Growth Mindset In Even Geniuses By Carol S. Dweck

A growth mindset is something that is essential to both students and teachers. Without a growth mindset, students would have no motivation to learn and teachers would have no way to push their students further. In her article, “Even Geniuses”, Carol S. Dweck addresses how to instill a growth mindset in students and teachers. Similarily, Eduardo Brieceno shares the same information that Dweck wrote in his TED Talk “The Power of Belief- Mindset and Success”. In conjunction, both the article and the video present interesting material that teaches the reader about teaching with a growth mindset and learning with a growth mindset, all while being applicable to a real life math class. After reading the article and watching the video, I became more …show more content…

Dweck mentions in her article: “Students with a fixed mindset tend not to handle setbacks well… they become discouraged or defensive when they don’t succeed right away.” Prior to reading this article, I felt that I had a growth mindset, however, I am seeing that I do have some characteristics of a fixed mindset like becoming discouraged when I don’t succeed right away. I have found this to be very true in our current math unit as I am really struggling with the homework. I know that I will eventually become good at it with some practice, but right now, it’s hard not to become discouraged as I struggle. I think that we are learning about the growth mindset with our problem solving unit because it is teaching us that we must have a growth mindset in the face of adversity (the problem solving unit). Having this growth mindset will allow us to keep practicing and embrace the challenge of the math we are being given knowing that we are growing from the challenge. Without the growth mindset, we may not be able to reach our full potential in our problem solving …show more content…

In the article, Dweck’s point about homework assignments (assignments should not be mindless and repetitive… they should require application) interested me the most.Either I have a fixed mindset, or my teachers have not been practicing a growth mindset with their students because in my schooling experience, I have found that most of my assignments and homework are just mindless and repetitive tasks. I am sure that I will remember this feeling when I assign my students homework and make sure that it is not repetitive and rather requires application of the knowledge that we learned together. The challenge of the homework will help promote their growth mindset. Additionally, to promote growth mindset, Brieceno gave a simple three step process for a growth mindset: understand that the growth mindset is beneficial, teach others how to achieve a growth mindset, and listen for the fixed mindset voice when it enters our heads. A great combination of the two things that interested me the most in this assignment would be to ask students to take their growth mindset and apply it to teach someone in their family to have a growth mindset. This would be both a great homework assignment, and a way to spread the growth mindset that we want to encourage in our schools to the home lives of