When students feel like they’re struggling to solve a math problem or draft an essay, we educators know that can actually be a good thing – because the process of struggling leads students to solve problems, master concepts and build confidence with new learning. But when a learning challenge feels tough, it’s not always easy for students to sustain that growth mindset – especially when they stop focusing on the process and start worrying about getting the right product. I’ve found that if we can shift students’ focus back to process, we can boost their confidence and their growth. That’s why I’ve asked myself this one question – and I’ve come up with 3 answers to support my students: 

On days when students feel discouraged, I’ve learned that a few simple strategies can shift the way they think about how learning works – and how much they’re capable of. That’s why I want to recommend taking these 3 steps that can make a big difference to students.

1. Tell students that new work may be challenging.

When I was a new teacher and my students seemed daunted by a new assignment, sometimes it felt natural to reassure them by saying “Oh, this might look hard, but it will be easy,” or “You’ll have no problem with this.” But often, that won’t be the case. When students start to struggle with their new work, that message won’t make them feel encouraged – instead, they’re more likely to get discouraged and consider giving up because they think they shouldn’t be struggling at all. Even the students who may do new work easily won’t benefit from that message – because when we tell kids that we’re asking them to do something unchallenging, we’re unintentionally guiding them to feel less invested and less empowered as learners. 

Of course, that’s the opposite of what we’re trying to do – we want to make students feel confident about their ability to try new things and master new learning! That’s why I recommend shifting to a different message: First, I would suggest saying, “This could feel challenging. We might face obstacles, and we might experience setbacks. But that’s not a problem because we have the tools to overcome them.” Next, before students begin the activity, I also suggest leading a quick discussion on what it means to say, “We have the tools.” That statement can sound pretty abstract to students, and if they hit a rough patch, they’ll need those tools to feel real and accessible so they don’t get discouraged. I like to invite students to brainstorm what those tools are: A concept review on the whiteboard. A class text. An example from group practice. An anchor chart. And I always guide them to name their teachers and their classmates – because if students feel like they can’t ask for help, it’s hard for them to feel like they can take the risks of experimenting with the process. This concrete, collaborative discussion language can inspire students to head into a new learning challenge with a sense of self-belief and security.

2. Center self-reflection and self-assessment in student experience.

Once we’ve used that growth mindset language to support students with a new activity, the next step is giving them the chance to practice the language and internalize the mindset. That’s why I recommend building opportunities for student self-reflection and self-assessment into your lessons. Let’s take a science experiment as an example: Maybe students are supposed to reach a specific result at the end of their lab, and some of them get the wrong result. We know that can look like a dead end to them. But if we shift their focus from product to process, we can shift their thinking so that they don’t see a dead end anymore – instead, they see a door to deeper learning. So after the experiment, I’d suggest inviting students to reflect back on it as a journey. For example, we might provide a breakdown of the success criteria for each step of the experiment and invite students to investigate how their steps compare – but with a sense of curiosity and discovery, not judgment.

Some students will feel more comfortable than others discussing their thinking, especially if it means explaining mistakes. That’s why I recommend offering students choices in how they practice using growth mindset language to self-assess. We might invite students to form groups and compare steps, share their thinking with us in a 1:1 conference or write a reflection on how they tackled the process, what resulted and what they might rethink next time. An activity like this can have a powerful impact on all students – whether they produced the right answer or not – because it encourages them to value the skills and abilities they drew on to produce those answers.

3. Build peer support into classroom culture.

To get every student in class to adopt a growth mindset, we may need to shift classroom culture away from comparison and toward collaboration. That’s why, as I mentioned above, when I ask students, “What tools and supports can we use to tackle this process?,” I always guide them to include the answer, “My classmates.” And that’s why I recommend creating opportunities for students to become facilitators and supporters for one another during class activities. 

For example, let’s say you’ve shifted away from saying, “This should be easy for you to get,” and you want to encourage students to shift away from saying, “I get it, it’s easy.” One strategy I recommend is enlisting those students as “class explainers.” If I break down a concept and some students understand it but others don’t, I might say, “Oh, can someone explain that better than I did?” This language puts a new frame on the experience for everyone: For students who don’t understand, I’m shifting their focus away from worrying about their ability to get it, and instead, they’re ready to learn it another way. And for the students who do understand, I’m shifting their focus away from expressing how easy it was for them to get it, and instead, they’re excited to help the whole group make that leap. Another strategy is promoting a classwide peer coaching practice: Whenever students are finished with their work, they can volunteer to answer questions or move around the room to support classmates. By inviting students to see themselves as supporters and encouragers for one another, we can promote learning as a community process.

All 3 of these approaches center on shifting the language we use with students and the language we encourage them to use – and that’s what makes these strategies so valuable. No matter how strong our instructional strategies are, we can’t get students to invest in learning until we get them to invest in their boundless abilities as learners. When we guide students to shift how they speak, write and think about learning challenges, we can shift their focus from product to process and from self-doubt to self-belief. That’s what a growth mindset is all about.