After this week's readings and videos, I have a keen understanding of my past failures and plan to work toward having a growth mindset. I will be the first to admit that this will probably be difficult, but I am consciously stating that things are going to change for the better, with the first change being having a growth mindset.
Carol Dweck relates that individuals generally fall into one of two categories about their intelligence, either a fixed mindset or a growth mindset. Dweck relates the definitions of these two as:
Fixed mindset
"In a fixed mindset, people believe their basic qualities, like their intelligence or talent, are simply fixed traits. They spend their time documenting their intelligence or talent instead of developing them. They also believe that talent alone creates success--without effort. They're wrong." (Dweck 2010, para 3).
Growth Mindset
"In a growth mindset, people believe that their most basic abilities can be developed through dedication and hard work--brains and talent are just the starting point. This view creates a love of learning and a resilience that is essential for great accomplishment. Virtually all great people have had these qualities" (Dweck 2010, para 4).
A growth mindset is going to greatly impact my future goals and attitudes. Eduardo Briceno relates three ways in which we can instill a growth mindset in ourselves and others, these being:
1. Recognize that that growth mindset is beneficial and is supported by science. In other words, my brain (and those brains of others) will change and become stronger when I possess a growth mindset--or believe that I can develop skills through dedication and hard work.
2. Learn and teach others how to develop a growth mindset. Fostering a growth mindset in ourselves and others will plant the seeds for the beginning of change within our world. There has been growth mindset research about attaining peace in the Middle East. It would be great and amazing if today's learners could help to resolve some of the world's problems through growth mindset changes.
3. Listen to your fixed mindset voice and talk back with a growth mindset voice. For example "I can't become a Media Specialist........YET....I will become a Media Specialist one day."
Now that I am cognizant of the growth mindset, I am presented with the question of how I will apply the growth mindset toward obtaining my goals and toward the Information Technology field. The application of a growth mindset will require a judicious activation of prior knowledge, being unafraid of change, and even letting go of control.
I am making great strides in progressing towards my learning goals. I believe that my learning goals are goals that will be easily obtained upon completion of this class. I would like to add in that I need to learn more about the Information Fluency, and will be honest and relate that I did not adequately have the words to express that this was one of my goals at the beginning of this course. Education, much like any other profession, has its own language, and while I understood the concept of information fluency, I do not necessarily believe that I understood this in relation to education and the Media Center.
Upon understanding the growth mindset in regards to my personal mindset. How will this impact my time in the Media Center or in the classroom?
I will encourage students to have a positive growth mindset view of themselves. Yes, this is difficult, but it is not impossible (see, there's my growth mindset at work). My working experience with probationers and children involved with what can often be classified as the worst experiences of their lives has helped me to empathize with individuals who might be experiencing emotions that they are not comfortable expressing (specifically fear).
Given that, I can empathize with youth and that I am knowledgeable about the growth mindset, I will encourage all students I encounter to approach learning with a genuine curiosity with the absence of fear of failure. In today's high-stakes testing environment, I can understand that this could possibly be a difficult if not Herculean chore, but I am going to answer with my growth mindset thinking that I can help to foster learning without the fear of failure.
In Growth Mindset: Personal Accountability and Reflection Dr. Jackie Gerstein relates her personal experiences about growth mindset within the education world. Gerstein establishes that she is frequently challenged after assigning grades to students, so she created a reflection checklist for students. This checklist has a growth mindset bent and does not solely focus on receiving a poor grade.
Gerstein's checklist is comprised of the following questions:
- Did I work as hard as I could have?
- Did I set and maintain high standards for myself?
- Did I spend enough time to do quality work?
- Did I regulate my procrastination, distractions, and temptations in order to complete my work?
- Did I make good use of available resources?
- Did I ask questions if I needed help?
- Did I review and re-review my work for possible errors?
- Did I consider best practices for similar work?
- Is my work something for which I am proud – that I would proudly show to a large, global audience?
Michelle,
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading your post. You can change your mindset from a fixed mindset to a growth mindset in no time. You are right, we are not defined by WHAT we do but WHO we are. I think sometimes we forget that. I know sometimes I do. Thanks for the reminder.
In our work to educate youth, we go on a journey of our own. Each child that enters our lives during our teaching career is there for a purpose. They are there for us to teach them (with a growth mindset of course), love them and move them forward in their educational career. All the while these children are there, they take us on a journey as well. We learn from them. They teach us something about ourselves or about something new about human nature that we can take and apply to the next class of students. So you see learning/teaching is a mutual relationship. Our students end up giving to us sometimes as much as much as we give to them.
Keep working toward your goals. You will get there and you will be a great media specialist!!
Virginia Corbett
Hello Michelle,
ReplyDeleteTo start off, your blog was very informative; and, I enjoyed reading it. The fact that your thoughts are changing after this module, shows that you are on the right path of transforming your fixed mindset into a growth mindset. I like that you noted, "it may be difficult; however, it is not impossible"! The older we get, the more we tend to settle with what you know or our ways of thinking and are sometimes afraid to challenge what we believe. However, this module reiterated the fact that we should never settle; and, no matter, our age, we should always allow our minds to grow! This is a skill that we have to teach our children, students, and peers. I think that showing our students the importance of having a growth mindset may encourage them to become active learners. A lot of my students like to say, "I can't do this"; however, I always tell them to never use "can't" in their sentences when talking to me. I always inform them that they can learn how to do a certain task; this little amount of words can make a big difference in the lives of our students. Sometimes, we are the only ones from which our students learn; so, with this being said, we have to encourage them to be life long learners so their minds can grow!
Brittany M.