6 minute read
Growth mindset in adolescents: To lead a positive life
from You-wA-H
by schoolindia
Webinar 22
Growth mindset in adolescents: To lead a positive life
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Students with a growth mindset believe that ability can change as a result of effort, perseverance, and practice. They see mistakes as ways to learn, embrace challenges, and persist in the face of setbacks. Growth mindset is the single most important factor in establishing young minds as informed adults. With the uncertainty associated with schooling in 2020, it is important to start the new year with positive thinking and embracing realistic challenges.
The webinar aimed to understand:
1. Need & Formation of Growth Mindset 2. Role of Parents & educators in Supporting adolescents to develop a growth mindset 3. Dealing with negativity & modern day distractions in daily life 4. Being realistic vs idealistic 5. Identifying Toxic positivity and how to deal with it
Esteemed Panelists:
MR. RAAMANN AHUJA Senior Vice President & Head of Corporate Human Resources at CK Birla Corporate Services Limited
MR. ATUL BENGERI Vice President, Director –AcumenToday Pvt. Lt. An Education DR. NEETA BALI -
Specialist and Enthusiast Director- Principal and Head of School at G. D. Goenka World School, Noida
MS. RABIAH BHATIA Chief Mentor at Sports Academy Association of India, A Changemaker, An Educationist, Motivator & Trainer
KEY TAKEAWAYS
UNDERSTANDING A GROWTH MINDSET AND A FIXED MINDSET • A growth mindset allows us to be adaptive, we need to learn, unlearn and relearn several things. • The pandemic has taught the 4 Cs of life that are important for a growth mindset; these are collaboration, compassion, critical thinking and creativity • We also require three Es in our life; enhancement, empathy and empowerment. • The fixed mindset is generally reinforced by parents, teachers and by society at large. • A positive jargon reinforces a positive mindset. • The difference between the fixed mindset and the growth mindset is that the goal of a person with a fixed mindset in school/college would be to look smart while that with a growth mindset would want to grow and learn. • A fixed mindset will never value effort whereas a growth mindset will. • A person with a fixed mindset will give up when they fail when a person whereas a growth mindset will work harder. • A fixed mindset person goes down in terms of success whereas a with a growth mindset the person keeps doings hard work and keeps bouncing back. • To address your fixed mindset, you require a lot of mental tuning and rewiring. • We must replace the word “failure” with the word “learning”. Failure indicates we need to change our strategy to achieve our desired goals, it doesn’t mean that we can never achieve them.
NEED AND FORMATION OF GROWTH MINDSET • We need to right frame of mind, thought process, the right attitude, behaviors, and skills for us to have the right mindset to move forward amidst negativity.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
We have a lot of fixations; we need to move away from being fixed to being a little bit mixed. We grow up with some inherent abilities or attitudes, but with due diligence and a growth mindset, these can be changed. Positive reinforcement helps in forming a growth mindset. Parents and teachers impose their happiness on the report card of the student. The parents are not at fault here either, they themselves were raised with a fixed mindset therefore they do not know how to raise their child with a growth mindset. Importance of holistic growth and life skills must be understood for development of an individual. Co-scholastic achievements must be given equal value as academic achievements. Schools and colleges need to create an environment where they reframe the language they use to communicate with students changes. Caregivers need to realize the power of ‘yet’, ‘you're not good at it yet’. Simply questioning your mindset also reflects that you are realising the problem and moving towards the right direction.
UNDERSTANDING THE MINDSET OF ADOLESCENTS • Theoretical knowledge adds stress on the young minds. • Adolescents generally feel frustrated because of studying, hormonal changes, or because they are idle at home. • Currently students are frustrated by their situations and have been losing interest in online classes. • A lack of routine often contributes to lack of interest in activities. • The coping mechanism of the youth needs to be developed. This could be through spirituality, meditation, venting their emotions, or finding value in small things that you do. • Adolescents require support and faith of adults to grow. • If adolescents are not accepting the mistakes and are not taking the initiative to make changes then they're not ready to take the responsibility of whatever went wrong. This reflects their fixed mindset. • Adolescents should spend some “me time” and reflect on themselves to build confidence.
IMPACT OF COVID ON THE MINDSET OF ADOLESCENTS • Our response towards the pandemic also depends on our mindset.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
The lockdown has lead to emotional dependency, irritability, short attention span, anxiety and depression, and the feeling of burdensomeness. The lack off practical knowledge during the lockdown has led to learning deficiency in school students. A survey revealed that 29% of the adolescents had disrupted sleeping pattern and 26% reported loss of interest in performing tasks. 53% students reported weight gains due to lack of physical activities, also causing mental health issues. The pandemic gave us an opportunity to openly discuss our emotions.
IDENTIFYING POSITIVITY, NEGATIVITY, TOXIC POSITIVITY AND MODERN DAY DISTRACTIONS • Negativity propagates faster than the positivity. • Technology has allowed to keep our minds busy or distracted throughout the lockdown, but this has led to toxic positivity among students. • To avoid toxic positivity we need to introduce and promote the concept of Digital
Device Distancing among the adolescents. • Children tend to skip a year because they want to go out for experiences which also lead to idealism. • Adolescents must be realistic wit their expectations. • We appreciate the western education systems because they showcase a lot of empathy towards the students. • Children should also maintain a routine as this helps us in maintaining the structure even when they are tempted by distractions. • To reinforce self-esteem we need to keep a check on our language. Words have a power of their own; whatever words we use has a direct impact on our psychology and our actions. • We must also embrace our imperfections; we don’t need approval from everyone around.
SURVEY FINDINGS
Almost 84% of the population opines that If a student is not performing well in a subject, it does not mean that s/he will continue to perform poorly in all subjects. 83% of the survey participants feel that a pinch of self-criticism is a healthy ingredient for growth mind-set. 46.5% of the population believes that academic performance is genetic. 83% of the audience thinks that feedback and risks can lead to a growth mindset. A little over 97% of the respondents opine that abilities such as a skill, talent or capacity can be developed through training.
