Growth Mindset: Growth Mindset Meme

I need feedback to help me grow. Image source: Blogspot.

I really like this meme/quote because it is so simple, yet so powerful. The words it's saying are true!!! We truly cannot grow as people without feedback. If we could reach our fullest potential all by ourselves, we wouldn't need school, or parenting, or mentors, or advice. 

In order to become better in whatever it is - a sport, a school subject, controlling emotions, learning, anything - we have to be able to receive feedback. This is such a simple concept, but not so easy to accept all the time. Sometimes we feel that we don't need other's input or we don't want people telling us what to do. The hardest part is learning how to accept it and take it with a grain of salt in order to improve ourselves every day!

Week 8 Growth Mindset

Well first, I am going to start by talking about an issue I have with my other classes. As I was going through the list of growth strengths and weaknesses, one stuck out to me. I think one of my biggest weaknesses in my other classes is that I focus on the grades instead of learning. There is a lot of pressure on me to get good grades because of scholarships and sorority requirements, so I am always stressing. I think that sometimes I think and worry so much about getting the good grades, that it actually causes me to do worse. When I get stressed I shut down, and I think if I would focus on learning things rather than getting questions right on a test, I could do much better and would be less stressed.

For this class, I would say my biggest weakness is comparing myself to others. Some times I will write a story, then when I read someone else's I'll like theirs better and start questioning mine. I need to remember to focus on my own growth even when I am observing other people's work.

A strength I have for all my classes would be that I learn from my mistakes. I am pretty good at taking criticism and changing what I do to be better.

For the rest of the semester, I will focus on bettering myself instead of comparing myself to others, and I will set time schedules for myself so that I may be successful in all my classes.

Inspiration. Image Source: UKPinterest.

Growth Mindset: The Sleeper

I watched a Growth Mindset video titled "The Sleeper".
I actually teared up while watching it. It was about a professor who taught this class and every class period the same kid would always be sleeping. He talked about how sometimes it made him so angry like "how dare he". Other times he said he felt sad like "nothing I say matters". Then one day the professor asked the kid to go to lunch with him and talk. He asked the kid why he was always sleeping the the kid told him it was because of video games. But the professor learned that not only did he play video games, he invented them and created them.
He thought it was crazy that these intelligent, diligent, hard-working students are seen in a negative light by school systems. So he put the kid in new classes, where he could design and create and do all the things he was so good at without having the lectures. He worked so hard on every single project and succeeded greatly.
That professor never looked at "sleepers" the same way.

I really liked this video. It just proves that you really don't know someone until you take the time to try. All of that student's professors thought he was lazy and maybe even dumb because of the grades he got. But they had no idea how smart and driven he really was... Just not on the things they wanted him to be.

Although in school it is important to learn to grow in more areas than just the ones you succeed in, it is also important to realize that everyone succeeds at different things in life.

Sleeping in Class. Image Source: USnews.

Link to video. 

Growth Mindset

I really enjoyed learning about the growth mindset through this lesson. I had never heard of Carol Dweck or the growth mindset before, so this was all new information to me. I loved how Carol described the grade of "not yet", and how instead of receiving a failing grade, a grade of not yet reassures a person that they are on their way to success. Growing up an athlete, I know how important this is. I was constantly learning new skills, which meant also constantly 'failing' to perfect them at first. I would have been so discouraged if every time I didn't hit a skill perfectly, I was told I failed. So it is strange how we don't feel the same way about kids in school.
The growth mindset is something I am interested in, and I think will come in handy throughout the rest of the semester. I am in some classes that will be very challenging for me, and having a positive attitude when it comes to my grades in those courses will help me to be successful.

The higher you climb, the more you can see. Blogspot.