Encourage A Growth Mindset In Teachers

COACHES NOTEBOOK

Encourage a growth mindset in teachers

By Sharron Helmke

Categories: Coaching, Facilitation, Learning designs, Social & emotional learning

Vol. 41, No. 4

Growth mindset, a concept that has been influential throughout education and beyond, is core to successful instructional coaching. Coaches not only embody a growth mindset toward teaching and learning, but the very purpose of our work is helping that mindset come alive in the professional growth of teachers. We support teachers in seeing student learning needs as opportunities to improve teaching excellence, and we recognize that each experience, regardless of outcome, has a place in the learning journey. Challenges to growth mindset typically occur not with the concept, but in living within it. That’s especially true when engaging in professional learning inquiry requires us to rethink our familiar, comfortable teaching plans. When I was a coach, I sometimes found it difficult to promote an ongoing

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Authors

Sharron Helmke

Sharron Helmke is a Gestalt awareness coach and a senior consultant for Learning Forward.

Sharron Helmke

Senior Vice President, Professional Services at Learning Forward | + posts

Sharron Helmke, senior vice president of professional services at Learning Forward, designs and manages the organization’s consulting service programs that support state, regional, and local organizations in translating their improvement and learning goals into custom-designed high-quality professional learning programs that result in scalable and sustainable change. During her twenty-plus years in education she has served in a variety of roles at the campus and district levels, including teacher, instructional coach, and district-based program administrator. She is an international coaching federation certified professional coach, a Gestalt professional coach, and a trauma-informed care provider, all of which inform her approach to supporting educators. She is the author of numerous professional articles, including “To make a difference for every student, give every new teacher a mentor” in the August 2022 issue of The Learning Journal.