Growth Mindset Thoughts

Growth Mindset Thoughts

The growth mindset is a completely new topic for me- I had never heard of it before. I had never heard of Carol Dweck either- but I am so glad I discovered her. I found her talks about the growth mindset and fixed mindsets extremely interesting. I have always thought about the education system and how it affects the mindsets and abilities of students, as I really did not enjoy my secondary school education and felt that it hindered my abilities greatly.

I felt that my education always put me into a box- I was to aim for this and this only and recieve the grade. My days were always very boring and I felt very drained, and whenever something difficult arose I was very quick to discourage and would shy away from the challenge at all costs. This clearly put me in the fixed mindset- something I had developed over the years. I never had an explanation for this until now- I always just would say things like "I hated secondary school" and brush it off. Learning about Dweck's thoughts on the growth mindset and fixed mindset was great for me as it put words to things I didnt really know how to explain properly.

Since starting college and being in this new environment, it has personally helped me a lot mentally and took me away from the fixed mindset. The creative freedom, emphasis on process, constant feedback, supports and group activities has really made me more confident and has made me think more outside the box and embrace a challenge- all things that Dweck talks about in developing a growth mindset.

Now that I recall, I was never really praised for my process in things, only on how well the finished product was. Dweck's explanation about how praise affects students and their mindsets shows that praising on intelligence puts students in a fixed mindset- while praising on process puts students into a growth mindset. I never knew that praise from a young age can actually affect a person later on in life- but now that Dweck has taught me this it makes a lot of sense. My parents would always praise me for good grades and scold me for bad grades- never for the time and effort and work I put into the grades and the process in achieving those grades. Praising children on their process rather than intelligence is a great idea- intelligence develops from a growth mindset, not a fixed one.

Dweck talks about how students should seek challenges and more difficult work rather than to do things they are comfortable with, which I agree with entirely. I can personally say that I have learned far more skills from the challenges and style of teaching in this course than I ever have in my 6 years of secondary. You will never learn anything if you stay in your comfort zone- which is something I have learned over the years, but particularly in third level education.

Growth Mindset Cards

Source: Kristin Weins on Twitter (Link)

I am definitely interested in learning more about the growth mindset as I feel that I can relate to its theory a lot. I also just generally find it very fascinating and hope to become more informed about it in order to improve myself. I have always complained about the school system and how it puts children into bad mindsets and aids in the development of mental illnesses, and learning through Dweck has shown me possible solutions to improve these problems and help students develop growth mindsets. I genuinely hope things like this are implemented in the secondary school system so that others won't have such a bad experience similar to what I had.

I wish to get more out of my comfort zone and to become more confident in this semester. Confidence is something I have always struggled with since a young age and I want to challenge myself this semester with trying new things and taking on a challenge. I feel that learning more about the growth mindset can aid me in this greatly. 

I am a bit worried about coding in this semester since it's not something I have done before college and I haven't done any since the last semester- but I think that taking on some of Dweck's thoughts will benefit me in overcoming this challenge.

Overall I found Dweck's talks to be very informative and interesting- and its definitely something I wish to look more into in the future to help me develop as a person.

I'd love to hear your thoughts about this! Feel free to comment, and I cant wait to read your opinions about this topic.

Thank you for reading my blog!