My Goal: The Secret To Raising Smart Kids

Dweck’s ‘The Growth Mindset’ postulates that if a student’s intelligence is something that can be improved thru hard work and being challenged, he (she) will only get smarter. And too, she proposes adopting new strategies to learning if effort and challenges fail to work. In Wes Moore’s book The Other Wes Moore, Wes Moore (the Rhodes

Grades are not determined by the teacher, but by the student. When a student applies the growth mindset into not just everyday life, but to all their school work, they will see drastic changes in their grades. Throughout her book, Dweck uses examples of applying the growth mindset in schoolwork to everyday life. Living with the growth mindset not only makes someone a more successful person, but also makes people feel better about themselves. Michael Jordan, one the greatest basketball players of all time, applied the growth mindset in his basketball career from the second he first failed. Most people know Jordan for winning six championships, but he wasn’t just born a champion. Michael didn’t always find success, in fact, in high school, he “was cut from the… varsity team” (Dweck 85). Jordan is known for his success in winning championships and dunk contests, but really he should be known for his determinations to become better. Unlike Jordan, I didn’t put the work in when it came to my own experience with basketball. My goal was to make the team and that was

Every student has a different mind, some either have a fixed mindset or a growth mindset. In the article, “Brainology: Transforming Students Motivation to Learn” by Carol S. Dweck greatly explains about the differences and struggles between students who have growth mindsets or fixed mindsets, along with students who deal with stereotypes that affect their performance in reading and writing. While Sherman Alexie, an author who wrote “The Joy of Reading and Writing: Superman and Me”, has a strong comparison and connection about the growth mindset which is featured in Dweck’s article about Brainology.

Carol S. Dweck's article “Brainology – Transforming Student's Motivation to Learn” offers insights about student's mentality at school and why some students are better off than others. The article claims directly that students generally have two mindsets when it comes to learning; one is “fixed mindset,” a negative trait, and the other is “growth mindset,” a positive trait. Both of these traits contradict each other in terms of meaning. These two mindsets impact students on whether or not they will be successful on their academic road. In “Brainology – Transforming Student's Motivation to Learn,” Dweck explains how these two traits influence the outcome of having one of these two mindsets through

The second rule is to encourage a growth mind-set by, “telling stories about achievements that result from hard work…descriptions [like that] of great mathematicians who fell in love with math and developed amazing skills engenders a growth mind-set,” (Dweck, 171-175). Encouraging a growth mind-set allows for a child to have more success in their school life as well as in their social life as a result of motivation and the willingness to be challenged and learn.

Carol S. Dweck, a professor of psychology, in her article, “Even Geniuses Work Hard,” focuses on, describing how to develop a “growth mindset” for academic learning. Dweck implies that “students with a growth mindset [view] challenging work as an opportunity to learn and grow” (16). She also reports having that has “seen students with a growth mindset meet difficult problems, ones [in fact] they could not solve yet” (16) with optimism and excitement. According to Dweck, having “meaningful work [can] promote learning in the immediate situation” (18). Students with growth mindsets have “a love of learning, and [are resilient] in the face of obstacles” (18). Dweck makes the point that doing homework is an important way to support learning, it

At the same time that I believe students with a growth mindset are motivated to learn, I also believe that it is hard to bounce back when something doesn’t go as planned. When this happens, it is easy to give up and let it pass by. Although, persevering is just as easy. This is my second strength. Dweck praises students who stay motivated after a setback. It is impressive when a student bounces back after a setback, because not everyone stays motivated when faced with that challenge. For example, when I found out that my teacher misplaced my homework packet I was devastated. Although it was only for a few minutes. Immediately after going home that night I completed a second homework packet to replace the lost one and turned it in the next day just in time. I was surprised with myself and so was my teacher. He praised me for being resilient in the face of a setback.

This technique, used in the countries where high levels of achievement are observed, can be seen to support Dweck’s theory of growth mindset. Dweck (2012) writes about the progression possible for children who have a strong self-belief and excellent work ethic. She believes that they are able to grow their brain’s capacity to learn and solve problems. Mastery in Mathematics aims to build children’s confidence in the subject, by giving them more opportunities to fully understand and practice their learning.

To further prove that we should praise children on their hard work rather than just telling them they’re smart, Dwek and her colleagues performed an in-class experiment. The experiment consisted of splitting a group of ninety-one seventh graders. They specifically chose students with low math grades in their sixth-grade year of school. Roughly half solely focused on just study skills and tips while the other learned the same study skills as well as learning about the growth mindset and the connections neurons make as we

In order for changes to happen and help this percentage reach the average requirement improvements need to happen here at Anaheim schools. A way to improve students success in Anaheim schools is by teaching students to have a growth mindset. Those students who work with a growth mindset take on challenges and those who don’t give up and don’t do well. In “The Secret To Raising Smart Kids,” by, Dweck, Carol the importance of students education is discussed by the two types of mindsets a student should have. The first type is called a growth mindset and having this mindset allows the student to take risks when a problem gets difficult.

They had to learn to apply these skills into their schoolwork. The students were unaware of the two separate instructions, after the semester had begun to progress twenty-seven percent of the students in the growth mind-set group had significant motivational changes. Only nine percent in the other group had improved their abilities. You can become smarter it just requires more work, it’s certainly not easy but it can be done. Other similar studies were done and they all had the same results, students that did not normally do well or hand work in on time began doing the work and getting better

Dweck, Cords. “The Secret to Raising Smart Kids” Collection, Edited by Beers, Hougen, Jago et Al, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2015, PP.21-26

No two people are the same. Everyone has a unique way of learning and studying. For some, success in learning and retaining information comes easy; however for others, success is a skill that takes practice to perfect. Evidence shows that having the right attitude and goals can positively affect learning (Mangels, Butterfield, Lamb, Good, & Dweck, 2006). Likewise, it is important to incorporate praise in young children to develop this particular mindset at a young age. A study done by Gunderson, Gripshover, Romero, Dweck, Goldin-Meadow, and Levine (2013) suggested that:

A personal mission statement is a philosophy or creed that one plans to follow in daily life. It is usually designed with positivity, purpose, and with personal goals for every aspect of life such as career, finances, etc. It also focuses on personality traits that one would like to possess and the accomplishments that one wants to achieve, both short-term and long term. It also houses the individuality of the person writing it. Every person writing a personal mission statement is will produce a different statement. This is primarily because people value different things, characteristics and have different goals. The purpose of this paper is to explore my mission statement (Covey, 2013, pp.113).

My personal mission statement is as follows: To be a positive and influential person in society while still being myself at all times.