Building Great School Counselor-Administrator Teams by Balch Tonya C.;Balch Bradley V.;

Author:Balch, Tonya C.;Balch, Bradley V.;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Solution Tree
Published: 2019-08-15T00:00:00+00:00

Growth Mindset and Resilience

School counselors and administrators have the opportunity to intervene and foster growth and resilience so students can thrive despite challenging life experiences. A growth mindset does not see failure as a setback but an opportunity to grow (Dweck, 2006). Imagine a student with a growth mindset scored poorly on a mathematics exam. Instead of thinking, “I’ll never get this! I’m just not good at math,” he or she would think about what to do differently. Students with a growth mindset are problem solvers. This fosters resilience, as students do not focus on their current situation but work toward solutions. Resilience helps a person endure and recover from difficult circumstances. It aids students coping with grief, trauma, loss, threats, health issues, and other ACEs (Arif & Mirza, 2017).

Teaching students how their brains work and change during learning can be a powerful motivating factor for them (Robinson, 2017). This understanding gives students a sense of control and autonomy. Encouraging students to take academic risks and challenging their negative self-talk both foster resilience. Understanding a student’s risk factors and protective factors will help the school counselor–administrator team develop a plan to foster resilience in that student.

Numerous books, articles, and websites provide examples of how educators can foster a growth mindset. The following resources can help your team encourage a student’s growth mindset. Visit go.SolutionTree.com/leadership to access live links to the websites mentioned in this book.

■ Brainology for Schools (www.mindsetworks.com/programs/brainology-for-schools) is a blended learning curriculum that teaches students how to develop a growth mindset. The program includes online animated instructional units and offline classroom activities.

■ MindsetMaker (www.mindsetworks.com/programs/mindsetmaker) is an online professional development course that teaches educators and staff the foundation of a growth mindset and provides resources to help them cultivate a growth mindset culture in their school.

■ LeaderKit (www.mindsetworks.com/programs/leaderkit) has activities for grades 4–12 that help school leaders to foster growth mindset across a school. Though the website’s primarily classroom focused, the activities work with individual students or small groups. This program, like Brainology for Schools and MindsetMaker, is by well-known educators Carol S. Dweck and Lisa S. Blackwell.

■ ClassDojo (https://ideas.classdojo.com/b/growth-mindset) and Stanford’s Project for Education Research That Scales (PERTS) Research Center teamed up to create the first season of The Mojo Show. The five-episode video series highlights how anyone can learn to have a growth mindset (ClassDojo, n.d.). Activities are primarily for kindergarten to grade 5, but could be adapted for grades 6–8 and small groups.

■ KidsHealth (http://kidshealth.org/en/kids/brain.html) teaches students how the brain works. Understanding that they can rewire their brains and increase intelligence engages students. They become less afraid of failure and develop growth mindset this way. A video, a quiz, and other activities for grades 5–12 are mainly for individual students, but could be adapted for classrooms or small groups.

The school counselor–administrator team can use these resources to encourage a school climate that is proactive and supports students with ACEs. Your team might do a group study of books such as the previously mentioned Mindset: The New

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