My Sociology teacher shared with students an empowering quote that said, “We don’t grow when things are easy; we grow when we face challenges.” To me this quote means that challenge is the only way to figure out who we are, what we are capable of overcoming, and how we react to setbacks. In “Brainology: Transforming Students’ Motivation to Learn” Carol S. Dweck says: a growth mindset learns from challenges with effort while fixed mindsets feel threatened by challenge. There are many factors that contribute into the mindset of a student. In “I Just Wanna Be Average” by Mike Rose there were incompetent teachers who expressed how unprepared they were by causing their students distraction issues, wanting to give up or not caring in their classes. …show more content…
None of the teachers knew how to react properly to put a stop to these behaviors. Students have to figure out if their mindset is fixed or if their mindset is something that they can grow and change. While to some extent students have control on their education; attitudes, stereotypes, and the preparedness of teachers have an effect on the mindset of students and how these will strive in their education. Both students’ and teachers’ attitudes have an effect in the mindset of students. There is a visible pattern of those students who constantly arrive late to class, and miss class numerous times. Their grade reflect effort put into their class inside and outside of the classroom. Students have a choice every class meeting to show up and pay attention, and retain critical information for their success. Rose emphasizes his classmates “pushed and pushed and bullied their way into a freedom that both scared and embarrassed them.” His description fits students who tend to seek attention by having others laugh at everything they say or do. Those students who have to be told to quiet might feel as if they have earned some type of power in the classroom; these students typically have a fixed-mindset. Teachers’ attitude can also influence the mindset of students. The way teachers express their anger or disagreement with students’ behavior transmits their attitude. Rose declares one of the teachers, Brother Dill, was “troubled and unstable” and when pushed to the edge by students’ behavior he would lose his temper causing him to yell at his students and occasionally would “shake or smack” them. It is unacceptable for teachers to express their attitudes in a physical way. Brother Dill’s attitude caused his student to set into a fixed-mindset by making them feel frightened to put effort into class since they are punished whenever he loses control. It is important for teachers to have patience with students’ attitudes as both of their attitudes influence the mindset of students. In addition stereotypes equally have effect on student’s mindsets.
Students’ backgrounds, ethnicities and geography play a role in stereotypes and also whom they keep in their social groups. The characters in Rose’s story are from South Los Angeles and they are in a Vocational Track program offered at Our Lady of Mercy High School. To my knowledge South LA is considered “the ghetto” of the city. And being put in a Vocational Track program already lowers their self-esteem in the sense of intelligence. Those students most likely did very poorly in their regular classes to find themselves in a Vocational Track, or as Rose describes “dumping ground for the disaffected” which is a program much like a GED program nowadays to be able to get a basic job (not a career). Rose manifested the way his English teacher, Mr. Mitropetros, stereotyped his Vocational Track students by making them read “Julius Caesar” over and over all semester by switching parts to restart once they were done. Mr. Mitropetros stereotyped his students as empty-headed by only having them read the required text not once but many times without providing any other educational information nor activity during the semester. Teachers should not stereotype nor make students feel stereotyped as a result students will be boxed into a fixed …show more content…
mindset. In the same way the lack of preparedness of teachers significantly affects the mindset of students and how these will strive in their education.
Teachers are meant to be motivators into student’s effort. Nobody wants to attend a class where the teacher simply lectures and then quizzes the students nor attend a class where you literally do the same repeated steps every time. Teachers have to make connections with their students by showing their approachability. Rose says, “the teachers had no idea of how to engage the imaginations of us kids who were scuttling along at the bottom of the pond.” Teachers have to attempt different tactics to excite and discipline students to be “groomed for the classroom” for the students are screaming for help when they are fooling around and not paying attention. Given this point the atmosphere created with lack of preparedness by teachers will not have students striving for success in their
education. While the lack of preparedness can have a negative effect on students mindset a highly qualified teacher can have a remarkable influence of students’ mindsets and how students will strive in their education. In “I Just Wanna Be Average” Rose had an emotional conflict with the loss of his father and finds a support system. This system was his only qualified teacher, MacFarland, who becomes the influence into Rose’s effort. This teacher was Rose’s mentor: he was assertive, dominant and authoritative. As Rose reflects on his fixed mindset he says, “I did what I had to do to get by, and I did it with half my mind” then describes how Mr. Macfarland sets him up for success starting with class-work “we wrote three or four essays a month. We read a book every two or three weeks.” Rose changed his mindset into a growth-mindset with professional advice and encouragement. Rose learned the importance of knowledge and this is why he is now a successful writer. Sometimes it takes a big setback in life to realize that with a fixed mindset there is not much progress in life itself. Effort and education are characteristics of a growth-mindset and teachers are the ones who can implement these in the classroom to help students strive for success in their education. Generally speaking students have the final decision in their education. There are factors like attitudes, stereotypes, and the preparedness of teachers which help students figure out if they have a fixed-mindset or a growth-mindset in their education. It should not take a setback to realize which mindset one has but if that is the case the reaction and effort will determine the capabilities of overcoming and bettering oneself. Students need to think of the future to motivate themselves and set priorities because not many have the blessing of having another person do it for them. Students should find a support system like Rose to overcome their fixed-mindset into a growth-mindset to be successful.
Students who have a growth mindset learn by facing obstacle because they see them as a way of learning. Dweck says, “In a Growth mindset, however you can make a plan of positive action that can remedy the deficiency” (2). Students have different setbacks, and different ways of dealing with them. Instead of focusing on their failure, students
While reading the book Mindset by Carol S. Dweck I learned much about my personal learning style, the realization about how I work with others, and how much an attitude or preconceived idea can influence how I live my life. This also directly impacts my thoughts as an aspiring teacher. All of which have made me come to the realization that as a teacher I will need to be aware of not only my mindset but also be aware of how students can be influenced by their mindsets.
Comparing Mike Rose's I Just Wanna Be Average and the “Report of the French Commission on American Education, 1879'
These students come in with a fixed mindset in what it will be a class about just reading and writing on boring topics and that they will neither understand the readings or develop a well-written paper. Yet, there are those that see it as a way of being introduced to new material and hearing the different point of views from peers and instructor. What can harness the development of a growth mindset in a class? Well for starters we can start Dweck recommends taking careful consideration of the words given to the students (p.4). Dweck also says to not to praise their intelligence but the effort of the student. For instance, by replacing the word “fail” to “learn” it can have two different outcomes. It can be used in a term as if falling short on a goal; it is not that they “fail” but they “learn” from what kept them from reaching that goal. It would also be beneficial for students to reflect on the task on hand and verbally express their own
In Rizga’s essay, she explains about how two different students who have experienced stereotype by someone’s race. A student named Brianna, was once in the bathroom with five of her other black girl friend’s fixing their hair. While two Asian American girls came in and saw them, they ran out right away, thinking something bad might happened and get bullied. Another experience from a student in Rizga’s essay was a girl named Rebecca. She exclaims how she moved to St. Louis from China. She went to an all-African American school and was told by her parents to stay away from black students, to not trust them, and run away even though they were all really nice to her. In Dickerson’s essay, she says one thing that is similar to these two situations of the student’s in Rizga’s essay. Dickerson says, “Race is an arbitrary system for establishing hierarchy and privilege” (69). If so, we shouldn’t rank one above the other or lower, stereotype and judge by their group of culture, education and race society has organized and shaped well in to be pushed and categorize by groups. Some of all of us, meaning of all people are not good. Stereo type and social stereo type has caused difficulties in the world tension and
Literacy, or the capability to comprehend, translate, utilize, make, process, assess, and speak information connected with fluctuating settings and displayed in differing organizations, assumes an essential part in molding a young's persons trajectory in life. The ability to read speaks to a key factor of scholarly, social, and financial success (Snow, Burns, & Griffin, 1998). These abilities likewise speak to a fundamental segment to having a satisfying life and turning into an effective worker and overall person (Snow, Burns, & Griffin, 1999). Interestingly, recent studies have demonstrated that low reading skills lead to critical hindrances in monetary and social achievement. As stated by the National Center for Education Statistics, adults with lower levels of reading skills and literacy have a lower average salary. Another study evaluated that 17 to 18 percent of adults with "below average" literacy aptitudes earned less than $300 a week, though just 3 to 6 percent of adults with "proficient" reading abilities earned less than $300 a week (Snow, Burns, & Griffin, 1998).
In the Brainology article, professor Carol Dweck put forward two mindsets: fixed mindset and growth mindset. That is an educational project that was instituted by Carol Dweck and made her famous for. That is talking about transforming student’s motivation to learn found out that people have fixed mindset or growth mindset all have profound effects on their motivation, learning and school achievement. From this article, this is particularly designed to help students break all boundaries and limits set by negative learning perspectives, while also instilling self-confidence is fixed, that each person has a certain amount and we call this a fixed mindset. A fixed mindset makes challenges threatening for students, and it makes mistakes and failures
In sum, a fixed mindset is not healthy in any environment whether at school or at the workplace. Mainly, such an attitude discourages effort and dedication as one believes that their life is predestined. A growth mindset is necessary because one has to constantly improve their chances of being successful by putting in a lot of effort. While praise is important, it should only be directed towards efforts of a child and not their perceived intelligence because of the adverse effects associated with such an
As far as I can remember, I was never really any good at school. I couldn’t concentrate on things for no more than 5 minutes at a time, I would either get discouraged or find it too easy and just give up. An author by the name of Carol Dweck wrote an article called “Brainology”. In it, Dweck describes that there are two types of mindsets: fixed and growth. Those who are afraid to fail so they never try anything new are those with a fixed mindset and the growth mindset are those who are not afraid to fail and find a new challenge, an opportunity to learn something new.
There are many attitudes that form certain mindsets. Some of these mindsets can change how a person does and perceives things. Some mindsets that can do just that are Dweck’s example of a growth mindset and fixed mindsets. According to Dweck, a fixed mindset is one in where “.. students believe that intelligence is fixed..” and a fixed mindset is the “..believe that intelligence is a potential that can be realized through learning. As a result, confronting challenges, profiting from mistakes, and persevering in the face of setbacks become ways of getting smarter. Because people with growth mindsets can through setbacks, and find alternatives to better themselves; They turn to perseverance and hard work to achieve their goals.
We live in a society where we are surrounded by people telling us that school/education and being educated is the only way to succeed. However, the school system is not up to the standards we want it to uphold. There are three issues we discuss the most which are the government, the student, and the teacher. In John Taylor Gatto 's essay “Against School”, we see the inside perspective of the educational system from the view of a teacher. In “I Just Wanna Be Average”, an essay written by Mike Rose, we hear a student 's experience of being in a vocational class in the lower level class in the educational system when he was supposed to be in the higher class. Both Gatto and Rose give their opinions on how the educational system is falling apart. Today the government is only trying to get students to pass, making it hard for teachers to teach what they want. Students are affected everyday by the school system. They sit there - bored - and do not think that the teachers care, making the
Have you ever thought about yourself if you are in the fixed or a growth mindset? A fixed mindset person is someone who overcomes obstacles, works hard, and failure does not stop them. On the other hand a person who is in the fixed mindset is someone who is non challenge, gives up, or thinks that success is abuse. In a book called “Mindset The New Psychology of Success” the author Carol S. Dweck talks about different ways we can convert ourselves from a fixed mindset to a growth mindset and the author also talks about the qualities of the growth and fixed mindsets. In a movie“Freedom Writers” the author Erin Gruwell shows us how she was a growth minded teacher but her students were in the fixed minded group. Throughout the school year the students had a fixed mindset but as time went by the students somehow their mindsets into the growth mindset. Freedom writers illustrates the fixed mindsets of the teacher and students and a growth minded teacher who changed everything.
There are many roads to be successful in learning, but they all involve developing mindset. Developing the right mindset is a key success for most learning. Carol S.Dweck, the author of " brainology", indentified two diffent mindsets : fixed mindsets and grow mindsets. These impact student 's learning differently. From my point of view, having a growth mindset is the best for success since this belief assists students learn and develop a good self-motivation in goals, efforts, and setbacks.
Lastly, as a student myself most of Ellen Glanz’s points in “What’s Wrong with Schools?” are accurate. Classroom teaching methods need to be changed. Students shouldn 't be "doing as little as necessary to pass tests, using tricks to avoid assignments or manipulating teachers to do the work for them." Although teachers should demand more of their students it is essential for both the educator and his/her students to be on the same page. Through Ellen Glanz 's experience, she was able to point out the flaws in classroom settings and become a better teacher than she was before as
...g kind of praise creates self-defeating behavior. The right kind motivates students to learn. This leads us to two kinds of mindsets that students can have that effect the way that they look at learning and growing: fixed mindset and growth mindset.