August & September were months to highlight Growth Mindset!!
For those who may not know about the new values of Giant Steps’ organization, GS CARES is what Giant Steps’ stands for, believes in, and demonstrates.
G is for Growth Mindset, S is for Student and Participant Centeredness, C is for Collaboration, A is for Accountability, R is for Resilience, E is for Empowerment, and S is for Self-Awareness.
For the months of August and September, the GS CARES value we have been focusing on this month is Growth Mindset. The concept of Growth Mindset was coined by psychologist Carol Dweck. A fixed mindset means that you hold unmovable and inflexible ideas about yourself and as such you spend no time attempting to change or engage in personal development. People who possess a Growth Mindset on the other hand, believe that with intentional work, we are able to continually develop our skills and abilities.
The staff in our organization know the importance of modeling Growth Mindset for our students and participants to encourage them to keep trying even when they feel challenged in their learning. Growth Mindset adds the word “yet” into our verbiage. For example, “I do not understand” becomes “I do not understand yet.” Reminding our students and participants of how capable they are can be as simple as adding that three letter word into anything we say.
It is important to note that Growth Mindset is not just a pretty theory. For a very long time, we believed that our brains were organs with a finite number of abilities that were mostly dying off as we aged. We now know that due to the scientific principle of neuroplasticity, that similarly to working out to make our muscles more fit, our brain is also constantly able to adapt and create new pathways if we properly engage it in “strength building” activities. Neuroplasticity is why we are able to restore lost function (as in rehabilitation) or learn brand new skills (habilitation).
This scientific backing tells us that Growth Mindset is more than hope. It is a very real and measurable thing. As such, we chose it for our GS CARES value of the month to start our school year off on the right foot. Though our GS CARES value of the month will change in October, we know that we will continue to see evidence of Growth Mindset infused into everything we do. It is this belief in our ability to adapt and learn that helps every person associated with our organization to realize our full potential.