Before this assignment, I had not heard of Carol Dweck (or at least I can't remember that name), but I think she does a fantastic job at speaking clearly and expressing the message she is trying to get across. Also, I feel that she is very knowledgeable about this subject and cares about it too, which I think is even more important than having the "book smarts" about the topic. In addition, I don't believe I had heard of the exact terminology "growth mindset" before, but I have definitely heard these ideas from family, friends, teachers, and other individuals in my life. Between taking classes, readings different blogs/news stories, and having discussions at home, I think that is how I mainly learned about "growth mindset". I feel like I have been lucky to have been put into these conversations with knowledgeable people who care about this subject as well, because I have gained this mindset for myself and also for younger teens and kids that are just that much younger than me.
When Carol was speaking about growth mindset when it came to schoolwork, I kinda had to step back a little bit and think about my school experiences that I had growing up. Honestly, I was the kid who thought most assignments were easy, without much of a challenge. However, I believe the environment I was in and the school that I went to did not have the resources to challenge me and many other classmates more than what they were doing, because there were still so many who were being challenged with what was given. Thinking back to elementary school, all the way through high school, I remember having the conversations of assignments being "easy" and I still got "praise" for that. I never thought about how that could have affected me with my self-esteem or work ethic when the time came when I would be the one who was being challenged. I do have to say, thinking about what she said and looking at my life, I could see what she was talking about though. All through my years of going to school in Henryetta, a very small public school, I was the "smart" one. However, when I came to the huge campus of OU, I was challenged and I wasn't getting the praise that I was used to. Whether or not that is the reason my freshman year at OU was difficult or not, it does make me wonder if my childhood experiences had not prepared me in a way that they should have. I believe as I get older, challenges aren't as scary as they were when I was younger, because I have seen failure before. But I do still think I have those "road blocks" that hinder me from just going "all out" when faced with a new challenge. I think these challenges could be that I don't want to mess up and fail, I want the ending to be exactly how I imagine it, I want it to be perfect (and maybe even easy) the whole time, and I want to be adequately prepared for whatever comes up. However, I have realized, that things never turn out how they are supposed to (usually), they aren't going to be perfect (or at least what you consider perfect), you will mess up and fail sometimes, and you usually won't be prepared for all of the things you will face; and all of that is perfectly okay. This I feel like is the biggest thing I have learned, especially being at college. That at OU, I will learn a lot about different subjects, but I will also learn a lot more about myself and life in the four (or more) years that I'm here.
After reading and watching the videos about growth mindset, I think I will continue to be interested in this topic. I don't think it's something that is a "one time thing" or something that only "certain" people need in their lives. I think we all need to continue to improve and continually being aware of this topic is important in order to do that.
I guess I would have to say that my personal learning goals for this semester is just to try to stay better organized and don't get overwhelmed with schoolwork. I think I can accomplish this as long as I do the work early and ask questions when needed. I'm pretty excited about all of my classes this semester, because I'm finally getting into my actual major classes, so I'll be learning and discussing stuff that actually goes along with my major, so I'm pretty excited about that. Also, I think keeping this growth mindset on my mind will help me relax and enjoy this semester as well. Knowing that it's okay to fail and just because I do, doesn't mean I'm a failure and I can't do that class or my major, I think will give me an "edge" that other students may not have.
This picture describes exactly what I needed to hear my entire freshman year of college. I think this is something very important to keep in mind as I go throughout college and life. Source from Laura Gibbs at: Growth Mindset Memes.
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