Growth Mindset: What I Think About Yet

I have not heard about Growth Mindset specifically until engaging with it in this assignment. However, I know about the idea behind it as I have had experience in the education realm. My mother used to be a counselor at Adams elementary here in Norman and now works at the state department of education, so I have had experiences with her. I also work at a summer camp at McFarlin UMC and many teachers work there as well, so I have had conversations with them too. 

Many educators, at least the ones I have been in contact with, are trying to utilize this ideology and stray away from defining students by test scores or grades. However, this is difficult to do when our country is focused on measuring academic talent and progress with standardized tests and has organized our educational system in this way. 

I think this ideology is important for everyone to understand because it is central to how our brain learns. It is a continual process, we are always changing and updating information, even in our memories. Therefore, it is important to know that learning is a process and any instant gratification will not motivate the continuation of this process. I think this mindset also helps people understand that mistakes are necessary in life. They don't feel great and failure is never something we strive to achieve, but these moments are what shape us, where we find the most growth. 

(Image from Growth Mindset memes blog)

I think this is where I struggle. I am a perfectionist, so it is very difficult to not only make a mistake but to admit that I didn't succeed. This is something I had to really come to terms with at the end of my sophomore year after I had a major change. Chemical Engineering curriculum was just not clicking in my brain, no matter how hard I worked or what professor I met with. It was hard for me to accept those grades and my overall failure in this realm. However, I learned that the reason I was failing wasn't due to the fact that I was "too dumb" for engineering, but that I had no passion for learning and was focusing on that instant gratification of test scores to define who I was as a student. After my coursework in psychology, I have grown to love the process of learning, no mater how taxing (or sometimes boring) it may be.

Ultimately, I think these Growth Mindset activities will be really interesting, especially the ones about genius and feedback. I think learning more about this mindset can further assist me in accepting the growth process and looking at challenges with excitement and not fear.