Growth Mindset

I had never heard of Carol Dweck before watching her videos, and I had never heard of growth mindset before watching her videos discussing the topic, but I see her point in the flaws of education and child praise. Growing up, it was expected for me to get good grades. The fact that school wasn't necessarily hard for me when I was littler gave me somewhat of a relief, because I did not have to worry about getting in trouble if I did bad on a test or in a class. However, this expectation of getting good grades carried on through to high school and I'm still very hard on myself if something is difficult academically. With growth mindset, learning becomes a unique curve to everyone and encourages students to strive to improve but keeps them from feeling failure if they don't succeed as soon as they would like. For example, I'm taking a class this semester related to my major, but on a topic that I have not learned anything about before. Entering the class, I was worried that I would not be successful in the class because since it is upper division, many of the other students in the class will more than likely have some or lengthy background knowledge on the topic and I was worried that I would fall behind. With the help of growth mindset, I will be able to recognize that everyone has to have a starting point and as long as I am doing my best to keep up with the class I will be successful.

growth mindset: flickr