Week 8 Growth Mindset

                                                   Image: Pinterest 

In looking at the chart of growth mindset dimensions, I've made my own list of weaknesses and strengths:

Weaknesses:

-Doing the minimum

-Focusing on Grades instead of learning

-Thinking I cannot improve

-Doing things at the last minute

-Comparing myself to others

Strengths:

-Finding motivation inside myself

-Choosing what's hard (if it interests me)

-Being willing to learn from mistakes

-Asking lots of questions

-Taking risks

This class has helped me realize that I am willing to take more risks, like with my writing, than I am used to. Writing is a very personal thing, and being brave enough to post stories on topics that matter to me has been an experience that has allowed me to step out of my comfort zone. One thing I'm going to start working on for Indian Epics is doing the minimum. I want to start doing the extra credit options each week. I'll start with just one extra per week and hopefully do more as the semester progresses. Another thing I want to work on is doing assignments at the last minute. We all made a schedule at the beginning of the semester on how we wanted to split our work up for the week and I have not been good about sticking to mine. Instead of working on Monday mornings on readings, I've been sleeping in. Indian Epics has also helped me to stop comparing my work to other students'. Reading other people's stories has helped me realize that everyone has a unique way of thinking and writing, and we can't possibly compare them. 

Growth Mindset: Love a challenge

                                       

Normally, I'm not one to research ways to improve my education. I've always just showed up to class and simply did what I needed to do for the class to get a good grade. It made sense when Carol Dweck mentioned that kids these days just want the A and don't truly want to learn. I feel like this happens a lot in college. We want good grades on transcripts but forget that we came to college to train for a career. 

One part of the video that caught my attention was when Carol noticed how kids who had the attitude of "I like a challenge" could solve problems better than others. That's why I found the picture above and put it in my blog. Engineering students have to deal with problem solving all the time. Last semester in our electronics lab, there were hours and hours of troubleshooting our circuits. The ones who stayed in lab and had a good attitude are the ones who succeeded in lab. They learned to experiment, test, and change things until everything worked. Next time I'm in lab, I want to remember to enjoy a challenge. 

Image: Cheezburger.com