1/29/2024

Beyond ‘Yet:’ 5 Activities to Supercharge a Growth Mindset for Emergent Bilinguals

Today, billion-dollar companies are discovering what teachers have known for more than three decades—a growth mindset is powerful and profitable. It is so profitable that Fortune 500 companies are bending backward to integrate the concept into their corporate cultures.

Dr. Carol Dweck’s work with thousands of students proved a growth mindset is a game-changing advantage. She revisits the important tenets and misconceptions of a growth mindset in her concise Edweek article, clarifying its power in her own words.

Children (and all people, for that matter) can exhibit fixed or growth mindset traits. The one they lean toward matters. A lot—especially for Emergent Bilingual students, also known as English Language Learners (or EL/ELLs).

If you hold a fixed mindset, you believe talent and ability are set traits, and you either have the goods or you don’t. A student with a fixed mindset often mumbles, “I can’t do it. I’m not smart. I’ll never get this.”

Students with a growth mindset understand making mistakes, learning from them, and making thoughtful effort leads to success. They assertively say, “I can’t do it yet. I’m trying a new method. I understand it better than yesterday.” Clear evidence shows the second approach leads to learning gains and self-efficacy.

The Importance of a Growth Mindset for Emergent Bilingual Students

The benefits of a growth mindset are well established. While this mindset is wonderful for all students, it can be uniquely helpful for Emergent Bilingual students as they acquire language skills.

We can embrace ways to respect and celebrate who these students are and what assets they bring to the classroom. Acknowledging their unique perspectives and wanting to learn more about their cultural knowledge demonstrates a teacher’s curiosity, compassion, and own growth mindset.

The more educators embrace understanding Emergent Bilingual students, the easier it will be for them to see the benefits of a growth mindset and apply it to their academic progress.

Debunking Growth Mindset Myths

While everyone wants to reap the benefits of a growth mindset, some common misconceptions keep people from mastering its full benefits. It’s important to understand what a growth mindset is and what it isn’t.

Myth No. 1: It’s Only About Positive Thinking

“I can’t do it. Yet.” This is a beautiful phrase to teach students. It supports the idea that accomplishing something challenging takes time and effort. But this phrase alone is a first step, not the end result. A growth mindset isn’t about positive thinking being the answer to all academic struggles. A proper growth mindset means people will need to practice, reflect, and try new strategies to reach their goals.

A more accurate reflection of a growth mindset is embracing the necessary academic steps that get someone from “I can’t do it yet” to “I did it!”

Myth No. 2: Effort Matters Most

Teachers know effort can make or break a child’s success in the classroom. Effort is at the heart of what makes a growth mindset work. However, there’s a difference between raw effort and thoughtful effort.

It was the famous “failure” Albert Einstein who said, “Trying the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result is insanity.” Encouraging a child to “keep trying” without exploring new strategies oversimplifies a growth mindset and can frustrate students right back into their fixed thinking. Finding new methods that help students succeed makes all the effort worthwhile.

Myth No. 3: Mistakes Make the Brain Grow

Embracing mistakes is part of a growth mindset. Recognizing them as an opportunity instead of “proof” of failure is a key component of Dweck’s theory.

But it’s not the mistake itself that helps the brain grow. It's what people do in the aftermath of a mistake that matters. Acknowledge the error in a positive light. It’s important to emphasize the process that gets people from mistakes to success.

Myth No. 4: A Person Has a Fixed Mindset or a Growth Mindset

No one carries a 100% growth or a 100% fixed mindset. People’s mindsets can fluctuate, and they will feel more confident applying a growth mindset to certain activities than others. For instance, a student might embrace soccer drills and learn from their mistakes on the field. That same student might not see how a growth mindset can help them in class or language acquisition.

5 Activities That Build a Genuine Growth Mindset

If an educator is ready to take the growth mindset curriculum to a new level and move past the basic tenets, these five activities engage students and emphasize the power of a growth mindset. They can also be incorporated throughout the year and revisited frequently. Each activity includes opportunities for Emergent Bilingual students to celebrate their unique assets and skills. Beyond these tailored lessons, there is a world of science-based edtech options to gamify and lead students to a growth mindset.

1. Failure to Fame
   A teacher can’t walk into a classroom without finding at least a few Swifties. Of course, if Taylor had listened to her critics and given up after her rejected demo, she wouldn’t be Time’s 2023 Person of the Year and arguably the most famous woman on earth. Most students know the name Abraham Lincoln but probably don’t realize he lostseven election campaigns before becoming the most beloved president in American history. Exploring the lives of students' favorite people is a sure way to engage them and give solid evidence of how they can wield the power of a growth mindset.
   
   This is a great opportunity for Emergent Bilingual students to teach about their cultures and the people they admire most. Their knowledge of people you are less familiar with is empowering and helps them create a personal connection to the activity while highlighting the value of their experiences.
   
   There are many ways to organize this activity: Cards that flip open with the failures listed on the outside and the mystery celebrity on the inside, or celebrity photos around the classroom that students try to match to various lists of failed attempts. Educators can personalize the “famous failures” to students' interests and be sure to discuss how each of them demonstrated a growth mindset.
   
   
2. Mindset Mentors
   This activity is a great opportunity to incorporate student leaders. Arrange a visit from an older student in the school who has used a growth mindset to tackle challenges and improve. Students need to know that this mindset can benefit them right now. Imagine having a third-grade student visit a second-grade classroom to talk about how they used their mistakes to learn, develop, and tackle the exact challenges students are facing. For Emergent Bilingual students, seeing a mentor who’s faced similar language challenges and grown successfully is powerful. It resonates in a lasting way that excites students to progress in their language acquisition.
   
   It’s also a chance for the mentor to stretch their public speaking and presentation skills. Over time, as more students embrace a growth mindset, educators can create a panel of older students to share their stories and inspire their peers.
   
   
3. Challenge by Choice
   When educators provide student choice in the classroom, students feel empowered. This activity combines the benefits of that empowerment with opportunities to grow. Challenge by Choice can manifest itself in multiple activities. The overall premise is to provide students the chance to choose the level of challenge that stretches them out of their comfort zone but still feels achievable with practice.
   
   For example, provide four detective mystery activities, each at a different challenge level. An advanced mystery might contain more complex vocabulary and rigorous language practice, while a less advanced option reviews prior knowledge and previously mastered sight words. Throughout this activity, Emergent Bilingual students practice and improve their English language skills while gaining the benefits of ownership and agency.
   
   Providing choice builds intrinsic motivation, as well as critical thinking and reflection. A bonus activity involves reflecting on why they chose a specific challenge and if they felt it helped them learn. Challenge by Choice can be a regular activity in the classroom, becoming second nature to students.
   
   
4. The ‘Aha! Archive’
   The moment of sudden understanding that elicits a celebratory “Aha!” feels like magic. Teachers everywhere cherish this moment when they see a student’s eyes go wide and brighten with the joy of “getting it.” This activity harvests those moments and allows for reflection. The teacher can catch an “aha” moment, a classmate can catch it, and, of course, the student can. A minute or two should be taken to jot down the “aha” moment and what led to it happening. It’s good to do this while it's fresh in the student’s mind. These slips of paper can be collected and archived in an “aha” jar.
   
   As the archive grows, teachers can revisit and reference them when it's time to start a new challenge. They can also organize a celebration when the archive is full, helping to create excitement around spotting “aha” moments throughout the year. The archive can be general or tailored to specific reading and writing lessons designed for Emergent Bilingual students.
   
   
5. Stretch-a-Palooza
   Educators might have heard of stretching a rubber band as it relates to a growth mindset. They can stretch themselves and push beyond limitations just like a rubber band can be stretched beyond its original shape. In this activity, students grab a handful of elastic bands. Take a few minutes to list varying skills students are working toward, both in and out of the classroom: Grammar, writing, kindness, patience, etc.
   
   For each skill, the students should stretch a rubber band to the size they see as their current level of success. The grammar rubber band might be small, but the kindness rubber band is stretched wide—work to include enough skills so every student sees their success in at least one area. Then, reflect on why they feel certain rubber bands are stretched further than others and how to stretch shorter ones.
   
   This can also be a writing activity where students create a bullet point list of ways to stretch their rubber bands as Emergent Bilingual students and in various skill areas. Brainstorming tangible improvement steps eliminates the ambivalence of ”just try harder.”
   
   Best of all, a Louisiana funk band, The Meters, recorded Stretch Your Rubberband in 1965. It’s upbeat, playful, and appropriate for any grade level. The entire class will be dancing to this one!
   

Growth Mindset 2.0

While mainstream America is catching on to the power of a growth mindset, educators can remain confident the classroom is still leading the charge. Educators are seeing the exciting impact of student engagement and attitudes that embrace learning.

Building a culture of growth takes more than one lesson at the beginning of the year. Teachers can sprinkle it throughout the day and acknowledge the development as it’s happening. Embrace the challenge, stretch limits, and watch a growth mindset blossom in the classroom year after year.