Growth Mindset Blog

I remember once when I was in the fourth grade, a lady came to our class with some math "trick questions". I guessed a wrong answer and was told I was wrong, another student answered correctly and received praise. I remember in that moment thinking to myself, "I'm just no good at math". I remember coming home with math homework in elementary school and middle school bawling to my parents when I could not figure out my assignments. Luckily for me, I have very patient parents who understand the importance of a Growth Mindset. When I couldn't figure out a problem, they taught me how to search through my textbook like a detective looking for clues. I learned how to look back at other problems and find similarities and differences between the problems. The focused shifted from finding the right answer immediately, to learning how to problem solve... which is actually pretty fun! I remember both of my parent's constantly reminding me to slow down when I did my homework, which turned my homework into more of a learning experience than an assignment.

Fast forward to high school and math was not only my favorite subject, but the subject in which I excelled the most in. Moving on into college, I've chosen a major that places a large emphasis on statistics and calculus. I'm so glad my parent's helped me work out of the failing-mindset to the not-yet-mindset mentioned in the video.

I appreciate the concept of a Growth Mindset because it recognizes the paralyzing fear of failure that is evident in most students. I love the imagery Carol Dweck used of challenging problems exercising your brain and making it stronger. That really is so true. The ability to memorize facts and regurgitate them to others is decreasingly important with search engines and textbooks available to our generation at the snap of a finger.What is more important that ever is a willingness to learn, an ability to adapt to new challenges, and a problem solving process- all of which the Growth Mindset works to develop.

Photo: You Haven't Failed... You've Learned, Made by: Laura Gibbs with Cheezburger,

 Inspired by tweet from Vid Mcevic, Link: here