(Albert Einstein image at Flickr)
I have never once been told about the idea of growth mindset, which is surprising since both of my parents are educators. I think the concept of growth mindset that Dr. Carol Dweck discusses is interesting and I agree with most of it based off of the videos watched. I am a firm believer that students will not want to admit to mistake or failure and that when the have been told they are smart that they don't want to admit to fail. I am a firm believer in this because I used to be that student. When things come easier to you then to others it is difficult to react to challenge and failure which is what happened to me in my transition from high school to college. When I came to college I, without a doubt, was a fixed minded individual however, after failing enough times and finally succeeding I have become more of a growth minded individual. I do agree that praising children for the process they take and the steps they take to get to a solution instead of getting the correct solution will not only encourage them to handle more difficult tasks but will also indirectly teach them to use those skills on every problem they face.
Another belief of mine is that when you repeatedly praise a person for only their intelligence you are limiting them to believe that is the only quality they have and vise versa if someone sees others being praised for their intelligence and they are not they are forced to believe they are not intelligent. This could not be more false, intelligence is an acquired trait, it may come quicker to others but at one point in everyone's life they started at the basics. When you praise someone for the process they take that is a skill they can develop and use it in all aspects of life: sports, school, and personal challenges.
Another aspect that I agree with from these videos is the idea of effort. Dweck talks about fixed minded students feel their ability means they don't need to put in effort but growth minded students want to put in effort. Everyone will come across a challenge in life, weather it be school, work, or a relationship, where effort is going to be required and the individuals who have the skills to deal with that will be the ones most successful.
Hello again, Olivia!
ReplyDeleteI agree with just about everything you have written here, especially the comment you made about praising intelligence. Some people are so used to being told they are "smart" that they put immense stress on themselves to literally know every fact in every class. It's more sad to me than impressive, especially because it's such an impossible goal to have. I always think it's better to really succeed and conquer a few goals, rather than falling short of too many.