The Power of Mindset

Recently I have been thinking about the power of one’s mindset. I have seen students accomplish great things over the years, and have been impressed by the mindset of TMS students who have reached these accomplishments.

Many years ago, I heard Carol Dweck speak on the topic of mindset at Stanford University. She was doing research on how success in school, and in life, is dramatically influenced by the way that we think about our talents and abilities. She was inspired to do this research because of her sixth-grade experience where her teacher seated the class according to their IQ scores. The students with the highest scores sat in the best seats in the front. Even though Dweck was #1, it bothered her to think that her status as a student had to do with a fixed variable that was not within her control. She wanted to understand to what extent effort and a positive attitude had to do with success in school.

Later Dweck wrote a book that many of you may have read entitled Mindset: The New Psychology of Success. In her book she describes two mindsets, a fixed mindset where one believes their IQ and abilities are already determined and are set in stone, and a growth mindset where one believes they can, through effort, cultivate abilities, change and grow. Naturally, we believe the latter at The Marin School. We work every day to help students learn and grow.

In the fall, our faculty and staff read and discussed a book that encouraged us to think about a different kind of mindset. We read The Innovator’s Mindset: Empower Learning, Unleash Talent, and Lead a Culture of Creativity by George Couros. According to Couros, to have an innovator’s mindset , one must be empathetic, a problem-solver, a risk taker, networked, observant, a creator, resilient and reflective.

As educators, we are attempting to create a culture of innovation that is described in this book. We seek to empower students, bringing out the best in them. We encourage students to engage in “big thinking” because as Wilferd Peterson says “Big thinking precedes great achievement.” In the classroom we follow Couros’s suggestions by allowing students to have a voice; have a choice in what they learn, so that their learning is relevant to their lives and fulfilling; time for reflection; opportunities for innovation, critical thinking, problem solving, and self-assessment; and to connect what they have learned to the real world. These are skills that will help students be future-ready in a complex, ever-changing world.

The power of our mindset is great. In the words of Carol Dweck “No matter what your ability is, effort is what ignites that ability and turns it into accomplishment.”