the work done! Leaders often have to make strategic choices in managing and leading because decisions need to be made, deadlines met, and students placed in classes. At the same time, it is important to know the consequences of those choices. If leaders are hyper-aware of the likely consequences of their decisions, then a fixed-minded choice can be turned in to a growth minded one at a later date, upon reflection, and with a cooler head.

By Kathleen Kryza, Infinite Horizons  www.kathleenkryza.com

As a national consultant and coach, I have been on a personal mission to promote teaching kids about growth mindsets all over the country (and world!). Since first hearing Carol Dweck speak about her powerful research at a KIPP conference many years ago, I have committed to working with teachers to help them find doable ways to bring growth mindset practices into the daily world of their classrooms.

The model my co-authors, Alicia Duncan and Joy Stephens, and I created to support teachers is to help students feel, talk about, see and own Growth Mindsets. Of course, the wonderful schools and teachers I work with have taken our ideas and made them better! In this article, I'd like to share what Alicia's been doing with her 7th grade classes to help them feel their mindsets. These activities help launch the growth-mindset talk that will happen throughout the rest of the year.

Alicia intentionally spent the beginning of this school year building Growth Mindsets into her daily classroom instruction. Since her students learn in varied ways, she offered them experiences that helped them learn about their own mindsets by having them feel their mindsets and change their self-talk into growth-mindset talk. Her goal is to help her students develop the internal messages needed for successful learning in her classroom.