Teach Middle East Magazine Jan - Mar 2020 Issue 2 Volume 7 | Page 9

Administrator's Corner
resources and materials that inform
teachers and students about growth
mindset.
5 5 Embed mindset into daily practices,
and even your curriculum.
Growth Mindset, facilitated through
intentional,
professional
learning
can be a great strategy to stimulate
reflective
practice,
intellectual
discourse, and new ways to support
student performance by identifying
time-tested and innovative ways to
practice teaching and learning. What’s
on your mind?
References
perseverance and strategic work. An
obtained degree, title, or number of
years in the classroom doesn't mean
that learning stops. Continue to take
courses online or in school, attend
workshops, or build yourself through
independent study of the latest
research and best practices. You may
even think about developing and
presenting PD to your colleagues, if
it’s not available in your school.
5 5 Because personal competence is
prioritised, these teachers are open
to exploring new ways of thinking,
and embrace the challenges
with a sense of resolve, improving
themselves to impact the learning
of themselves and others (Cox, 2019).
If an individual or groups of students
are struggling, or require enrichment,
ask yourself, am I research-engaged?
Have I read up on strategies to
differentiate
the
instructional
process, content and products for
my students? Can I articulate and
employ best practices for engaging
students? Are there professional
learning opportunities near me, I
can take advantage of, to develop
my skill sets? Most importantly,
have I decided that any one of my
students is incapable of learning at
a grade or age appropriate level? If
so, have I adjusted my own thinking,
and taken action to try something
new, believing that everyone has the
capacity to grow his or her abilities?
5 5 Teachers with a growth mindset
understand the importance of
effort, and acquisition. Dweck (2015)
reminds educators that a result of
effort is also evidence of learning, and
improvement in the teacher and the
student. By virtue of our profession,
most of us have a growth mindset.
These teachers work diligently to
exhibit tangible evidence that’s
demonstrated by their own, and
their student’s learning.
Use Professional
Development as a Tool
There are many studies on the
benefits of utilising professional
development and learning to improve
educational practices. However, most
professional learning processes are
explicit, focused more on content
and programs, and less on implicit
concepts (Evans, 2019; Evans, 2014),
such as mindset.
Given the fact that we all have
the ability to plan and implement
professional development in our
schools, we can create opportunities
to reflect on what goes on inside an
individual's mind, and perhaps adjust
“attitudes to, and intellectualisation
that underpins the job…encouraging
changed values and/or perceptions
before hoping to effect productive or
processual change” (Evans, 2014). A
few ideas for leaders and teachers to
focus on in PD include the following:
5 5 Spend time researching mindset to
get a comprehensive understanding
of the science behind the theory.
5 5 Provide
professional
learning
opportunities for in-service teachers
and leaders to promote a growth
mindset, and prioritise time for
critical reflection and discussion.
5 5 Identify, and adopt one or more
of the many online or published
Bethge, J. (2018). The power of transformation:
A grounded theory study of cultivating
teacher growth mindset towards student
intelligence (Doctoral Dissertation). Retrieved
from
https://digitalcommons.liberty.edu/
doctoral/1681
Casey, M. (2016). Motivational factors that
sustain experienced teachers in high-
need, low-performing public Schools:
A
phenomenological
study
(Doctoral
Dissertations) https://digitalcommons.liberty.
edu/doctoral/1310
Clark, A. M., & Sousa, B. J. (2018). Definitively
unfinished: Why the growth mindset is vital for
educators and academic workplaces. Nurse
Education Today, 69, 26-29. doi:10.1016/j.
nedt.2018.06.029
Cranton, P., & King, K. P. (2003). Transformative
learning as a professional development goal.
New Directions for Adult and Continuing
Education, 2003(98), 31-38. doi:10.1002/
ace.97
Dweck, C. (2015, September 22). Growth
mindset, revisited. Education Week, 35(5).
Retrieved June 22, 2015 from https://www.
edweek.org/ew/articles/2015/09/23/carol-
dweck-revisits-the-growth-mindset.html
Evans, L. (2014). Leadership for professional
development and learning: enhancing our
understanding of how teachers develop.
Cambridge Journal of Education, 44(2), 179-
198. doi:10.1080/0305764X.2013.860083
Evans, L. (2019) Implicit and informal
professional development: what it looks like,
how it occurs, and why we need to research it.
Professional Development in Education, 45(1),
3-16. doi:10.1080/19415257.2018.1441172
Natasha is currently the Founding Principal of an international school in Oman.
As an education specialist (Ed.S.), and founder of Key Education Solutions
Consulting, she also employs 20 years of experience to engage schools, and
families in research-based, best educational practices. Natasha enjoys investing
in people, to increase life chances.
Class Time
Term 2 Jan - Mar 2020
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