Some teachers see this as blasphemy to the education world they know, but if our main objective is to get students to learn, then is there really any harm? This may mean they get to retake quizzes and tests or rewrite papers. When feasible, let students redo and retry until it is clear they understand. Let students continue to try until they “get it.” Testing and grades have created in all of us a mindset of sink or swim, when in reality we may need to let students float for a while. Try these ideas with your students to foster the power of yet. Instead of feeling defeated and giving up, like the determined baby, we can develop the mindset of “I can’t walk, YET!” Foster the Power of Yet in your classroom We can learn a lot from babies and apply it to our own lives. This happens over and over until they take two steps, then three and then eventually walk across the room and are soon running every place they go. I can’t walk!”īut what happens is they get up they fall down they get up again they fall down again. Imagine if a baby tried to walk across a room, fell down, and decided, “That’s it. It may be “I’m no good at math.” “I will never be able to read that book.” or “I can’t teach like …” The list goes on, and we’ve all been guilty of saying this.

The reality is that students and teachers both have a fixed mindset about certain things. Obviously it’s a hot topic, and this idea of “yet” has found its way into the classroom.

The phrase “the power of yet” was coined by Carol Dweck in her book Mindset. If you’ve been a teacher for half a minute, you’ve heard the buzz word “ growth mindset.” An entire teaching model was built around the idea of an A, B,C, not there yet philosophy. Google those words and you will find posters, songs, videos, and articles.

The power of yet carol s dweck