What is a Successful Student Mindset?
There is a mindset that successful students have that schools don’t know how to teach. Some call it grit. Many call it a growth mindset. Some call it the lion mentality. I call it the hero mindset. This mindset is the main factor in deciding whether a person succeeds or fails. While some students give up when obstacles block their path, those with the hero mindset keep getting up and trying until they succeed, no matter how long it takes.
Some people call this the lion mentality because the lion runs and runs until he gets what he wants. The lion wants a gazelle for his family to eat. In contrast to the gazelle, which only runs when something is chasing him. Click here to link to the video for the lion mentality.
Why Aren’t Schools Teaching This Mentality?
To be honest, I haven’t completely figured out the “why” yet. But I can tell you what systems schools use instead of teaching this lion mentality. Grades. Teachers teach the required material (and we have some phenomenal teachers out there who do this very well) and then give a test, stamp the test with a quality label of A- F, and then move on to teach the next section of required material. Then what happens in the student’s mind after receiving their worthiness label (grade) on the test? All people are constantly telling themselves stories about their place in the world based on the feedback they get. If a student receives a worthiness label that confirms what they believe about themselves already, they have confirmed their identity and become more entrenched in it. This does not promote student growth, whether the student thinks of themselves as an A(amazing) student, an F(failure) student, or somewhere in between. If a student’s received worthiness label conflicts with the story they tell themselves, there are a couple of different actions available to students to bridge the gap between identity and input.
How Students Bridge The Gap
What teachers want students to do in order to bridge this gap between self-identity and environmental input (grades) is to be motivated to study harder and do better next time. If a student thinks of themselves as an A student and they receive a poor grade, the teacher wants them to work to improve next time. This does happen, sometimes. It happens with the students who already have a lion mentality and are ready to work hard to achieve their goals. Although it is often accompanied by a boatload of anxiety for the student. However, what more often happens (especially if a student does not have a lion mentality already) is that they change their identity. They decide that the environmental input is telling them that they are not as good as they thought and they settle. This is also not helpful to students. It does not promote student growth.
How Can Schools Teach the Necessary Mindset to Be Successful Students?
Instead of simply giving a worthiness rating and moving on, why not require students to improve their learning? If a student does not receive adequate grades, they do not understand the material. Why not allow that student to redo and relearn the material until they do? Life doesn’t give out worthiness ratings and then move on. Life gives you problems that you have to work at until you solve them. Why not give students the same opportunity? My Mastery Gamification Methodology does just that. Students do not move on to new material until they understand the old. They are required to earn a certain grade before they move on. Students are given unlimited chances to redo. This is much more similar to how life works. If you have a family and you need to feed that family, you don’t try to feed them one day, get a worthiness rating, and then move on. You keep problem-solving until you figure out a way to feed your family. Whether you are a lion on the savannah or a new father getting a better job.
Is Anyone Teaching This Mindset?
Yes. I’ve found two ways that students can learn this mindset and you’re not going to like the second answer. The first way is from parents/guardians/role models. If students see an important adult in their life benefitting from this mindset, they are more likely to learn and adopt it. However, it’s this second answer you won’t like. The other place that is teaching this mindset is none other than… video games.
Video Games… Really?
Yep. Those mind-sucking, intelligence-killing, homework time-wasting video games. Think about it, a kid is presented with a role as a hero who is supposed to defeat a bad guy (boss). They attempt to improve their skills in order to defeat the boss. Then, if they are not successful in defeating the boss, they earn more lives and try again, and again, and again. They keep going until they get the results they want. This is why I call this lion mentality the hero mindset. If you are a hero in a video game, you will keep going until you solve your problem (defeat the boss). That sounds like a great way to approach life!
What Can Teachers Do?
My Mastery Gamification Methodology uses stories that make the student the hero, gives the student a boss to defeat by learning educational material, and then gives them extra lives to defeat the boss if need be. It requires students to redo and relearn until they understand. The system combines mastery-learning and gamification into one smooth system that has given my students a lot of success in the classroom. If you are interested in learning more, join my Facebook group or reach out for a chat. I’d love to help you empower your students to adopt the hero mindset in their educational journey! Together, we can change the face of education.
