Growth Mindsets and Exams

This week our students are concentrating on exams and it's eerily quiet in the Upper School.

But, if you walk outside and look at the sidewalk there are signs of energy and support written in chalk. Our students are so great about working together and supporting one another during times of stress. And, they have an incredible can-do attitude about most everything they do.

Many of you have heard or read about Carol Dweck and her work at Stanford University on Growth Mindsets. She defines this mindset as a belief that one's basic qualities are things that can be cultivated and improved. This, she says, is in contrast to a Fixed Mindset in which a person believes that they are born with certain talents and abilities, or disabilities, that cannot be changed.

Time and again in sports, the arts and in academic achievement I have had the opportunity to see our coaches and faculty help our students to see that they can improve both their natural talents and those that do not come easily to them. As a result, our students develop a passion for stretching themselves and sticking to it, even when things are not going well. Developing a Growth Mindset allows our students to thrive during exams and some of the most challenging times in their lives.

What impresses me the most, though, is how our students support each other when things get tough. Just another example of how we work to foster a caring, trustworthy and joyful learning community at GDS!