Week 8 Growth Mindset

Throughout the semester, I've been working on developing more of a growth mindset.  I think having a growth mindset would benefit my mental health, overall performance in school, and my stress levels.  I took a lot at the chart on the assignment page, and have been thinking about my strengths and weaknesses.

Finding Motivation Inside Yourself:
This is a big one for me - I sometimes find it hard to get motivation from within, and often turn to others to help get motivated.  I'm not sure why I do this, but I'd like to develop a healthier mindset when it comes to motivation.  I put off things I know I should be working on, and sometimes instead do things others either want me to do or things that I still need to complete myself, but that I've got to complete in order to work with someone or please someone.  My current mindset is not very healthy.
I looked up some articles about this, and found a few good suggestions on ZenHabits.net . I've found this website/blog very helpful in the past, and I need to make it a point to visit it when I'm feeling less than motivated.

Focusing on Learning:
Since discovering the growth mindset, I've been trying to focus more on learning rather than just solely on how to get an A in a class.  I've always wanted to do this, but it can be so hard when overwhelmed with classes, work, and other responsibilities.  I've been trying to study not only what I think will be on a test, but also things I've heard or read about from my classes that I find interesting. If I find the material interesting, I'm more likely to remember it, which will come in handy in the future.

Some things I've improved on this semester are choosing what's hard instead of focusing on only what I know already, being willing to try new things, and asking a lot of questions.  A lot of my improvement comes from recognizing where I may have been lacking, and keeping my goals for improvement in the back of my mind.  I'm very grateful for my research position, because I think it is helping me improve my growth mindset quite a bit.  It is forcing me to ask more questions, learn new things, and accept that I will make mistakes, but also realize that a mistake isn't the end of the world.  I also think this class has helped me as well.  It was very uncomfortable for me to have to pick my own project (portfolio vs storybook) and almost choose my own parameters.  I'm used to professors telling me what they expect, and then strictly following their guidelines.  This class has opened me up more to being flexible and more open to the options and choosing my own path!

You can do it too! Source

Growth Mindset: Multiple Intelligences

For this extra credit assignment, I read about Howard Gardner's "Multiple Intelligences", and thought about which styles of learning suit me. I think I fit best in the categories Interpersonal and Logical-Mathematical.  I also benefit from and use aspects from Bodily-Kinesthetic and Visual-Spatial as well.  I'll briefly elaborate on each.  

Interpersonal

The fact that this style of learning suits me so well is strange, because I'm not necessarily much of a "people person."  I don't actively dislike people or anything, I just can have a hard time relating to and speaking with them sometimes.  But what I really benefit from is "teaching" people.  If I've got to study for a big test, the best way for me to remember material is to explain it to someone else; it's especially useful if they ask me questions about it too!  This never fails to help me prepare for a test.  The only downfall for me is that it can be hard to find someone willing to listen to you teach them material they may already know, or may not care about at all.  I've heard that the "teaching" method of learning can also work if you pretend to be telling someone about it, or if you teach your pets the material, but I haven't tried that just yet.  I think I will try it next time I've got something to study for coming up, though!

Logical-Mathematical 

I'll get this out of the way - I HATE math.  Yeah, yeah, I know... math is wonderful and beautiful and elegant - I don't disagree - I just suck at it!  I do benefit from trying to logically approach problems and think/talk them out, sometimes looking at additional sources along the way.  When I am able to find a pattern or relationship between concepts myself, they really stick with me.  Sometimes it even feels like I've had a revelation.  The problem for me is being able to recognize these relationships; that is something I want to work on. 

Bodily-Kinesthetic 

If I can learn something by physically doing it, I will remember it much better than if I just read about HOW to do it.  I have a feeling that this applies to many people, but I could be wrong!  Without practice, theory is very difficult for me to understand.  I think this is why I struggled with physics so much - I wasn't concurrently enrolled in the lab, and the professor didn't do many demonstrations, so I had a hard time understanding what he was talking about.  

Visual-Spatial 

I LOVE making flow charts and graphs, and I love drawing and coloring pictures of concepts, structures, or processes.  Unfortunately I don't have very much time to dedicate to this anymore, but I used to use this method to study quite often.  It's a fun, non stressful way to study difficult concepts, but I'm always sure to read over the material before or after I'm done working artistically with it as well!  

Here's a really cool infographic about the topic:

Source

I also took an online quiz that is supposed to tell you which intelligence is best for you.  

My results were almost evenly split, but my highest was Interpersonal! Try it out if you'd like, it's really short! 

Growth Mindset: Learning From Others

I decided to explore what other students are writing about the Growth Mindset, and here are some of my favorites:


"Never Give Up", video posted by Heather

I thought this video Heather posted was really cute, but also really inspiring.  I think everyone has felt like giving up at one point or another, I know I have; whether it's because you're scared to fail or you're struggling or some other reason, I think giving up is the only way you can really fail.  School can be hard, especially when you're forced to learn about new and challenging concepts, but like they say in the video, you can get smarter with practice.  This is true for me and Organic Chemistry, a notoriously hard class.  At first it was overwhelming and frustrating, but the more I practiced the problems, the better I got at it!  I eventually made an A in my OChem 1 class, and hope to make an A in OChem 2 this semester!

Amanda's post about Growth Mindset

I related to the image on this post, but also the content that Amanda provides. I also tell myself that I'm not a "math person", and would get frustrated when having to work out long math (& physics) problems, but really they are something to appreciate.  Math is an incredible subject, but a subject that doesn't necessarily come naturally.  Like the aforementioned video, practice makes perfect, and I think this especially applies to mathematics.

Rand's Post, Specifically the Image

I loved the image that Rand posted in his post about the Growth Mindset.

Improving Your Thinking Habits - Image from Rand's Post

I think learning to think more positively can have a huge effect on one's self esteem and productivity.  It is important to try to see things from a positive point of view, instead of a harshly critical one.  I saved this image to my computer, for those days when I may need a reminder!

Growth Mindset

I had not previously heard of Carol Dweck or the Growth Mindset, but after watching the videos and reading over some of the challenges, it definitely piques my interest.  While watching the videos, I related more to the "fixed" mindset. Often I'm worried about grades more than actually learning, and I'm often afraid to look unintelligent.  I think that I was certainly in the fixed mindset in high school and when I first started college, but I do think I've developed more of a growth mindset since being at OU.  I could definitely continue improving, though.

Where my obsession with grades came from is unclear.  My parents did not emphasize getting all As, or being the top of my class, or anything of that nature; I was the one who wanted it, even at an early age.  I made excellent grades, was put into special classes, and won all sorts of awards as a young kid, and because of this, my family would constantly praise my intelligence. Often times they still do.  I used to enjoy it, but now it makes me uncomfortable.  I've gone so far as to skip family functions, because I couldn't handle the pressure of being asked about school, my grades, and all the "great things" I've been up to.  I've been honest with them when I've gotten mediocre grades - I once told my grandma about a C I made in one of my classes, but she literally didn't believe me.  "No way you could ever get a C, you only make As," or something along those lines.  It was stressful and upsetting.

Not only do certain members of my family reinforce a "fixed" mindset, but I think many universities in general do.  I don't like living in Oklahoma; I would love to be going to school on the east coast right now, but I only applied to OU. Why? Because I was afraid of being rejected.  I was afraid they would look at my high school grades and ask "why didn't you take more AP classes? Why did you fail this class? Why didn't you take the ACT after your sophomore year?" or whatever else.  I didn't try much in high school because I hated it; I was depressed and desperate for attention or somewhere to fit in; I wanted to be cool, and cool kids didn't try.  I wish I could go back and tell my high school self the things I know now.  {Like being yourself is cool, and will make you happy} For those reasons and many others, I slacked, and I regret it.  But anyway, I had the capabilities to go to most schools, just not the GPA or long list of extracurriculars that I knew they would want  And now, I feel as if I have to play catch up.  I would love to go to grad/med school on the east coast, but in order to get in, I've got to look good on paper, and that means good grades.  Many times, it makes me feel trapped.  Instead of sitting in class and feeling excited because I get to learn AMAZING information from (essentially) experts, I'm anxious, wondering what material will be on the test, and being sure to write it down so I don't forget it.  I feel like the world in which I live is stuck, and is trying to keep me stuck, in a fixed mindset.

That all being said, I think I would be very interested in working on some Growth Mindset challenges this semester.  I'm definitely worried about my Cases in Medical Microbiology course.  The professor sent out an announcement informing us that we would be doing a lot of talking in front of the class, which is nerve racking! I want to be able to freely develop ideas and link concepts together, but instead, I just worry about being wrong and looking stupid.  I want to try to overcome this.

Source

Cheers