Teaching a Healthy Growth Mindset

Helping Students Avoid Growth Solely for the Sake of Growth

Sometimes I must remind myself that not all growth is healthy growth. And for a consistent reminder, I can always count on the garden. 

These past few weeks marked the start of the school year for most of us and this often translates to excitement and anticipation for the year ahead. It also means we start thinking about all the growth that will occur this year (or that we hope will occur). 

If we truly live with a spirit of “kaizen” or “continuous improvement” then we must always be seeking growth in key areas of life, but if we are not careful and intentional, that growth can lead to an imbalance in life. And this is especially true for our students. This is why, when we teach growth mindset to first year entrepreneurship students, we do it with an object lesson. Here’s how: 

  1. We start class by posing the question: “what’s the difference between healthy and unhealthy growth?”  

  2. We then head to our outdoor gardens where the students are given time to move around (without phones) and take in everything they can about the space. They smell the leaves of the plants and feel their texture. They pull back in fright when they see the bees moving through the flowers. A lucky few even find some ripe blackberries. 

  3. We then return to the classroom for a discussion. 

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Imagine your culture infused with growth mindset, grit, redefining failure, and opportunity seeking. Imagine your team acting and thinking like entrepreneurs.

Stephen Carter