Growth Mindset Essay

The growth mindset is a project in my middle school that teaches us a positive way to move forward in school. If you get a grade you're not happy with, it is seen as inspirational because lessons can be learned from it for further learning. In the former president's speech, Barack Obama had said: “Our nation has been flawless from the start, but that we have shown the capacity to change and make life better for those who follow.” This indicates adherence to a growth mindset because it shows that there is room to learn and change a learn as a nation, especially for the other people who trail behind. The value that I put on freedom, equality and privacy as an adolescent is a lot. If I didn't have these rights, I wouldn't be able to go places, feel safe in my own home, and I would be discriminated by my age or race.

“No matter what your ability is, effort is what ignites that ability and turns it into accomplishment.” Carol Dweck made that statement, as she explained her new concept of contrasting mindsets. She called one The Growth Mindset, and the other The Fixed Mindset. These two opposing theories ignited a spark in schools everywhere, and brought up an interesting question. Are students not teachable because they don’t believe they can be?

There’s a saying that everyone’s said at least once in their lifetime, I’m sure. It’s so cliché, but now I know that there is so much truth behind it. “Believe in yourself.” Rather than giving up on yourself, use your failures to make you better. Learn how to bounce back from adversity and learn from those experiences. This is called using your growth mindset. According to Carol Dweck, research psychologist, in her book 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.” It wasn’t until the summer between my junior and senior year of high school that I learned this and of course I learned it the hard way. I had played club basketball for four summers in a row with the Longmont Rush basketball club. I loved the game of basketball and I had spent countless hours working on my skills on the court. I even wanted to play in college. I already had schools scouting me. Unfortunately, in my final season, just before my senior year, my biggest fear came true.

Of the billions around us, only thirty percent leave school to pursue their dream career. Chris Colfer, an actor and author, had the determination to do so. From his acting career, he won a Golden Globe for his famous role as Kurt from Glee. His work, The Land of Stories series, landed the top slot in children’s novels, also another novel was recreated by Colfer and produced as the movie Struck By Lightning. At twenty-six, Colfer has accomplished much of his dream and will soon be ready to find a new one. However, great success does not come without struggle. Colfer’s courage through those conflicts is inspiring to those tentative about chasing their dream.

Derek Sivers believes that it is necessary to fail because it is a learning experience, it keeps you in the "growth mindset", and it reminds you that everything you do is just one of many options that you have. He explains that some people have a "growth mindset" while others have a "fixed mindset." Those with the "growth mindset" are able to take their failures and better themselves and their work through it. They see it as a learning experience and become motivated to try even harder, regardless of what it is that they're trying to accomplish. Those with a "fixed mindset" believe that their skills and talents are predetermined and see failure as proof that they're not meant to accomplish something or they believe they're too good at

Moreover, a growth mindset encourages directly and indirectly successful outcomes. High school engaged many instances of growth mindsets for me. At the end of my middle school career, I had managed to become a part of an amazing friend group, I had fantastic grades, and I was doing well in all aspects of my teenage life. Yet, a constant dilemma phased through my mind: I would lose all my friends consequent to the high school split. This had the power of striking panic in me, but instead I found myself thrilled for the next year to come so I could make all new friends. From the beginning, I was optimistic and ecstatic about starting off with a clean slate and that guided me into making a whole new friend group. These friends have given me unique

One cannot mention fixed and growth mindset without mentioning Carol Dweck, whom most of the research and our understanding of these terms comes from. Mindset according to Dweck “is a collection of thought and beliefs that shape your thought habits and your thought habits affect how you think, what you feel, and what you do. Your mind-set impacts how you make sense of the world, and how you make sense of you. Believing that you are either “intelligent” or “unintelligent” is a simple example of a mindset”. The two basic mindset that shape the way people think and live are the fixed and the growth mindset. The individual with a fixed mindset believe that 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, you either are born with a great deal of knowledge and ability or you are not and there’s not much of anything that you can do to change that (Dweck, Carol). So if someone believe they are not smart enough they usually shy away from things that may seem difficult to them or in some cases won’t even try all.

Reading the article and watching the video was very interesting, definitely an eye opener on the world of making mistakes and how we, as a society, view it. In my opinion, the growth mindset is simply a way of thinking that allows one to be open to learning from mistakes and taking a risk instead of “playing it safe”. It’s all about growth as a person, if you stick to the sidelines and do everything exactly how you know how to do it you can never experience and learn from life. I feel like this can be incorporated into my learning process by simply being open to failure. Just because I don’t necessarily do good on something doesn’t mean I have to be hard on myself, I need to analyze what I did wrong and educate myself on how to not make

We are not stuck with what we are born with; each person’s true potential is unknown, and any mind can be cultivated. Like digging up new ground, the old dirt is broken and mixed with the newer soil, creating a new rich environment for growth, but it takes a lot of effort, time, energy, and perseverance. Seeking challenges and avoiding comfort may be the deciding factor between moving forward or standing still.

In Dahl’s book, The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar and Six More, Dahl offers advice to aspiring authors: “You must have strong self-discipline. You are working alone. No one is employing you. No one is around to give you the sack if you don’t turn up for work or to tick you off if you start slacking.”

In order to go from a fixed to a growth mindset and stay there requires effort. One cannot go on a diet and lose weight to just turn around and gain it back and then start all over again. Change can be difficult for anyone and Dweck says the following about maintaining the growth mindset. “Mindset change is not about picking up a few pointers here and there. It’s about seeing things in a new way. When anyone changes to a growth mindset, they change from a judge-and-be-judge framework to a learn-and-help-learn framework” (2016, p. 254). Change is not easy. Change takes time. Change takes effort. Are those not all of the things Dweck says is a growth mindset?

After taking the mindset quiz I discovered I have a growth mindset. I was not initially surprised by the result, knew where I stood on terms of being open or closed minded when it comes to people's intelligence and abilities; however I've never had a name for it and I was surprised to learn the benefits of having a growth mindset. Furthermore, I've never thought of about how it would apply to teaching (rather than teaching my own children) prior to taking the quiz. Now that I've considered the options I believe that it could potentially be detrimental for students if their teacher has a closed mindset. I believe this because, if a teacher thinks a struggling child has no chance for improvement due to born intelligence or skill, then they will

This book helped me improve not only as a writer but as an artist as well. The advice held within its pages is very much appreciated. It may seem unimportant or repetitive, but you can’t hear that enough. Kleon’s words motivate me to find those simple inspiration sources and to explore my potential to its fullest. I found page 20 specially interesting. Kleon is talking about schooling ourselves and I embrace that point of view completely. Curiosity is a key element to be successful in life.

A growth-mindset classroom community allows students to be rewarded for showing effort and progress towards challenging learning tasks (Dweck, 2010).

Ever since I could remember, reading has captivated all of my attention. As a kid, I would read as many series books that I could to see how many I could get through. I even prided myself as a “nerd” to my friends because reading was deemed cool in that sense. Even now, my friends still become surprised to learn that I read for fun because to so many, it just seems like another homework assignment. However, in order to avoid this academic aura, you must find the right book or piece of writing that captivates you. Despite how much I love to read, writing has always been a struggle for me. Authors have an impressive talent and I never understood a writer’s ability to piece together a story with such ease. I always strive to become better at