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Study asks teachers to rate their familiarity with growth mindset and most said they had a good command of the concept, but that their colleagues and administrators didn’t seem to understand growth mindset. Later, the same teachers were asked to rate the importance of various factors in the classroom, including growth mindset, motivation, engagement, and home life. The majority of the teachers rated growth mindset less important than motivation and engagement. Another survey asked the teachers to rate the importance of the tenets of growth mindset and they rated having the ability to learn from failure as highly important. There appears to be a disconnect in the way the teachers view growth mindset and the way it’s put into practice.

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Cultivating a growth mindset can help teachers embrace changes in procedures and best practices. A supportive network can help mitigate the turbulence that follows the  disruption of an old system. Leaders who respond to the needs of their specific staff and bring in experts that provide more intimate professional development will help teachers adjust to change. Follow through is important for achieving actual growth. Changing a system doesn’t always equal growth unless a clear path to success is laid.

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“Fixed mindset people dread failure, feeling that it reflects badly upon themselves as individuals, while growth mindset people instead embrace failure as an opportunity to learn and improve their abilities.”

“According to Dweck, when we give praise to students (which we, as teachers often do, in order to build self-esteem and encourage students) for how clever they are, we might actually be encouraging them to develop a fixed mindset - which might limit their learning potential. On the other hand, if we praise students for the hard work and the process that they’ve engaged in, then that helps to develop a growth potential.”

“Dweck’s research is applicable to all people, not just students. Therefore, school leaders could ask themselves what effect might developing a growth mindset amongst staff have upon learning in a school?”

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Developing a Growth Mindset in Teachers and Staff

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Developing a Growth Mindset in Teachers and Staff

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This explores the science behind your brain’s ability to accept change, known as neuroplasticity. It also examines the power of perspectives and the effect of the teacher’s perspective in the classroom.

Offers advice on how to process the experience of change positively in order to build growth mindset

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How I feel, understand, or interpret any situation always determines the "perceived" outcome of an event, or the collective disposition experienced and acted upon with a group of students or colleagues. When we feel any kind of negative emotion, our perspectives narrow, and we spin in repetitive conflict cycles, reacting and subconsciously creating more negative emotion. Under negatively experienced stress, we feel bound and limited in our choices of responses. Neuroplasticity is the brain's innate ability to structurally and functionally change with every new experience. Our perspectives hold the power to create more of what we desire to experience.

When we change our perspectives, we provide ourselves with a novel view through a lens that can open us to a growth mindset, defined by Carol Dweck as a belief that emotional and cognitive intelligence can change based on our desires and the plasticity of our thought processes.

What can we do to shift perspective in our schools and classrooms? From my experiences, these three practices might assist us in approaching relationships, instruction, and even assessments with a novel working lens and increased learning.

1. Recognize Triggers and Challenges

Write down two or three of the greatest teachers in your classroom or building. (These are the individuals who trigger hot emotion inside of you.) Your triggers could also be a particular routine or procedure that feels stale and oppressive, or simply not invigorating anymore. After you identify the experiences or persons that feel challenging; write down two positive outcomes that, once upon a time, did not feel so challenging about those persons or situations. These don't have to be enormous realizations. They can be daily "noticings" that have disappeared from our vision because our mindset and eyes have landed on the tedious, repetitive negative.

Here's a powerful example. A few months ago, Darren began his typical rendition of a poor choice sequence of tiresome behaviors. He was bouncing out of his seat without permission, interrupting instruction as he conversed with students around him. When asked to turn around or to please sit down, there was the usual eye rolling, denying, and increased anger. I decided to create a shift for both of us, and thought of Darren's expertise and strengths. I knew he was very familiar with smartphones and, even at 12 years old, probably knew more about them than I did. I used his knowledge and leadership to turn our perspectives around. "Darren," I said, "I need to respond right away to one of my students who just emailed me at the University, but I have to prepare for our group discussion here in three minutes. Could you please send her a message for me?" I pulled out my phone, called up the email, and explained to Darren what I wanted to say.

There are no words to describe how excited he was as he crafted a perfect message to my undergraduate student, forgetting his bad mood and his "felt" opposition toward me and toward the class. I thanked him, and we began again. Darren asked if he could use his new phone to pull up additional research while other students moved to the computers. The rest of the afternoon felt different and pleasurable, as my perspective guided Darren away from his usual precipice and onto the safer ground of feeling capable and successful.

2. Show a Different View

Teach your students about the power of perspective. Explain that we all see, feel and behave in ways that mirror our own attitudes, thoughts, and emotions. As you begin to implement the muscle of perspective, greet students at the door with a directive to move to a certain area in the room so that each student is seeing a different view. A few students could be lying down, while others could be facing a bulletin board, the door, the sink, a window. Explain that although everyone is gathered in the same room, each person has a different view, and that is how we can all approach daily experiences and relationships. After each student has recorded his or her view, talk about these changed views, relating this activity to a frustration or a stuck thought or feeling. There is great change that occurs in groups as together we can brainstorm new ways to see worn-out behaviors and relationships.

3. Offer a Fresh Start

Change up the routine for a week to generate fresh methods of instruction and classroom culture. When students walk in on Monday morning, offer subjects in a different order, wear your clothes backward, or create mottos or nicknames to use for the week based on an attribute of each student. Connect props to content and standards, wear two different shoes, or greet your class as you sit by a freshly decorated entrance to the room, a gesture that indirectly states, "You have a fresh start every time you walk through these doors. What will you choose to see and create today?"
Some people see scars; and it is wounding they remember.
To me, they are proof of the fact that there is healing.
-- Linda Hogan

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Perspective: A Game Changer in the Classroom and in Our Lives

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How I feel, understand, or interpret any situation always determines the "perceived" outcome of an event, or the collective disposition experienced and acted upon with a group of students or colleagues. When we feel any kind of negative emotion, our perspectives narrow, and we spin in repetitive conflict cycles, reacting and subconsciously creating more negative emotion.

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A video to help adults learn to accept change in professional and personal life. Provides helpful mental formulas that could help teachers understand their reactions to change and how these affect their targeted behaviors. Not necessarily for teachers, but helpful for personal struggles with change especially when they’re not perceived as positive.

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Whether you perceive it or not, everything is constantly changing - the environment, the weather, the economy, technology, society, culture, your friends and family, your body, everything. And the better able you are to embrace change in what is happening in your world, the easier it will be for you to live your best life.

"Change is the only constant in life." - Heraclitus

For some people, the idea of constant and never-ending change is terrifying, because change often involves risk and loss - possibly of something big, like your house, your job, your money, your friends, your family, or just the loss of whatever is comfortable and familiar.

Some people see change as something to fear or dread, instead of something that is a new adventure that has the potential to improve them or their life.

That's what change actually is: it's an opportunity for you to experience something new and to grow and evolve as a person.

Change asks you to:

Learn new things.

Master new skills.

Develop new qualities like flexibility, optimism, courage, and persistence.

All of which ultimately results in you becoming a better, more capable person.

And that's a good thing!

Because the ultimate goal of life is not just a life of comfort, but a life of mastery and mastery only develops when you are confronted with challenges.

When you try to resist change, you rob yourself of the experiences that can transform your life on both a professional and personal level.

When you welcome and embrace change, you open allow yourself to cooperate with the natural evolution that is the reality of existence on earth.

4 Tips to Learn How to Embrace Change

Think of it this way. Change is inevitable. It is like a river flowing downstream, following the law of gravity.

When you resist it, it feels like trying to row upstream during a flood.

When you accept change and embrace it is like easily flowing downstream.

You may still need to row to avoid ramming into a rock or a bridge abutment, but it won't feel like you are fighting the current. Life gets easier.

So here are a few tips to help you deal with change and embrace change.

1. Event + Response = Outcome

The first one is to take the time to fully understand and apply this success formula:

E+R=O. E+R=O stands for, Event + Response = Outcome.

It is your response to any event, and not the event itself, that determines the outcome you experience.

You can't change the events that happen. They just occur outside of our control.

As one of my friends like to say, "The world is just out there worlding."

You can't stop the rate of technological change occurring in the world.

The Internet, personal computers, smartphones, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, Uber, Lyft, Amazon.com, cable television, cryptocurrencies like BitCoin and Etherium are all examples of changes that are events that have happened.

Global warming, floods, droughts, earthquakes, mass migrations of huge populations, trade wars, massive layoffs, mass shootings, terrorist attacks, cyber-attacks, and the rise of nationalism and populist leaders are all events that represent change.

As you've probably noticed, you cannot do much to change those events.

But you CAN change your response to them and ensure that the outcomes you experience in your life are as positive as possible.

If you want to learn more about my proven formula to take control of your life, make sure you check out my Success Formula Webcast.

Now, on a more personal level, let's say you lose your job.

You could start freaking out over the sudden loss of a guaranteed income each month.

You could blame yourself for not being "good enough," and fall into a state of hopeless despair that keeps you sitting on your couch, numbing your pain with hours of mindless TV watching.

Or you could choose to see this event as a gift, as your chance to pursue a new opportunity that's more in alignment with your deeper goals and dreams - and use your newly liberated time and energy to develop the skills and expertise you'll need to create your ideal life!

Whenever a change happens that seems like a tragedy, always remember there is a gift in it.

"Every negative event contains the seed of an equal or greater benefit." - Napoleon Hill

I have many friends and clients who have lost their homes and all their possessions to a flood or a fire, have lost their loved ones to divorce, suicide, drug overdoses and automobile accidents, who've lost their jobs due to mergers, layoffs due to the recession, or to new technologies that made their jobs obsolete.

And in every case, years later they looked back and realized that those seemingly tragic events were turning points in their lives that led them to something far better than what they had before - a better job, a more fulfilling relationship, new friends, deeper wisdom, more freedom, the discovery of their true life purpose, the development of new skills, and spiritual growth.

I can remember in my own life when I was in my mid-twenties, I was working at a government training center in Iowa when the government decided to shut it down.

At the time I thought it was the end of the world.

I loved the job, and I loved the people working there. I was devastated.

But what ultimately happened was that a month later I was taking a workshop in Chicago run by people who worked for W. Clement Stone who was a close friend of Napoleon Hill.

When they found out I was being laid off, they offered me a job, which is where I began to learn about so many of the things that I teach today.

Things like:

If I hadn't lost that job, I might still be working in a small training center in Iowa.

Take a moment later today and think back to some change that you feared or resisted and all the good that eventually came from it.

Once you begin to see that, you can begin to anticipate the good that will come from the changes you are facing now.

A good question to always be asking yourself is, "What's the opportunity that this is?"

If you look, you will find it.

And change will become something to appreciate and embrace rather than to fear and resist.

Remember, YOU always have control over how you choose to respond to things.

And when you respond with an attitude of curiosity, optimism, and confidence, you'll find it so much easier to survive and thrive during the change.

2. Always Create Positive Outcomes

"Whatever the mind can conceive and believe, it can achieve." - Napoleon Hill

My second piece of advice is to believe it's possible to create positive outcomes no matter what change is happening around you.

Your mind is a very powerful instrument, and when you learn how to properly use it, you can create anything and everything you want. And the first step is to choose to believe that what you want is possible.

A belief is simply a thought you consciously choose to think over and over until it becomes automatic.

It's true that most of our beliefs were decided or programmed into us as children, but you have the power to choose to believe a more empowering belief simply by choosing it.

And you can delete old beliefs very quickly with so many new techniques that have been created in the past few decades like EFT, Byron Katie's work, the Sedona Method, and the Heart Freedom Method that I use in my workshops.

So, when you find yourself faced with a big change that feels overwhelming or scares you, stop and take the time to imagine the best possible outcome that could result from that change - and then simply choose to believe that you have the capacity to make that vision a reality.

Because you do!

3. Use the Power of "Acting as if"

See yourself as already being the kind of person who can successfully adapt to any kind of change - and then start showing up in the world as that person.

How would you walk, how would you talk, how would you dress, what thoughts would you think, how would you interact with people?

I observed a good example of the power of acting as if a number of years ago when I was living in Pacific Palisades, California.

I used to do my banking with Wells Fargo.

There was a young teller at the bank who started to catch my attention each time I went to the bank.

There were several tellers working there at the time, and I noticed this one in particular because he always wore a suit and tie.

Unlike the other two male tellers who just wore a shirt and a tie without a suit coat, this young man had already started to dress and look like an executive.

A year later, I noticed he had been promoted to his own desk where he was taking loan applications.

Two years later, he was a loan officer, and later he became the branch manager.

I asked him about this one day, and he replied that he always knew he would be a branch manager, so he studied how the manager dressed and started dressing that way.

He studied how the manager treated people and started interacting with people the same way.

He started acting as if he were a branch manager long before he ever became one.

You can adopt this same attitude to any situation you find yourself facing.

Ask yourself, "What kind of person do I need to be in order to achieve the best possible outcome?"

What thoughts do I need to think?

What pictures do I need to visualize?

How do I need to behave and what do I need to do?

And then start showing up as that person now.

4. Acknowledge Your Fears, and Take Action

Give yourself permission to acknowledge and experience whatever fears show up along the way, and then take action anyway.

When you're faced with big changes, you may need to take a huge leap into the unknown. And that can be scary; I get it!

Even I have fears that arise sometimes when I take on a new challenge that I've never tackled before! But just because you are entering into unknown territory, that doesn't mean it's bad.

It could be the best thing that's ever happened to you. And if you approach it as such, you greatly increase the likelihood that it will be the best thing that's ever happened to you.

So allow yourself to feel the fear - and don't let it stop you.

Take one small step after another into the unknown - and you will be surprised at how quickly the path forward will become clear to you, and entirely achievable.

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4 Tips to Help You Accept & Embrace Change - Jack Canfield

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Whether you perceive it or not, everything is constantly changing - the environment, the weather, the economy, technology, society, culture, your friends and family, your body, everything. And the better able you are to embrace change in what is happening in your world, the easier it will be for you to live your best life.

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This video offers perspectives on curating a more creative experience for students that will inspire more action and engagement in students. When you set a strong foundation rooted in creativity and self esteem, students feel more capable to attack complex problems.

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Learning to chart change and form an appreciation for your achievements in the area of change, especially during this unprecedented time of online learning. It also discusses how to create conditions in which change can occur.

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What Leads to Meaningful Change Now & in the Future? S1 Episode 21 - The #InnovatorsMindset Podcast

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Using metacognition to nurture self awareness. Self awareness can help children navigate change and look for opportunities for growth.

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Edutopia is a free source of information, inspiration, and practical strategies for learning and teaching in preK-12 education. We are published by the George Lucas Educational Foundation, a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization.

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This is a little more direct than the other resources but this offers suggestions of activities to do with preschool learners that will build about their natural fascination with growth and change. Perhaps, cultivating many experiences that show natural growth as children themselves are growing will help shape a positive reaction to growth and change later in life.

Perhaps building more concrete experiences that play of children’s natural curiosities and wonderings will support a growth mindset.

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Tyler, Ann, and Selena are examining amaryllis, measuring its growth with "inchworm" blocks. They have watched the plant grow since TyIer's mom first brought it to the classroom, and they're surprised at how much the plant has changed since the last time they measured it several weeks ago. "we need two more blocks this tine!" shouts Tyler. "Pretty soon it'll grow to the ceiling!" giggles Selena. "How big will it get?"

Children are naturally curious! They try to make meaning of the world around them as they watch things grow and notice dramatic changes in science and nature. Sometimes they amaze us with their ability to think, to imagine, and to figure out how the world works, we can support children's investigations, as well as their growing capacity to notice and understand growth and change, by listening carefully to their questions and searching for answers with them.
Observing Change Together
When the amaryllis bulb first arrived in the classroom, several children wondered how this brown object could turn into a beautiful flower. By encouraging them to ask questions and explain their theories about how this might happen, and by recording their comments, the teacher has helped the children learn that their ideas are important. Their conversation sparked group-time discussion, helped them consider other ideas and perspectives, and guided further investigations.

You can help children present their ideas and observations in multiple ways. For example, as the amaryllis grows, children may want to record their observations or ideas about what is taking place through drawings, dramatic play, or by writing in their journals. While 4-year-old Jamie may choose to represent his ideas in clay, enjoying the sensory experience of that medium, Sarah may prefer to study and sketch the amaryllis in her journal with a pencil, which allows her to erase and make changes as the plant evolves. John might make a brilliantly colored painting, while Raven might select a computer software program that allows her to dictate a story that captures her excitement as the amaryllis blooms!
Classroom investigations
Here are some exciting classroom experiences you can offer children in your program to help them explore growth and change:
MATH
Introduce tools for measuring, then provide opportunities so children can practice and use them on their own. Children can use rulers, unifix cubes, or other measuring devices once they learn how.

Supply a snow stick or rain gauge so children can monitor precipitation.

Encourage children to use a graphing mat and cubes made from small milk cartons that have an image of each child attached to the side. Graph answers to important questions that arise daily, such as "What is your favorite type of apple?" after sampling red, green, and yellow apples.

Invite children to create collections from found natural and recycled materials. Store the collections in zip lock bags, and use them to practice such math concepts as sorting, patterning, counting, and classifying.
SCIENCE
Provide magnifying tools for taking a close look at things like leaves, which change over time. Children can use hand lenses, magnifying tables, or microscopes.

Offer clipboards and writing tools for observational drawings of plant growth, worms, or other topics of investigation.

Create classroom science journals so children can organize and reflect on the evidence of growth and change.

Supply children with cups of water, either clear or tinted, and trays so they can practice creating and mixing drops of water. What happens when water drops are placed on squares of wax paper, paper towels, tin foil, sandpaper, sponges, plastic wrap, cardboard, or square or triangular foam blocks?

Invite children to care for and study a variety of plants in the classroom. Encourage them to notice differences and similarities among the plants as they grow.
BLOCKS
Provide enough time and space and materials for children to explore. Offer a variety of blocks, play figures, vehicles, balls, ramps, tunnels made from sections of tubing or pipe, which invite exploration and testing at varying levels of complexity. For example: How far will an object travel when I change its size or shape, the angle or type of ramp?

Set up displays in the block area, including photos or drawings of children's constructions and their comments about their structures.

Create an "Our Building" book with children, using photos that document their work and explorations in the block area. You can continue adding samples throughout the year. Keep this book handy; it will serve as a springboard for discussing how and why their block constructions changed over time.
ART
Encourage experimentation with materials that can easily change form, such as clay or play dough.

Provide a variety of tools to support children at different stages of development. For example: "Helping scissors," such as double-handed scissors, loop scissors, scissors that open after each snip, can provide needed support for children learning how to cut. Crayons, pencils, and paintbrush handles of different widths and shapes might be easier for children to hold.

Set up a work-in-progress area that provides children with varying artistic styles time to reflect, revise, and complete projects over time. When children and adults look at work collected at the beginning and end of the year-self-portraits, drawings, photos of sculptures and three-dimensional work-they'll see the changes that have taken place.

Look for ways art materials can support current investigations When studying air, you might provide materials to create wind socks, or you might brainstorm with children about what materials they would like to have to further their understanding of air.

Provide a different kind of art exposure that allows children to predict what will happen if drawings made with markers or crayon are placed outside in the rain or in the sun. Paint that is thick or runny, paper that is round or triangular, smooth or corrugated offer variations that can inspire interest and new artistic studies.
DRAMATIC PLAY
Plan activities and materials for the dramatic-play area that help children explore growth and change. Children can act out various roles such as weather reporter, farmer, scientist, or baby.

Brainstorm with children to identify dress-up clothes and props needed to explore these roles. Be sure that materials represent a variety of cultures, ages, and abilities.

Take photos to record different stages of friendships, play, and solving problems. Create display panels with photos and text that communicate the importance of the play and serve as a "memory" that can be reviewed and used to inspire new ideas and direction.
Look How I've Grown!
By observing changes in the world around them, children begin to notice their own growth and development. As children observe and record data about daily weather changes, discuss their observations of seasonal changes, such as why leaves change color and fall off the trees in the play yard. This process can serve as a springboard to get them thinking about their own growth and change.

Here are some other things you can do in the classroom to help children investigate their own development:

Round up Resources. When questions about their own growth and development come up, help children learn to look for answers. Use your classroom library and computer, or take a field trip to the community library to locate resources related to big questions about growth and change.

Play "What's New?" Invite children to play detective, looking for and reporting changes they see daily. Check out clouds, weather, and seasonal changes, worms when it rains, and bird nests. Then discuss what's new with the children themselves. Invite them to identify or show new skills and abilities they have now that they didn't have earlier in the school year (cutting with scissors on a curved line, walking all the way across the balance beam, reaching the sink without using the footstool).

Look Closely. Ask children "What tools can we use to take a closer look at growth and change?" Introduce such research tools as a magnifying lens, a tape measure, and a clipboard and pencil for making observations and drawings. Later, discuss the ways each of these items can be used to help children explore their own growth and change. Invite them to look closely at their skin with the magnifying glass, or to measure their height, the length of their arm, the width of their face, or the size of their foot with the tape measure.

Take Measurements. Tape paper to a wall and create a "measure me" surface. Use a pencil to record the date and mark the height of each child in the classroom every few months. Help children learn how to use a ruler so they can measure the growth themselves. Later, invite children to explore other ways of measuring their height, including building block towers as tall as they are; using lengths of rope or yarn; or tracing their bodies on large sheets of paper several times throughout the year.

Create a Nature's Notebook. Create a notebook for collecting and storing drawings, photos, children's questions, and more documentation from walks and field trips. Look at the information together to notice commonalities, such as what living things need to live. Extend the discussion to include the things children need if they're to continue to grow and change.
Documenting Growth and Change
Observations of children's growth and development, along with samples of their work, can be collected throughout the year and stored in portfolios or shared through documentation panels. Staff can review these observations to understand what is important about what took place and use this information to guide curriculum development and support each child's learning. Sharing the observations with children and families helps them see and understand children's growth and development.
Documentation can include

Samples of children's work, such as self-portraits, drawings, or writing

A language sample of children's storytelling, possibly taken as they use the flannel board to tell a familiar fairy tale or one they create

A dictated dialogue about their work as they create a piece of art

Photographs of children's three-dimensional work, such as woodworking projects and block constructions

Audio or short video clips about literacy, creativity, problem solving, and other areas of development

Anecdotal notes, including verbatim renditions of what children say and do as you observe them

Technology tools, such as digital cameras and handheld devices like PDAs, which are increasingly being used to collect rich data samples

The end of the year is a great time to review documentation, reflect on exciting changes, and plan what to document and how to accomplish it in the year ahead! Children should be involved in collecting and evaluating their work.
Involving Children in the Process
Children can help collect data. They can

Experiment with writing their names, perhaps assisted by name cards or mailing labels with their names on drawings or paintings

Help select work they believe should go in their portfolio

Learn to work a scanner, digital camera, or use the audio-recording aspects of software programs to talk about the picture or work they have created

Consider the work that needs to be documented, and look for ways children can be involved and help out.

Whether it's noticing changes in the world around them or investigating their own growth and development over the year, a classroom that encourages observation and exploration and documents the exciting changes taking place is a classroom that celebrates growth and change! ECT

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Exploring Growth and Change in the Preschool Classroom | Scholastic

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Tyler, Ann, and Selena are examining amaryllis, measuring its growth with "inchworm" blocks. They have watched the plant grow since TyIer's mom first brought it to the classroom, and they're surprised at how much the plant has changed since the last time they measured it several weeks ago.

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Self Awareness and change