Growing my mindset
The seasons are changing and I feel like I am in my spring season. I know that many areas of my life are changing thanks to this course. I am crossing the river, but I am doing it in a different way to confront the challenges. Please take a minute to review how my mindset is growing.
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How will you modify your use of the Growth Mindset?
Developing a growth mindset is an excellent way to motivate ourselves by acknowledging that we can improve and learn new things. However, it is essential to understand that developing a growth mindset is not just about giving ourselves positive affirmations. It requires a deeper understanding of how our minds work and how we can overcome obstacles to achieve our goals.
Having a positive attitude is crucial when facing challenges. As a teacher, I have noticed that some students give up easily when encountering difficulties, often due to their negative attitude. However, I have also seen students with a positive attitude but still struggle to progress. It's like a board game where everyone plays differently.
I think it's not enough to provide students with videos, articles, and growth mindset readings. Instead, we should give them challenging tasks involving obstacles so they can test their limits and decide whether to give up or keep going.
2. What other factors need to be considered if you wish to have an impact on the Growth Mindset?
We need to consider various factors, such as an individual's environment (including their family, socio-economic status, and emotional state), to understand the impact of the growth mindset. As individuals, we cannot separate ourselves from our environment, and learning to manage our emotions and surroundings can be stressful and time-consuming, with many mistakes along the way. However, we must recognize that these factors affect the learner's life. For instance, an argument with your partner before leaving home can impact your ability to face challenges throughout the day. Similarly, students' environments can also affect their learning, and it's essential to consider.
Recognizing that having a supportive family can significantly contribute to one's mental development is essential. As someone who works with a vulnerable population, I have observed that even if a child has a positive attitude, their ability to learn can be hindered if they come to school without a snack or food. It is crucial to identify external factors that may affect a child's learning and find ways to minimize their impact.
According to Maslow (1943, p. 17), learning is essential to human needs. It involves acquiring and integrating information into one's self-image, feelings, behavior, and relationship with the environment. Maslow also discusses the need for love and affection, which emerges when physiological and safety needs are met. Humanist education emphasizes affective education, focusing on emotions, feelings, interests, values, and character development rather than intellectual learning.
3. How will you model the growth mindset and the message of "Yet" to your learners?
As an adult, one of the most important things is to model good behavior. I work as a preschool teacher and someone once told me that preschool teachers are like rock stars. Maybe that's true because there's something special that connects us with these little ones, and that's modeling. When you model good behavior, they believe it. When you think about it and live it, they believe you even more. They become your biggest fans, and that's how it should be with your students. As a teacher, you're also a human being who faces challenges. Teach your students how to face challenges by modeling it yourself. Maybe we should open up a little and show our humanity. Accept challenges, such as a student's behavior or a new teaching strategy. Humanize yourself with your students.
4. Consider how the growth mindset can change the acceptance of feedback and student's attitude toward cheating.
Compared to accepting feedback and its attitude to avoid cheating, the growth mindset helps students avoid certain behaviors since it is due to them vs. them process but not school, which I value a lot about the growth mentality. Having a growth mindset leads to more adaptive behaviors and psychological traits, such as resilience in response to failure, which ultimately leads to greater academic achievement.
When assessing their progress, I emphasize the significance of being honest with oneself, accepting oneself, and striving for self-improvement. I instruct them to refrain from comparing themselves with others and instead concentrate on their individual objectives. This approach has assisted them in cultivating better attitudes towards feedback and goals.
5. How can the growth mindset help limit some of your student's preoccupation with grades? What role does grit play?
I highlight this phrase from (Lee, 2013) “Courage is passion and perseverance for very long-term goals” I believe that individuals should develop a passion for themselves, cultivate self-love, and ignite a passionate fire within themselves so that they can learn for their own growth and not just for the sake of getting good grades or ratings.
6.How can we prevent the growth mindset from becoming a fad or being improperly implemented?
Let's avoid making mindset a motivational speech; stop seeing it as that pat of incentive to others and start seeing it as a concept of training your brain. The brain can be our most vital and weakest muscle, depending on how we develop it.
7. The growth mindset is a good start, but is it enough?
No is not enough. We need to intentionally make daily decisions and develop a growth mindset in every area of our life.
8. How can we move our learners toward reigniting or adopting a Learner's Mindset?
As educators, we have a responsibility to create learning environments that cater to the individual needs of our students. However, I sometimes struggle with my fixed mindset and label certain students. I am working on overcoming this and seeing each student as a unique learner with their own strengths and abilities.
My conclusion is, it is a war between them and only them; of course, we must be great coaches and leaders, but beyond that, we must be ears to listen and a toolbox to give them what they need in the face of difficulties. We must master our minds and develop skills through perseverance and hard work. Everyone has a different pace and path to success, but creating a growth mindset is the first step to achieving our goals.
References
Maslow, A. H. (1943). Theory of human motivation. In Psychological Review (Vol. 50, pp. 18,). Wilder Publications.
Lee, A. (2013, May 9). Grit: the power of passion and perseverance | Angela Lee Duckworth. YouTube; TED. https://youtu.be/H14bBuluwB8
Dweck, C. S. (2006). Mindset: the New Psychology of Success. Random House.