Dr. Caroline Leaf defines a mindset as, “A cluster of thoughts with attached information and emotions that generate a particular perception” (Leaf, 2018). Most educators understand that what we think affects our personal outcomes. I’d like to pose that what we think affects our students’ outcomes.
Our thoughts shape our interactions with the world…they set our expectations (Leaf, 2018).
If we perceive our students’ ability though the lens of our mindsets, then those lenses must be clear and focused. So many of our students walk around defeated, doubting their ability to ever reach success. Their brain has been wired by their environment to consistently expect a negative outcome. Their grades aren’t good enough; they can’t make the sports team; they can never keep a friend. The truth of the matter is that while they’re stuck in a negative thinking pattern, they truly can’t. Children don’t have the resources to rewire their mental habits quite like adults.
The role of the adult educator is powerful in this sense. Having access to a student for 7+ hours each day allows educators ample time to rework some negative mental habits.
Consider this- how many times have you been disappointed with a student who just “didn’t try hard enough?” You knew that student had potential. Your disappointment comes from a set of a collection of thoughts and emotions deeply wired internally. This mindset stems from the external environment when at one point, you too were that student. Someone thought that their disappointment would produce in you an alternate behavior. And it did, to an extent. To some degree, negative reactions did produce the expected behavior. However, the child sitting in front of you is not you. Their individuality is specific, and their success depends on your ability to correctly assess the situation. Instead of communicating disappointed (which can be communicated nonverbally just as much as it can verbally), take a breath. Consider that there is more to the story than them not trying. Have an intentional conversation with your student and allow them to verbally process what seems to you a “lack of trying.” You’ll be surprised to realize you didn’t know the whole story, and that what you now know will clean your lens to see more clearly.
As an educator, you have been given a gift.
This gift goes beyond teaching your lesson plans in a fixed curriculum. Consider today what mindsets you are carrying into the classroom. Is there anything that needs to be rewired?