Growth Mindset for Mentors Toolkit & Upcoming Webinar
Many mentoring practitioners and youth development professionals have heard the term “growth mindset,” but many of us struggle with how to apply it to the work we do with young people.
For those who are less familiar, the term “growth mindset” was coined by Stanford University psychologist Carol Dweck to describe the belief that intelligence is malleable rather than fixed. In other words, if you believe that intelligence is something you can control with practice and application, then you will be more likely to work until you learn something new. Dweck’s research indicates that when people are in a growth mindset, they tend to be more persistent and better equipped to respond positively to adversity in the learning process.
A recent Education Week article highlighted teachers’ struggles with incorporating growth mindset principles into their work, despite their enthusiasm for the concept.
Luckily, interactive growth mindset tools and activities are available to help parents, teachers, and now mentors and mentoring programs take action in their everyday work with young people. Stanford University’s Project for Education Research that Scales (PERTS) Lab developed online Mindset Kits to illustrate the importance of these concepts to parents, teachers, and others interested in helping youth achieve school success. With the support of the Raikes Foundation, MENTOR: The National Mentoring Partnership (MENTOR) teamed up with PERTS and City Year to develop and pilot the Growth Mindset for Mentors Toolkit, which offers 17 interactive lessons for mentors that apply the principles of growth mindset to their work with youth, and activities that help show youth that growth and learning is possible. These lessons cover such topics as:
- What is Growth Mindset?
- How Mentors Support Growth Mindset
- Using Growth Mindset Language
- Reframing Challenges, Failures and Mistakes
This Toolkit features information, tools and resources for mentors seeking to guide their mentees in cultivating perseverance, self-reflection, and positive decision-making, elements of a growth mindset, which can enrich their ability to learn and grow, especially in the face of challenges.
During the 2015-2016 school year, MENTOR and City Year teamed up to pilot the Toolkit. City Year AmeriCorps members serving as mentors in schools applied the Growth Mindset for Mentors Toolkit to support student success. In response to the evaluation results from this pilot, additional lessons, handouts and tools were added to enhance the Toolkit. During the 2016-17 school year, MENTOR and PERTS will be working on an expanded pilot with City Year as well as adding partners Take Stock in Children and Citizen Schools to further evaluate the impact of the updated Toolkit. A universal implementation guide to help mentoring programs implement Growth Mindset programming is also in the works, and is slated for release by MENTOR in June 2017.
Interested in learning more about Growth Mindset? Tune in for a webinar entitled Growth Mindset in Practice: Successfully Applying Growth Mindset in Your Youth Mentoring Work on Monday, November 14 at 3:30 PM EST, and hear from mentoring trainers and practitioners who have utilized growth mindset in their work with mentors and youth. This webinar is appropriate for both mentors and mentoring practitioners.