Project 1, Polished Draft

This essay is based off of a fixed and growth mindset. My main focus was to explain avoiding a fixed mindset and proving that a growth mindset is best.      

 Avoiding a Fixed Mindset

A growth mindset is based off of someone who believes their basic qualities can be improved. A fixed mindset is just the opposite of a growth mindset. Growth and Fixed mindsets are not only the opposite of each other but sometimes effect students in school. I recently took the growth vs. fixed mindset test and I’m more of a growth mindset but there is still a small part of me that has a fixed mindset. For example, last semester I had comp 1 and I struggled throughout the semester trying to complete every essay to the best of my ability. The second essay that I had last semester had me questioning my abilities to accomplish what I needed to which is a sign of a fixed mindset. So the question is, what can be done to avoid having a fixed mindset?

My search began with “Even Geniuses Work Hard”, written by Carol Dweck. In this article Dweck states that “teachers need to create a growth-mindset culture in the classroom” (Dweck). Based off of “Even Geniuses Work Hard,” a person with a growth mindset values giving effort to improve their skills and a person with a fixed mindset doesn’t care as much to give effort. Educators working towards achieving that goal will take a plethora of preparation and commitment. Dweck’s research indicated that educators should challenge their students to know what students has a fixed mindset and what students has a growth mindset. With these challenges the educators should praise the students process because it’ll avoid having students think that accomplishing something makes them smart. Also when challenging students, the educators should take into consideration that fast learning is not always the way to go. Educators should do this because, according to Dweck, some students might not catch on as quickly as others which could be a benefit for the student.

What I interpreted from Dweck’s article is that educators can have a big part in how a student’s mindset is fixated. In my opinion, it might not help to challenge some students because they aren’t willing to work towards changing or trying to improve themselves. There might be some students that can and are willing to change from a fixed to growth mindset. The only way that will happen is if they are guided by their teacher(s). Dweck states that when being challenged and praised for progress and effort, students have the advantage at being successful throughout their lives.

My second search was “The Mindset Works”. It continued to explain how it’s a proven fact that student’s mindset can change. It also explains the neuroscientific discoveries that the brain is pliable. They have discovered that with having a growth mindset would cause students to behave differently. Like I’ve mentioned before, educators do have an impact on what mindset a student can have. The reason behind that is when students receive feedback from their teachers it can persuade a student to either challenge themselves or make things easy. My teacher gave us a quiz which test your mindset and I took it twice. The first time I took it I got 3 of fixed mindset and 5 of growth mindset set. I had a different point of view before but once I started reading more about a fixed and growth mindset my point of view changed. Once I had taken the test again I got a 1 of fixed mindset and an 8 of growth mindset. So just by me reading “Even Geniuses Work Hard” and “The Mindset Works” made my test score change drastically because I got a better understanding of how both mindset works.