Mindsets affect how students perceive failure. Someone with a growth mindset sees failure as a setback and an opportunity to learn. Someone with a fixed mindset may let failure define them and react negatively with apathy, blame, excuses, and depression. Dweck’s research showed that when such people were taught growth mindset skills, their reactions changed (Dweck, 2006)
According to Wormeli, recording student scores of “Fs, zeroes, and other indicators of failures” and “spending the day working on weaknesses, without identifying and using strengths” are practices that serve as de-motivators (Wormeli, September 2014, p. 30). If failure and making continued attempts is what growth mindset is all about, how can teachers reframe …show more content…
Their research suggested that students who show traits of perfectionism or who are preoccupied with seeming perfect do not seek help when it is needed for fear of being seen as a failure. Perfectionists tend to blame themselves for perceived deficits and have an increased sense of personal responsibility. Retraining so that they do not attribute negative outcomes to permanent qualities of self but rather to external qualities can serve to improve motivation, performance, and increased resilience and self-esteem (Flett & Hewitt, …show more content…
Give specific and descriptive feedback that helps students develop and improve. Students take risks and work harder when receiving feedback in ‘non-gotcha language’. For example, Can you help me find the supportive details in this paragraph? rather than “There are three mistakes and no topic sentence in the first paragraph.” Avoid a “B+ - Good job” or a “D - needs improvement” without specific feedback because it may be deflating or decrease their desire to invest time into future assignments. Teachers may try to emphasize with students and let them know they can trust their teacher. Building a relationship with students helps them take risks daily and fosters courage not fear (Wormeli, September