Growth Mindset

Growth Mindset

* have you heard of Carol Dweck and/or the growth mindset before? how did you learn about it?

        - I had definitely heard of the growth mindset, though I had never heard from Carol Dweck in particular. Our director for the Pride of Oklahoma has a similar growth mindset in his teaching philosophy

* how do you see yourself on the spectrum of growth-fixed mindset in your school work? what about in other aspects of your life? (for example, if you are an athlete, can you relate to this from a sports perspective? music? traveling? cooking?)

        - for schoolwork, it's important to have growth mindset as we become exposed to subjects we are less familiar with. We may not get something at first, but it's important to keep attempting to understand (or reach out for help if you don't). From a musician's perspective, this almost feels like a given. We are constantly focusing on growth and the "what's next?" target. It becomes this obsession. "Okay, I can do this now, but I still can't do this other thing to I have to work on it until I can". In order to get better, we are constantly assessing and improving our deficiencies. If anything, if becomes harder to celebrate in the moment the more self-critical we get. 

* what have you learned about your own learning while you've been at OU? what are your biggest challenges as you set about learning new things?

        I've learned that I'm a very stubborn learner and that I generally like to understand things right away because I have perfectionist tendencies. However, there can often be a lot of work involved in learning something new, which can be daunting. I have to make sure that I keep a good balance of investment. I have to have enough interest that it makes me actively want to be better at the thing, but not so much that it consumes every waking moment of my thoughts in a fiery obsession (unless it's music performance. That's the thing I'm supposed to obsess about.)

* do you think you'll be interested in learning more about the growth mindset this semester?

        as a (hopeful) future teacher, I'm always interested in the psychology and thoughts behind learning. The more we know about learning, the better we can teach and learn, right?

* do you have any personal learning goals for this semester? any class that you are really excited about? or a class your are worried about?

        I'm excited to broaden my horizons this semester and learn about all sorts of different things from different disciplines. I'm taking a course that goes in depth with electroacoustic music, so I'm really excited for that. Beyond that, I'm not terribly worried about one class or the other. 

* if you looked at the article(s) by Carol Dweck's critics, what are the points that you found most persuasive in their critiques?

        I read through Paunesku's critique and I thought that it was really interesting. I think that we can forget that a "traditional" classroom setting and method of teaching might not be the most inclusive space for learning. This teaching model should be updated to reflect different wants, needs, cultural values, etc. of different people other than just teaching without those insights. I think that Paunesku's argument would allow for student to feel safe, welcomed, and thus be truly able to learn.

                                       (image: rainbow brain by Muffinator. source: wikipedia)