Week 8 Growth Mindset

My strengths related to growth mindset: 

- Taking a long-term view than taking a short-term view

- Finding motivation inside myself rather than looking for praise and other rewards (I do this in other areas other than class.)

- Being willing to try new things rather than staying in my comfort zone

- Setting my own goals rather than letting other people make choices for me (I ask for advice, but I normally make an informed decision on my own. If I can't, I reevaluate if what I'm doing is something I should truly be doing.)

- Being confident that I can improve rather than thinking I'm not good enough (No one can every get better if you have the "Not good enough" outlook

- Setting my own schedule rather than doing things last minute (I do classwork last minute, but I don't do organizational and non-class related things last minute because most of the time they are incredibly important and related to my reputation and my work ethic.)

- Being open to any and all feedback rather than wanting only positive feedback (You can't grow this way)

- Asking lots of questions

My weaknesses related to growth mindset:

- In classes, I do the minimum, but I do it correctly. 

- I focus on grades, because that's what I've been taught you must do to succeed. At this point in my life, I just want to graduate but I have set high standards for myself, so even though I say I don't care, I always try to do my best. 

- Choosing what's easy (This depends on what it's related to. Class? I choose easy. Organization? I choose the best. Anything related to a job or internship? Choose the best.)

- Doing things last minute (class-related things that I know I can get done)

- Being a perfectionist (I can't change this quickly. I am a perfectionist, and I'm constantly working on it.)

Source: Frabz.com

- Feeling defensive about mistakes (This goes along with being a perfectionist)

I will work on my weaknesses, but honestly I just want to get a job and graduate. 

Growth Mindset: Review

Growth Mindset and the wonderful Carol Dweck:

So to preface my post, I want to say that I love Carol Dweck, and I have heard her talk on Growth Mindset before this class. I am a Peer Learning Assistant through the OU Student Learning Center for Intro to Mass Comm. I recently went through a 10-hour training for this position as a tutor, and in this  time period, we reviewed these videos.

I believe that the best strategy to being a student for life is to believe that you have a growth mindset. Too often students believe when something is too challenging or difficult that they are stupid or can never do what they think is impossible. But something Carol Dweck encourages is the power of Not Yet. So, I usually try to approach all my challenging learning curves to this — I can't do this test... yet. Or I can't complete this assignment... yet. It's important that we help students understand that their brain can grow and develop for their entire lives, research has found. So with a growth mindset, I believe anyone can achieve anything they truly want to.

A brain lifting weights as to explain how the brain is a muscle that with exercise and practice,
can grow and develop and ultimately learn. Photo: LinkedIn

In my last semester here at OU, I think my brain just wants to be done with college classes. I am honestly ready to work in the real world with people who don't have homework. I understand that learning is important in life, and someday I want to teach children how to learn, but for now, for me, I want to do my classes to the best of my ability and graduate with a smile. That being said, I approach my classes thus far with the idea that my goal is to learn something new today or apply something you've learned already to something you are doing today, because that is learning, too.