Changing PerspectivesA study found that many 10-year old students consider cheating to be a better way to improve their test grades than studying more (Dweck). According to a theory developed by Stanford psychology professor Dr. Carol Dweck, this is due to the prevalence of a “fixed mindset” in today’s students. Dweck’s theory outlines two opposing mindsets: the fixed mindset and the growth mindset. Those with a fixed mindset believe that people are born with a set amount of intelligence that cannot be changed (Barshay). In contrast, those with a growth mindset believe that intelligence is something that can be improved and developed through effort and problem-solving strategies (Barshay). Dweck states that students with a growth mindset perform better academically because they see challenges as learning experiences rather than evidence of inadequacy (Dweck). I personally agree with Dweck’s theory and believe that adopting aspects of a growth mindset can be beneficial to someone who is struggling with school. In the past I had a fixed mindset and was easily overwhelmed by school work that took any effort at all, while changing my views in college has made it so that I can cope and successfully do things I would have previously given up on. Developing a growth mindset has helped to make me a better college student because I can now see that challenges are meant to be persevered through, not taken as a sign of failure.
One way that adopting a growth mindset has made me a better student is that I no longer base my self-worth on how well I’m doing academically. According to Dweck’s theory, children develop a fixed mindset when they are praised only for the results of their actions, such as getting an 'A' on a test, instead of acknowledging the effort and studying it required to earn that positive result (Barshay). This type of praise causes them to believe that their success is due to inherent (i.e. fixed) qualities such as being “smart”, and to base their self-worth on these qualities (Dweck). I agree with this, as I was considered to be “naturally” smart as a child and as a result developed a fixed mindset. As a result of developing a fixed mindset, many children believe that they are naturally good and bad at certain things and that struggling with school means that they aren’t smart and have no chance of improvement (Barshay). Accordingly, when school work became harder for me in high school and I had to work hard to even get mediocre grades, I shut down and started to feel worthless and depressed because I wasn’t “smart” anymore. Adopting a growth mindset in college, however, has helped me to move past those feelings of self-doubt even when I don’t receive as high of a grade on an assignment as I would have liked. Although I may not have the capabilities of a genius like Stephen Hawking, growth mindset still allows anyone to apply themselves and become their best selves. Growth mindset is about looking to the future and seeing your own potential, instead of dwelling on past failures. Adopting a growth mindset has also helped me to no longer give up on challenging tasks as easily. Throughout my childhood I never had to put effort into doing well in school as getting good grades just seemed to come naturally to me. As a result, because I didn’t have any experience with having to struggle at something before I became good at it, I would give up on any hobbies or activities that were difficult before I even had a chance to begin improving. Dweck’s ideas support this negative aspect of having a fixed mindset, showing that fixed mindset children show a greater tendency than those with a growth mindset to give up on challenging tasks and base their self-worth entirely around the end result instead of acknowledging their own progress (Barshay). The growth mindset addresses this issue, and encourages teachers and parents to praise students for their effort and the strategies they used to accomplish a task (Barshay). Dweck also encourages teachers and parents to work with their children to help find problem solving strategies that work for them, instead of pushing a child to continue putting in effort without results (Barshay). I agree that doing well in school is often more about being willing to put in effort and having good study habits than it is being inherently smart or talented. If I don’t do as well on an exam as I would have liked, instead of giving up and deciding that I’m just not good at that subject and "That Is That," I reflect on what I did to prepare and think about strategies I can use to do better on the next exam. For example, in Anatomy & Physiology I got an exam grade that was below what I was happy with. I thought about how I had studied for the exam and realized that I hadn’t reviewed the lecture PowerPoints like I had in the past, and that was why I had struggled with the multiple choice section of the exam. For the next exam, I made sure to incorporate reading the lectures into my study schedule and as a result my grade on that exam was significantly higher. I feel that adopting a growth mindset has greatly helped me to stay motivated and maintain a good GPA in college, instead of giving up like I would have in high school. Although Dweck's theories are widely considered to be valid, there are still some that disagree that students' mindsets are as important as she proposes. Alfie Kohn, for instance, states that, “no mindset is a magic elixir that can dissolve the toxicity of structural arrangements.” He argues that a major flaw in the idea of fixed and growth mindsets is that it places the blame of doing poorly solely on the student’s mindset and fails to address possible problems with the learning environment that may be inhibiting the student’s learning ability (Kohn). I agree that Dweck’s theory is not perfect, but think that there are clear benefits to it that should be acknowledged. Growth mindset, far from being philosophical speculation, is based on the legitimate scientific concept of neuroplasticity. As explained by Sentis in their YouTube video about neuroplasticity, the way we see our lives and feel about situations actually is influenced by our frame of mind: Say we think about something differently -- learn a new task or choose a different emotion. We start carving out a new road [within our brain]. If we keep traveling that road, our brains begin to use this pathway more, and this new way of thinking, feeling, or doing, becomes second nature. (Sentis) So, for instance, a student can to an extent choose to abandon bad study habits or feel less stress and anxiety about test taking simply by changing his or her mindset. Dweck has also done studies with children in non-ideal learning environments and found that growth mindset teaching is still beneficial to them; one study revealed how a class of Native American students improved from the worst performing class of their district to the best (Dweck). Additionally, Dweck acknowledges that parents and teachers can play a part in a student developing a fixed mindset, and stresses the importance of praising a student’s effort and process as well as positive results (Barshay). While Dweck’s philosophy is not perfect, I don’t believe there is yet a better alternative to the growth mindset. I believe that having a growth mindset has helped me to accomplish more than I could have with a fixed mindset. For me having a fixed mindset made it easy to give up on things, since I couldn't be faulted for not being born good at things like playing the flute or doing gymnastics. Now that I have a growth mindset, though, I’ve become a more motivated, responsible person because I know that if I want to succeed at something it’s up to me to put in the effort. Even though I’ll never be as talented as some people, I can still become better than the person I was yesterday. Works Cited Barshay, Jill. "Teachers, Parents Often Misuse Growth Mindset Research, Carol Dweck Says." U.S. News & World Report. U.S. News & World Report, 23 Nov. 2015. Web. 20 Feb. 2017. <http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2015/11/23/teachers-parents-often-misuse-growth-mindset-research-carol-dweck-says>. Dweck, Carol. “Carol Dweck: The Power of Believing That You Can Improve.” TED, Nov. 2014, Web. 21 Feb. 2017. <www.ted.com/talks/carol_dweck_the_power_of_believing_that_you_can_improve>. Kohn, Alfie. “The perils of “Growth Mindset” education: Why we’re trying to fix our kids when we should be fixing the system.” Salon. Salon Media Group, Inc., 16 Aug. 2015. Web. 20 Feb. 2017. <http://www.salon.com/2015/08/16/the_education_fad_thats_hurting_our_kids_what_you_need_to_know_about_growth_mindset_theory_and_the_harmful_lessons_it_imparts/> Sentis. “Neuroplasticity.” YouTube. YouTube, 6 November 2012. Web. 23 April 2017. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ELpfYCZa87g>
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Being in this class has changed the way I view creating a composition. Before, I feel like I was so focused on everything being perfect, and I would criticize myself and try to edit in my head before I had even written anything so that it was SO difficult for me to actually write. I would get stressed out even thinking about writing, which sucks because it used to be a hobby that I enjoyed. Now I feel like I've gotten better at seeing that when you compose something it doesn't have to be perfect for it to be worth writing, and it doesn't have to be perfect for it to have meaning. Realizing this has made it a lot easier for me to write, both for college and as a hobby. I don't have unrealistic expectations of what my composition should look like and can appreciate my writing for what it is, and know that it can always be revised and made better later if I'm not happy with it. So I'm happy that I gained that from this class :)
So, today I went to Best Buy to try and get an NES Classic. If you don't know what an NES Classic is, basically it's a mini version of Nintendo's first game console (the Nintendo Entertainment System) from the 80's with 30 classic games preloaded on it. A lot of people really want this thing because of the nostalgia factor and it's been perpetually sold out practically everywhere since it released because Nintendo only made like 5, so a week ago Nintendo announced that they were going to be making more shipments so that everyone who wants one can get an NES Classic and enjoy a rousing game of Super Mario Bros. 2. Wait, no, they actually discontinued it. It was announced that stores would be getting their last shipments in April, and a few days ago Best Buy tweeted that they would have some in stock on April 24th. Since it was my last chance to get one that wasn't $1,000 on eBay, I decided I might as well give it a go and woke up at 8:00 to go wait outside Best Buy in the frigid morning air with all the other hopeless people. I thought that since it would probably be their last shipment ever, they might have more in stock to get all of them out of the warehouse. Like, maybe 15.
They had LITERALLY SIX. And of course the serious Nintendo people had already been camping out near the door with their beach chairs for hours at that point. Whatever. I got a burrito on the way home and felt better. (I work at GameStop, and if one more person calls asking if we have any NES Classics in stock I'm going to quit. Like, buddy, I can't even get one...) Changing Perspectives A study found that many 10-year old students consider cheating to be a better way to improve their test grades than studying more (Dweck). According to a theory developed by Stanford psychology professor Dr. Carol Dweck, this is due to the prevalence of a “fixed mindset” in today’s students. Dweck’s theory outlines two opposing mindsets: the fixed mindset, and the growth mindset. Those with a fixed mindset believe that people are born with a set amount of intelligence that cannot be changed (Barshay). In contrast, those with a growth mindset believe that intelligence is something that can be improved and developed through effort (Barshay). Dweck states that students with a growth mindset perform better academically because they see challenges as learning experiences rather than evidence of failure (Dweck). I personally agree with Dweck’s theory and believe that adopting aspects of a growth mindset can be beneficial to someone who is struggling with school. In the past I had a fixed mindset and was easily overwhelmed by school work that took any effort at all, while changing my views in college has made it so that I can cope and successfully do things I would have previously given up on. Developing a growth mindset has helped to make me a better student because I can now see that challenges are meant to be persevered through, not taken as a sign of failure.
One way that adopting a growth mindset has made me a better person is that I no longer base my self-worth on how well I’m doing academically. According to Dweck’s theory, children develop a fixed mindset when they are praised only for the results of their actions, such as getting an 'A' on a test, instead of acknowledging the effort and studying it required to earn that positive result (Barshay). This type of praise causes them to believe that their success is due to inherent (i.e. fixed) qualities such as being “smart”, and to base their self-worth on these qualities (Dweck). I agree with this, as I was considered to be “naturally” smart as a child and as a result developed a fixed mindset. As a result of developing a fixed mindset, many children believe that they are naturally good and bad at certain things and that struggling with school means that they aren’t smart and have no chance of improvement (Barshay). Accordingly, when school work became harder for me in high school and I had to work hard to even get mediocre grades, I shut down and started to feel worthless and depressed because I wasn’t “smart” anymore. Adopting a growth mindset in college, however, has helped me to move past those feelings of self-doubt even when I don’t receive as high of a grade on an assignment as I would have liked. Part of the growth mindset theory involves the concept of neuroplasticity. Neuroplasticity is the ability of the brain to adapt and form new habits by strengthening and weakening pathways between neurons (Sentis). Although I may not have the capabilities of a genius like Stephen Hawking, neuroplasticity still allows anyone to apply themselves and become their best selves. Growth mindset is about looking to the future and seeing your own potential, instead of dwelling on past failures. Adopting a growth mindset has also helped me to no longer give up on challenging tasks as easily. Throughout my childhood I never had to put effort into doing well in school as getting good grades just seemed to come naturally to me. As a result, because I didn’t have any experience with having to struggle at something before I became good at it, I would give up on any hobbies or activities that were difficult before I even had a chance to begin improving. Dweck’s ideas support this negative aspect of having a fixed mindset, showing that fixed mindset children show a greater tendency than those with a growth mindset to give up on challenging tasks and base their self-worth entirely around the end result instead of acknowledging their own progress (Barshay). The growth mindset addresses this issue, and encourages teachers and parents to praise students for their effort and the strategies they used to accomplish a task (Barshay). Dweck also encourages teachers and parents to work with their children to help find problem solving strategies that work for them, instead of pushing a child to continue putting in effort without results (Barshay). I agree that doing well in school is often more about being willing to put in effort and having good study habits than it is being inherently smart or talented. If I don’t do as well on an exam as I would have liked, instead of giving up and deciding that I’m just not good at that subject and That Is That, I reflect on what I did to prepare and think about strategies I can use to do better on the next exam. I feel that adopting this attitude has greatly helped me to stay motivated and maintain a good GPA in college, instead of giving up like I would have in high school. Although Dweck's theories are widely considered to be valid, there are still some that disagree that students' mindsets are as important as she proposes. Alfie Kohn, for instance, states that, “no mindset is a magic elixir that can dissolve the toxicity of structural arrangements.” He argues that a major flaw in the idea of fixed and growth mindsets is that it places the blame of doing poorly solely on the student’s mindset and fails to address possible problems with the learning environment that may be inhibiting the student’s learning ability (Kohn). I agree that Dweck’s theory is not perfect, but think that there are clear benefits to that should be acknowledged. Growth mindset, far from being philosophical speculation, is based on the legitimate scientific concept of neuroplasticity. As explained by Sentis in their YouTube video about neuroplasticity, the way we see our lives and feel about situations actually is influenced by our frame of mind: Say we think about something differently -- learn a new task or choose a different emotion. We start carving out a new road [within our brain]. If we keep traveling that road, our brains begin to use this pathway more, and this new way of thinking, feeling, or doing, becomes second nature (Sentis). So, for instance, a student actually can to an extent choose to abandon bad study habits or feel less stress and anxiety about test taking simply by changing their mindset. Dweck has also done studies with children in non-ideal learning environments and found that growth mindset teaching is still beneficial to them, in one study allowing a class of Native American students to go from the worst performing class of their district to the best (Dweck). Additionally, Dweck acknowledges that parents and teachers can play a part in a student developing a fixed mindset, and stresses the importance of praising a student’s effort and process as well as positive results (Barshay). While Dweck’s philosophy is not perfect, I don’t believe that there is yet a better alternative to the growth mindset. I believe that having a growth mindset has helped me to accomplish more than I could have with a fixed mindset. Having a fixed mindset made it easy to give up on things, since you can’t be faulted for not being born good at playing the flute or doing gymnastics. Now that I have a growth mindset, though, I’ve become a more motivated, responsible person because I know that if I want to succeed at something it’s up to me to put in the effort. Even though I’ll never be as talented as some people, I can still become better than the person I was yesterday. Works Cited Barshay, Jill. "Teachers, Parents Often Misuse Growth Mindset Research, Carol Dweck Says." U.S. News & World Report. U.S. News & World Report, 23 Nov. 2015. Web. 20 Feb. 2017. <http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2015/11/23/teachers-parents-often-misuse-growth-mindset-research-carol-dweck-says>. Dweck, Carol. “Carol Dweck: The Power of Believing That You Can Improve.” TED, Nov. 2014, Web. 21 Feb. 2017. <www.ted.com/talks/carol_dweck_the_power_of_believing_that_you_can_improve>. Kohn, Alfie. “The perils of “Growth Mindset” education: Why we’re trying to fix our kids when we should be fixing the system.” Salon. Salon Media Group, Inc., 16 Aug. 2015. Web. 20 Feb. 2017. <http://www.salon.com/2015/08/16/the_education_fad_thats_hurting_our_kids_what_you_need_to_know_about_growth_mindset_theory_and_the_harmful_lessons_it_imparts/> Sentis. “Neuroplasticity.” YouTube. YouTube, 6 November 2012. Web. 23 April 2017. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ELpfYCZa87g> Skeletal The sun was a bright disc in the cloudless sky, casting over everything an oppressive heat that was made only somewhat bearable by a slight, warm breeze rustling through the trees. It was that awkward period towards the end of summer break where it was really a bit too early to begin thinking seriously about school starting in September, but each careless day was tainted slightly by the knowledge that soon you would again have responsibilities. Instead of making the most of the time we had, my best friend Miranda and I instead often wasted our days hanging around the neighborhood doing nothing or sitting around on her front step. Miranda lived in an unexciting looking house that was painted a light beige and had a roof made of tiles that had faded from black to a worn-out gray. The only thing that made her house stand out from the other houses on her street was the Japanese maple tree on her front lawn.
Miranda’s house was a twin, and a few feet to the right of my friend’s front step was another that looked fairly identical. The neighbors were rarely home, however, so we had claimed their step for ourselves, to be used as an asylum when the wasps situated in a small nest above Miranda’s doorstep began to act up. I’m not sure they ever knew or cared that their front step no longer belonged to them. On this day, the heat had caused the wasps to become restless and so we were situated in our makeshift wasp-escape place, whiling away the time talking and drawing on the ground with sidewalk chalk. We weren't doing anything incredibly interesting, but it seemed like we were having fun just by being in each other's company. “My aunt Mary is coming over later today. Well, she’s not my real aunt but her and my grandma have been friends since they were kids in, like, the 1940s. Isn’t that cool?” Miranda said, brushing her brunette bangs out of her eyes. Her grandmother trimmed her hair for her, and the bangs always seemed to come out the slightest bit uneven. “My grandma says everyone should have a friend like that, that they know their whole life.” “That’s true,” I said. I figured having a best friend for that long must be something like having a sister that you had picked. Miranda brushed her bangs out of her eyes again, this time smearing pink sidewalk chalk all over her forehead. “When she told me that, I said, ‘that’s easy, I already have the friend I’m going to be friends with my whole life!’” she said, smiling and pushing me good-naturedly. I smiled, pushing her back. ~~~ As the years passed, Miranda and I saw each other less and less. She got taller and thinner and started wearing makeup, while I continued to resemble something like a baked potato. I got the feeling that our friendship had been put aside for more interesting things, that it didn’t fit into her “cool girl” lifestyle anymore. I started to feel stupid for being the only one who cared about the friendship, so I stopped making an effort to keep it alive. Once I stopped calling her, we nearly stopped talking altogether. ~~~ The decades old metal clanged loudly as I slammed my locker shut, the loud noise barely audible over the cacophony of students talking in the high school hallway. The commotion of changing classes made it impossible to hear anything that didn’t break the sound barrier, so I was incredibly startled when I felt someone tap me on the shoulder. I whirled around. It was Miranda. “Hey, girl!” she said, as if everything was like it had been years ago. “Oh… hey.” I wasn’t sure how you were supposed to interact with an almost-but-not-quite-former friend who you had technically not ended on bad terms with, but had become the sort of person that I didn't have anything in common with; didn't really WANT to have anything in common with. So I just said ‘hey’. Miranda brushed her light blonde bangs out of her eyes. She’d had her hair bleached from her natural brunette. She’d always made fun of me in the past for being reluctant to dye my dull, ash brown hair to something lighter. “How have you been?” “I mean, I’m still alive.” There was the odd awkwardness of making small talk with someone who practically used to be your sister. At some point, Miranda and I had stopped being ‘BFFs’ and become barely more than casual acquaintances. I wondered when the turning point had been. The start of middle school? When we had stopped liking the same music? There had been a time when we had spent nearly every day together; where we had known each other so long and spent so much time together that we were practically two halves of a whole. You could have one without the other, but there would have been the underlying sense that something was missing. Now, it was rare that we would see each other more than once every few months. And even that felt pointless and unbearable, like trying to defibrillate a skeleton. Miranda glanced across the hall. There were several people who seemed to be waiting for her to finish up. They all looked like they type of person I would avoid. “Listen, I have to go. We’ll hang out soon, alright?” ~~~ We didn’t speak again that year. Or the next. It was hard to accept that Miranda and I’s friendship was dead. But we could never go back to being the way we were as kids. We had just become entirely different people. ~~~ My phone beeped cheerily, the screen lighting up with multiple notifications. The artificial light cast a sickly looking glow over the walls of the dimly lit room; it had just begun to grow dark outside. I glanced at my phone, the unnatural, white light hurting my eyes a bit as I scrolled through the messages. ‘hey, why don’t you ever text me anymore? I miss you girl’ Did I even know this person anymore? I had at one point, but that felt like a lifetime ago. I hesitated a moment before hitting the phone’s lock button; the messages could wait, they weren’t that important. The room fell back into semidarkness. I couldn't think of anything to blog about this week because I did literally nothing but get another mini cactus at Linvilla Orchards, so I decided to post a poem I wrote. “indifferent”
the ocean is ancient and powerful by the time the first human took its first tentative step it had already witnessed innumerable creatures live and die it cares nothing for our fleeting existences the barbarous battles the impossible ventures the eleventh-hour confessions and after the last human has gasped its last breath the tide will continue to go in and out as if nothing happened at all I can't think of anything to blog about but Rick and Morty has taken over my life... I've watched like 10 episodes today why is this show so good??? I only started watching it because they aired it instead of Samurai Jack on April Fools day and now I need it to live.. it's the Mona Lisa of comedy shows update: It's only been a week and I'm pretty much over this show. People keep coming into the store I work at looking for Rick and Morty Pops figures and I look at them with pity
On Netflix there's a show called Chef's Table that follows the life of a different world-renowned chef each week and examines what makes them and their food unique. For this week's blog we watched the episode about Francis Mallmann.
• Who did I work with to compose my project? Was this a good approach?
I kept the intro that we wrote together in class, so I guess you could say I worked with Professor Mangini and the entire class. I think this was a good approach because getting started is often the hardest part of writing for me, and having the intro done made it easier to write the remainder of my paper. I wrote the rest of the essay by myself. • What was the most difficult part of my writing process? Why? What did I do to overcome the obstacles? The most difficult part of this assignment for me was trying to find time to work on it. I put it off all spring break and I had work Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday of the week we came back, so it was a bit of a struggle to make time to finish it by the due date. I overcame this by working on it during class and q time Thursday. • When did I write this project? Good approach? LITERALLY THE DAY IT WAS DUE which I mean is pretty bad but I still finished it in time so, • Where did I write this project? Good approach? Like I said, I wrote pretty much the entire essay in class. This was a pretty bad approach since all the class stuff going on made it kind of hard to focus on writing. • Why did I choose to write about my chosen topic? I chose to write about the “Is Lynn Sear a good mother?” prompt because I thought it was interesting, and something where you could make a convincing argument for both sides — Lynn being a good mother or Lynn being a bad mother. • How will I adapt/revise my writing process for future revision of this project? [Be specific. Review your current six-step writing process plan and consider posting a new six-step plan.] Literally just not procrastinate and end up having to write almost an entire essay the day it’s due???? |
Charlottebuckle up homestuck cause this is my blog Archives
May 2017
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