Are you someone who has either a fixed or growth mindset? Or just doesn't quite know what that is, then don't sweat it, for most, knowing what a growth or fixed mindset is could be complicated. In the story "I Just Wanna Be Average", by Mike Rose, the short story talks about himself how he was once put into the wrong classes (lower classes to be exact) by accident. Instead of doing what others would tend to do if they were in this situation, it would be that they'd tell someone in charge about the mistake and have their classes changed. This wasn't the case. Mike Rose made the decision to stay in the lower classes. As you may be wondering, Mike Rose was someone with in my opinion has a growth mindset, this meaning that he was interested in learning new things, as opposed to some of the students he met in his …show more content…
I am willing to learn and try new things, even if it includes struggling. As of how I can use my growth mindset in this class can start off with willing to learn new types of outlines or learning to extend my vocabulary and writing. Like many I struggle with putting together an essay, but I’m sure that with the mindset I carry and the knowledge of my professor anything can become possible. The outcome of this can result positively and allow me to most importantly have ownership of my writing. To begin planning for ahead of time, ways I can help to strengthen this habit of mind is to face difficult obstacles. When I have trouble understanding the material I’ll make sure to ask first the professor and afterwards my classmates if I’m still in doubt. When it comes to studying, I’ll make sure that takes up more time, and I do it wisely, and as of now my main focus is to successfully and soon finish college and start my career in nursing. With dedication and motivation anything I have planned as now will be worth it on the long run. So, “Do something today that your future self will thank you
Setting goals for yourself creates an individual growth. In the article, “Why we are looking at the ‘value’ of college all wrong” by Valerie Strauss, Nelson discusses how an independent learner is able to teach themselves and learn from the challenges they tend to face. “The educated graduate is an independent learner…able to direct his or her own learning in accordance with the challenges that life presents in the circumstances of his or her own life.(Strauss 1)” For example, I want to become Registered Nurse; therefore, I write that down as one of my goals. However, I would then have to write everything else in order to become a Registered Nurse. Having a goal set that I want to become a RN, I now have something to strive at and to motivate myself to reach that goal. Therefore, creating goals helps establish what direction I am trying to go in, and also allows me to figure out how to solve a problem. Another example is if I failed a test, I will try to examine the errors within my work; however, I will then create a goal for myself to make sure I do better on test the next time. Finding the errors and creating goals to fix the errors makes me an independent learner. I am taking the charge that I want to do better; therefore, I am going to create a goal to help me succeed. By fixing the errors, I then challenge myself inside and outside the
I had read an essay called, “I Just Wanna Be Average” by Mike Rose. The essay was about Rose revisiting his high school experience. He explains his adventure through school reflecting on his education, learning environment, & behaviors of students/teachers. Also he talks about the motivation or lack thereof in him and his fellow peers reflecting on them just wanting to be average.
Author, Mike Rose, speaks of his early life growing up in a rough area of Los Angeles in “ I just wanna be average”. Rose didn’t enjoy school from almost the beginning and soon found ways to scrap by in class from day to day. This lead to less than stellar grades in most of his classes and him being put into the vocational program during high school. During this time, he began to accept being average which as he referred to as shutting down and pretending to not care even if it meant being unhappy. Soon after this he met a teacher that would provide him with passion to learn again. In contrast, my own childhood and education differed from roses in many ways.
In “I Just Wanna Be Average”, Mike Rose recounts his experiences in vocational program in high school, which known as bottom level. When he was a freshman, he accidently was placed in these classes but he decided to stay. Rose goes into details describing some of his teachers and classmates. Certain teachers he introduced were not enthusiastic about their jobs and they don’t believe their students can make good achievements, and sometime they even treat students violently, which also lead some students of the vocational program to slack off and not care about studying. Rose also focused on some of his classmates, who were seen as troublemakers. He found out that they actually were not always like fighting, being lazy and loafing, and they had some special skills showed their true personalities. There was one boy that very stuck out to Rose was Ken Harvey, who was asked by teacher to give an opinion of working hard to make achievements, stated that “ I just wanna be average” (Rose 335). I was pretty impressive about this quote because that I think being average might like some of students calm down and feel not so stressful to survive in educational system. Later in Rose’s life, he eventually moved out of vocational program and back to typical school system. At this time, his father passed away, which is not so relevant with the main plot. Later, Mr. MacFarland came into Rose’s life as his English teacher in senior year. Rose looked up Mr. MacFarland deeply because he sincerely cared of his students, told the importance of working hard to them and even encourage Rose to pursue further education in college. I can tell that Mr. MacFarland left positive impacts on Rose’s whole life, and helped him found his real potential.
My Sociology teacher shared with students an empowering quote that said, “We don’t grow when things are easy; we grow when we face challenges.” To me this quote means that challenge is the only way to figure out who we are, what we are capable of overcoming, and how we react to setbacks. In “Brainology: Transforming Students’ Motivation to Learn” Carol S. Dweck says: a growth mindset learns from challenges with effort while fixed mindsets feel threatened by challenge. There are many factors that contribute into the mindset of a student. In “I Just Wanna Be Average” by Mike Rose there were incompetent teachers who expressed how unprepared they were by causing their students distraction issues, wanting to give up or not caring in their classes.
In the novel, Me Talk Pretty One Day, Sedaris has used various literary terms which followed the use of a clear tone. This is clearly depicted with the author’s choice of words, as well as, figurative language. This demonstrates the author’s talent for casually laying out the absurdities of his daily experiences. In the novel, Sedaris has used a depressed tone. He explains how he is depressed by the French instructor. He explains that he is not alone to be belittled, but others also experience a similar attitude from the teacher, during the time they spent in class (Sedaris 13). He explains that the instructor wanted to put everyone down. For instance, he understood only half of what the teacher said, and that the first day that she was in class was very depressing (11). Sedaris also narrates that when the teacher asked that ‘has every one apzkiubjxow, it was very startling because he had not been asked the question for a while and realized that she did not understand the alphabet (11). The author states that the teacher always asked that ‘were you always this palicmkresis (15). It is clear that Sedaris employs nonsense letter arrangements, in order to replace the words that he could not understand (Sedaris 15). Through this, he relates his feelings with what the teacher said and this created pity for him and a mutual understanding (Sedaris 15). This demonstrates a depressed tone.
It was not until I read Carol S. Dweck’s “Brainology” that I realized I had a fixed mindset. I care more about getting a 4.0 than actually understanding what I am being taught and I also hate struggling. These habits are part of having a fixed mindset. It was after reading this article that I discovered I could change my mindset and be successful. Having a fixed mindset means that you believe that you and others only have a certain amount of intelligence. A growth mindset on the other hand, is believing that everyone has the ability to reach a higher level of intelligence through effort and hardwork.
We all want to be successful in life and that success isn’t just going to fall into your lap. To achieve goals in life you have to have the right mindset. When you have a growth mindset you have higher chances to succeed because giving up isn’t a option for you. A person growth mindset believes that through practice, hard work and determination you can achieve anything. The articles we have read and spoke about in class are all connected in the fact that they all speak in some shape or form about a growth mindset. A growth mindset will help a person be successful by not giving up, determination,deliberate practice, challenging yourself and going above and beyond.
I took an assessment after watching a TED TALKS video by Professor Carol Dweck. It stated that I have what they call a growth mindset. A growth mindset means you’re open to new and challenging things, while fixed mindset means you are not. If you have a fixed mindset you most likely care more about grades and not as much learning. With a growth mindset you want to do well but you care more about learning then getting the best grades possible.
After completing the Mindset Quiz I found that I have a strong growth mindset by scoring a 49 out of 60 points. I find this information to very relevant to who I am personally and who I want to be as a teacher. However, I do believe that it has taken many years and practice/guidance from roles models/teacher or my parents to help me develop a growth mindset. I truly believe that if it weren’t for these influence people to help me look at issues in a more positive way and encourage me to believe in myself that I would still be in a fixed mindset where I would give up quickly or not even try. As a future teacher it is one of my personal goals to give students the confidences to believe in themselves and teach them the idea that hard work and
Although I have a fixed mindset in academics I believe I can change that to help myself improve as a student and a better samaritan. Having a fixed mindset can damage my ability to think clearly and solve problems in school work. When I am faced with a challenge or assignment I tend to do the bare minimum because that is all I know how to do. Just like the essay example I didn’t push myself to be a better student or go the extra mile to create a better research paper. I stuck with what I knew and what I felt like was the better
School is the training ground for molding students to know their place in society and prepare them for the role they will play as adults in the disunited world. These standards are very stringent and enforced heavily by teachers and sometimes the students themselves. Lower class students have a very low bar set and usually do not have any intentions on surpassing that bar as they are unaware that socially there is not much expected out of them. According to Rose “Students will float to the mark you set. I and others in the vocational classes were bobbing in pretty shallow water" (126). Students are categorized into social class groups that restricts the level of education they will reach in their academic career. This is not because the students are not knowledgeable or willing to learn, but because of the standard, the norm, ‘what they’re supposed to do’ and no matter how high or low, the students will follow suit. Despite how elementary it seems, the hidden intentions that remain in education to this day, seem to be the blueprint to our future. Mantsios discusses a reality "From cradle to grave, class position has a significant impact on our well-being. Class accurately predicts chances for survival, educational achievement, and economic success"(391) We as Americans are naturally born into a social class and whatever that class may be, it poses as a barrier for some or an opportunity for others. Depending on the social class one obtains, success may be a struggle and being mediocre is common. Education is a common comparison when social class is discussed. As Americans, we are to believe that to be successful, we must have a good education and in most cases that means reaching a higher level of education. Students in the lower-class tend to have a standard and that is based off of their social status and barricades them in the mediocre learning curriculum. With having
Have you ever thought about yourself if you are in the fixed or a growth mindset? A fixed mindset person is someone who overcomes obstacles, works hard, and failure does not stop them. On the other hand a person who is in the fixed mindset is someone who is non challenge, gives up, or thinks that success is abuse. In a book called “Mindset The New Psychology of Success” the author Carol S. Dweck talks about different ways we can convert ourselves from a fixed mindset to a growth mindset and the author also talks about the qualities of the growth and fixed mindsets. In a movie“Freedom Writers” the author Erin Gruwell shows us how she was a growth minded teacher but her students were in the fixed minded group. Throughout the school year the students had a fixed mindset but as time went by the students somehow their mindsets into the growth mindset. Freedom writers illustrates the fixed mindsets of the teacher and students and a growth minded teacher who changed everything.
People with a fixed mindset are usually not motivated to do challenging work, apply very little effort, lose confidence after mistakes, and are intimidated when things get difficult. And I have experienced some of these situations. I get less motivated when I have more work, don’t try my best, and I put myself down after low grades. I lost confidence in myself after every setback, but I should of been looking to learn from them. I should actually look back and see what I could have done differently after a setback instead of degrading my own morale. For example, I could change the way I approach a test if I really messed up on the last one, or I can stay motivated at every task at hand. I would love to have a growth mindset, but I just grew up with a fixed mindset. And it has basically made me lazy and procrastinate. I should get rid of my bad habits and develop a growth
As Carol said “Students stop working when school become challenging” “negative effect on student’s mindset, harming their motivation to learn.” (Carol 2) It’s very true because I feel like giving up when it gets harder in school. I lose focus and I’ll tell myself I don’t understand and lose interest. Some student who consider themselves to be fixed mindset tend to believe they are not up to task and will mistake. For student with growth mindset, they are willing to learn more and to challenge themselves. Carols states that student with different mindsets have different reactions to setbacks “Growth mindset reported that, after a setback in school, they would simply study more or student differently the next time. Fixed mindset was more likely to say that they would fell dumb, study less the next time, and seriously consider cheating.” (Carol 3) Even with different mindsets, we shouldn’t use stereotype and encourage with the same positive