Why I love Carol Dweck
The concept of developing a ‘growth’ mindset as opposed to maintaining a ‘fixed’ one, has been revolutionary for my outlook on what I think I can do and learn.
I worked in a busy and dynamic international school in Bangkok, and felt an underlying sense of being an imposter while I was there. I felt that I wasn’t creative and dynamic. My lesson observations would come back ‘successful’ while others would get outstandings. It simply reaffirmed that some people are destined for greatness while others can only achieve mediocrity.
All around me were so many people who were multi-lingual, sporty, confident. I felt that I wasn’t way then, the chances of me becoming so would be impossible.
Then, during an after-school training session, we had an input on the importance of changing our mindset for ourselves and our students, from a ‘fixed’ to a ‘growth’ one. My colleagues had just been to a workshop about changing students’ viewpoints about how they learn, which they shared with us. We watched a video of a teacher who showed their students a drawing of a butterfly by a five year old boy from another class. The boy wanted to draw a butterfly like the one in the photo. The teacher showed the boy’s first attempt, which looked like, well, what you would expect a typical primary 1 child’s drawing of a butterfly would look like. The teacher received detailed feedback from his class on how it could be improved.
Gradually, about five iterations later, the boy’s final drawing a butterfly was astonishingly life-like. The message was clear: by learning through our mistakes, and by getting constructive feedback on how we master skills, we could achieve a skill like being able to draw a lifelike image of a butterfly.
That message was so empowering for me. I had always wanted to be good at drawing and painting, but I just didn’t know how. Plus, I still had this fixed notion that some people are born with an innate ability to do these things, and I must be one of the people who is not.
I went to the school library soon after to borrow Mindset by Carol Dweck. I think I read it in a day. What again really stood out for me was this idea that mistakes when mastering a skill are a great thing to do: they help us to learn how to improve, as well as alerting us to what we are already doing well. I also loved Dweck’s writing style as well — it’s warm, and reassuring, but completely rooted in rigorous academic research. Her writing made me feel like I now had permission to go out there and try to master new skills.
Since then, I have taught myself to draw, ride a bike and learn (the basics of some) languages. I don’t think I would have attempted any of those things had I not been introduced to Dweck’s work. I would still be reconciling myself to the life I have and be living with a constant sense of dissatisfaction.
I know from what I achieved that we are all capable of show much more than what we think; we just need to accept and learn from our mistakes. My lessons and my teaching in general improved too. I no longer felt that I was hemmed in by how other people saw me. I had a much more open and relaxed approach to showing my students that I was there to guide them, and not to simply be seen as an expert.
Adopting an outlook of seeing mistakes as an opportunity to learn, reflect and improve has been so enriching for me. I have encouraged my students to view their learning in the same way, and I hope that it will help them to free themselves from placing any limitations on their learning.
