I’m coming to the realization that it’s not a lack of ability that holds most students back: their beliefs about their abilities hold them back. Carol Dweck calls their beliefs “mindsets.” She says that students have either a “fixed” mindset, which says they can’t get any better because they are who they are, or a “growth” mindset, which says they can learn and develop through effort. A fixed mindset response to a low score is: “This means I’m a loser.” A growth mindset response is: “I should work harder.” My goal now: show students a new way to see themselves.
Carol S. Dweck, Ph.D., Mindset: The New Psychology of Success (New York: Random House, 2006), 207.