Educators play a pivotal role in shaping students’ academic journeys, and their impact in the classroom extends far beyond merely imparting knowledge or grading students’ work. Teachers’ communication in and out of the classroom has an effect on students’ self-efficacy, confidence, and resilience during challenging times. But it can become a habit for teachers to have a deficit mindset toward students, as evidenced by practices like subtractive grading, wherein they deduct points from a perfect score on account of errors. Consequently, teachers may inadvertently focus on students’ weaknesses instead of their strengths.
