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Mindset? Or Educational system? What needs to be fixed.

In Alfie Kohn’s article “The perils of "Growth Mindset” education" published on August 16, 2015 is his intake on Carol Dweck’s studies of fixed and growth mindset. He talks about how teachers and parents focus so much on the student’s mindset than the education system itself. Kohn first talks about Carol Dweck, a psychologist, he confronts her research and studies on this topic and gives his ideas along with it. While Dweck believed student’s effort is linked to their mindsets, having a “fixed” one limits their learning potential and success. But Kohn had a different response, he believed that a student’s mindset wasn’t the main source of the problem, but there was so much more to it. He states that the education system is to blame for students poor performance in school other than blaming the student for being “fixed”. To support this argument Kohn shares evidence of research, studies, and even his own claims to prove his point. Kohn presents this information to us to show us that there are some flaws to the education system and to Carol Dweck’s ideas. Given by Alfie Kohn in this article, he uses evidence from research and studies. For example he uses evidence from studies done in 2010, they found that students that have a growth mindset will adapt a strategy called “self-handicapping”. They explained that “those who did so (meaning having a growth mindset) were even more likely to give themselves an excuse for screwing up” this gives out the point that adopting a growth mindset does not help the student at uall. It just leads to students finding it as an excuse when failure surfaces. Speaking about growth mindset Kohn refers to Dweck’s studies a lot, he confronts her ideas and gives a response with “yes, but it works to a certain extent.” He explains that a growth mindset doesn’t make things worse, but it is pretty limited. It’s even confirmed by psychologist, “Training them to think about effort more than ability does nothing to address the fact, that too much emphasis on performance undermines intellectual engagement.” Meaning that as long as teachers and students pressure the students to focus more on effort than ability, students might believe that as long as they did something they’ll receive full credit. So rather than working with the student to be better, teachers and parents will just focus on them being “fixed”. When Kohn asserts the focus on “fixing” students mindsets, it diverts attention to other societal factors that influence learning such as sexism, poverty, economic, or political barriers. He’s explaining that a student’s mindset isn’t the only reason they’re doing bad during their education, there are real world problems that is affecting a person’s mind. Sexism, poverty, economic, and political barriers are important factors that can impact a student. From what Kohn has stated I agree with his statement about these factors affecting students. Personally in my life poverty and sexism played a big role to how I acted during school. For example, because I am a girl I am limited to possibilities. As a female in an Asian community I am still expected to cook, clean, and watch over my husband and kids. I am not limited because It’s all in my head and I’m not positive enough. But It’s because I can’t avoid the real world problems that is happening around me. Things like poverty and sexism is hard to overcome when it’s bigger than just your mind, so just thinking positive isn’t much help.

sholaday-blog

Kohn pointed out many faults in Dweck’s ideas about mindset but the one that really stood out to me that you pointed out was about the growth mindset when you stated, “Speaking about growth mindset Kohn refers to Dweck’s studies a lot, he confronts her ideas and gives a response with “yes, but it works to a certain extent.” He explains that a growth mindset doesn’t make things worse, but it is pretty limited.” not many people point out the faults of the growth mindset as its seen to be the positive mindset and I agree with your observation about how it is actually pretty limited. Dweck presented the growth mindset as being the ideal mindset that everyone should have but it actually is pretty demanding to always expect a student to put in effort in everything they may do. There are many situations that may cause students to not want to put in effort in something such as personal situations and by having the expectation to always expect the student to put in effort a strain will be put between both teacher and student.

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The Perils of “Growth Mindset Education”

In the article, “The Perils of “Growth Mindset Education,” author, Alfie Kohn challenges the ideas of psychologist, Carol Dweck, about how praising and obtaining a “growth” mindset can only take children and students so far or worse, may actually be contributing to a lower success rate in whatever tasks they do. Kohn explains that we shouldn’t be trying to “fix” the attitudes or mindsets of children, but rather fix the way we teach and praise. Kohn asserts that, “as I’ve explained in books and articles, the most salient feature of a positive judgment is not that it’s positive but that it’s a judgment; it’s more about controlling than encouraging.” Kohn believes that the problem with praise is that it is a form of judgment and praise, as a reward, should be given to kids as a form of “nonjudgmental feedback and guidance,” as well as unconditional support.

In addition, Kohn continues to criticize Dweck’s research by explaining that, “the series of Dweck’s studies on which she still relies to support the idea of praising effort…included no condition in which students received non-evaluative feedback.” Kohn believes that the studies of Dweck’s research are inconclusive and incomplete. He feels that studies on feedback that is nonjudgmental, are needed to make her claims about praising accurate. Kohn then points out that, “other researchers have found that just such a response – information about how they’ve done without a judgment attached – is preferable to any sort of praise.” Students’ given such support and feedback, appeared to have a positive response in the outcome; thus evaluating that Kohn’s claims about praise without judgment are true. So, going back to the ideas of growth mindsets, it seems that no matter what kind of mindset a student has, praise has a negative affect every time. Furthermore, Kohn finds that both Dweck’s ideas about fixing mindsets and praise are false and that a change in something bigger, something that does not have to do with the students directly, may be the solution to students continuing to succeed now and in the future.

When Kohn talks about fixing a students’ mindset, he argues that it would only lead to other “societal factors that influence learning such as sexism, economic, or political barriers." Kohn is saying that if you focus on "fixing” the mindset of a student, you may become blind to other contributing factors in that students ability to being a successful learner. Yes, I say that Kohn makes a good point. Changing a student’s mindset can only take them so far, to truly be able to help them, you have to understand each of their unique situations. No student is the same, we all live and learn differently. When looking back at Dweck’s mindset theory which is about changing mindsets, Kohn illustrates that, “ Dweck’s work nestles comfortably in a long self-help tradition, the American can-do, just-adopt-a-positive-attitude spirit…the message of that tradition has always been to adjust yourself to conditions as you find them because those conditions are immutable; all you can do is decide on the spirit in which to approach them.” Again, Kohn argues that you can change a student’s mindset to want to be engaged and learn what is being taught, however, they will only know how to be motivated to memorizing the material, instead of understanding it. So changing mindsets and praise fill in some gaps to the initial problem, but then lead to other problems down the road. In all, the one thing that could be the solution to continued success in students is a change in the way students are taught. This is another topic Kohn writes about further in his article. Kohn declares that, “the real alternative… isn’t a different attitude about oneself; it’s a willingness to go beyond individual attitudes, to realize that no mindset is a magic elixir that can dissolve the toxicity of structural arrangements. ” this change he talks about is a change in the system in which educators teach students. If teachers change their method of teaching, from just simply throwing forgettable facts at students, to actually captivating students to be engaged and truly understand about what it is they are being taught, it could have great effects on how students think and perceive the world around them.

sholaday-blog

Dweck’s research on mindsets and the factors as to what led students into having them had plenty of evidence but it was also missing many points that you pointed out in your post. I couldn’t agree more when you wrote that “changing mindsets and praise fill in some gaps to the initial problem, but then lead to other problems down the road. In all, the one thing that could be the solution to continued success in students is a change in the way students are taught.” Although Dweck had formed these two mindsets and gave solutions as to how to move from one to another, there was still a portion missing for it those problems to be solved. She made it seem that by identifying what mindset you fit into could lead to fixing the problem the individual may have. However problems don’t just go away just by recognizing them. More steps should be taken other than that and that was what Dweck failed to make clear. Yes she gave solutions to how to move from a fixed to a growth mindset but how she presented it was more of a demand to do the steps that she formed to move into the growth mindset. This is where problems arise as everyone is different when it comes to how they may change how they are. There shouldn’t be a set procedure that need to be followed to complete something that regards to who and who we are.

A retelling of perils of growth mindset

“The Perils of Growth Mindset” is an article written by Alfie Kohn, an advocate for progressive education, that takes on a interesting and different take on Carol Dweck’s wildly popular “Developing a growth mindset.” Whereas most people who had previously read her claims about mindset agreed with her, Kohn is critical about it and criticizes the idea of Dweck’s theory. He believes that upon the popularity of her theory, it became more of a simple household term that was being easily thrown around by everyone. Although he credits her for having decades worth of good data to back up her belief in mindsets, she created two specific groups for readers to place themself into based on what she believed to be success or failure which didn’t settle nicely to him. Her intentions with her theory comes off as if she is trying to be an educator sorting her pupils into groups rather than being a researcher to share her speculations about mindsets. Kohn notes that having either mindsets isn’t the only way for one to succeed. Instead he suggests that the main goal is to really have people, especially children, adapt a positive attitude about their ability to handle whatever they've been given to do. Even with Dweck’s idea of praising for effort, praise shouldn’t be given out at all rather they should be given support for whatever they maybe doing. He further points out the biggest peril about her mindsets is the fact that she had only studied two different groups. Rather than exploring more variables, she stuck to the typical two; the group that did not receive something vs the group that did receive something and this greatly affected her whole belief as it focuses on certain individuals rather than the whole picture. Not only did she exclude different sorts of groups that may have really altered her whole theory but, he also suggests that different aspects such as religion, stereotypes, sexuality or environment play a huge role in the formation of the mindsets, a key aspect that she neglected to point out.Kohn gives plenty of evidence to how Dweck’s ideas perished. First and foremost is the title which she had given her article which he states she has as Kohn says “rebranded it more catchily” so that it would catch readers attention. By renaming her theory into something much more appealing and interesting, it caught the attention of of many people who in turn adapted her ideas of a growth and fixed mindset. They were quick to place themselves into the type of mindsets they were without a second thought because of Dweck’s status as an “acclaimed psychologist”. These strangers are basing who they are based off someone they do not know He notes that, “it's not just the habit of attributing your failure to being stupid that holds you back, but also the habit of attributing your success to being smart,” There are other reasons for what makes people smart or unintellegent, yet these people are simply labelling themselves into either mindset and attributing their success or failure as either having a growth or fixed mindset rather than the people themselves finding the reason for their success or failure. The biggest issue at hand for these mindsets is not the idea that some of us are more capable than others it's the idea of praise that is causing the most trouble. Praise is seen by Kohn as being more “controlling than encouraging” and it shows in how Dweck manipulates the use of praise. She goes against the idea of individual praises yet she goes about insisting that effort praise is the only praise that should be given. “Kids typically end up less interested in whatever they were rewarded or praised for doing because now their goal is just to get the reward or praise” Explains Kohn and although the praise that Dweck insists should be given is supportive, it is still praise and can still fester the same reaction as if they were given regular praise. One of the biggest points that Kohn has against Dweck that he states in “Perils of Growth Mindset” is that, “The problem with sweeping generic claims about the power of attitude or beliefs isn't just a risk of overstating the benefits but also a tendency to divert attention from the nature of the tasks themselves”, By having the main focus be all about the singularity of a person Alfie asserts it diverts attention from other societal factors that influence learning such as sexism, poverty, economics, or political barriers and I agree with his statement. When fixing a student's mindset and only focusing on their success and failures in life, it diverts the attention from other social factors that may come in play. When students are being told to focus how their mind is from a fixed to a growth, the student focuses all of their time and energy to wanting to change from the fixed mindset to a growth. I believe that their focus goes to wanting to completely change how they are not because they want to but because they are told that this mindset is bad and that mindset is good. Failures aren’t the only reason as to why some people fail and even success may cause failure at times that can hold us back. There needs to be a personal understanding of one's abilities to be able to figure out a mindset, not just believing a psychologist whose ideas are celebrated. To my understanding, this factor in Kohn's case is how students are allowing Dweck categorize them and tell them who and what they are based on a mindset. Students would be so focused on trying to set themselves apart from who they are that they forget other factors that may influence why they might be in that mindset.

emmyyum

What it takes to be great !

The Central focus of Geoffrey Colvin’s article “What it takes to be great” published October 19, 2006 is research on what is needed to achieve greatness. Colvin’s notes that researchers were first curious on why certain people are able to go on improving and that led them to study with consistent observation many great performers in different fields. While many believe that natural talent is a big part of achieving greatness, the researchers and Colvin concludes that greatness is achieved through hard work through deliberate practice. Colvin’s deliberate practice involves improving performance, reaching for objectives just beyond one’s level of competence, getting feedback on results and high levels of repetition. To support his argument, Colvin’s shares evidence from the researcher’s studies, and real world example, explaining people need around ten years of hard work before becoming world-class. Ultimately Colvin presents this information to us, so that we can take this into our lives and strive for our own greatness through deliberate practice.

Colvin presents research suggesting that hard work through deliberate practice can lead you to becoming great in the field you want. With Colvin’s findings I agree with his point stating “lack of a natural gift is irrelevant- talent has little or nothing to do with greatness” (page. 28). This applies to me personally because when I joined my high school softball team I knew nothing. So compared to the girls that grew up playing softball and had actual talent with this sport I had zero knowledge about it. But with practice everyday, 5 hours a day with 100% of effort I became good at this sport within a 1-2 months. So when the article stated “nobody is great without hard work” or “consistency is crucial” (page 29) I can highly agree. Because with deliberate practice I became someone that knew zero knowledge about softball to the JV Captain of the softball team.

With my calendar I made sure that I had at least 3-4 hours of study and homework time, I think this is a very good amount mostly when I have a test I can evenly distribute my studying throughout the week. With my resting and fun time I gave myself only 2 hours because it’s enough for a nap or just resting my body so I can restore my energy for homework. Although she doesn’t say so directly, Colvin would approve of my schedule because I am taking time out of my life to really learn and understand my studies. Like he said on page 31, “Instead of merely trying to get it done, you aim to get better at it.” This is why I gave myself such a big amount of hours to take time and learn, not to just rush my work to get it done. I gave myself a good amount of fun time and a good period of time for studying. I am not stressing myself out or over working myself, also I am not being lazy and spending too much time having fun time because I know if I exceed that time limit I wouldn’t want to do anything at all. Also sometimes my hours of fun will vary because of my random work schedules but that’s okay with me!

sholaday-blog

I like your idea of giving yourself more time to do assignments. It’s better to have more time for them rather than being put under the pressure and stressing to complete them. You really balance your time between relaxing and studying which is something I need to learn to do.

persnicketypapp-blog

Deliberate Practice Blog

The central focus of Geoffrey Colvin‘s article “What it Takes to be Great” published in Fortune Magazine is to explore the research as to why natural talent is not the key to success, it is hard work. Colvin notes that researchers were curious about what makes someone achieve greatness, is it a natural talent that we are born with? That led them to study not only Major athletes like Tiger Woods but also successful musicians and businessmen like Luciano Pavarotti, Chopin, Warren Buffet and Bill Gates among others. While many believe that we are born with a natural talent or ability that was already there, researchers and Colvin conclude that a specific natural talent does not exist, greatness is earned through hard work dedicating yourself to scrupulously improving through deliberate practice. To support his argument, Colvin shares several scientific studies (done since 1993 by Ericsson and his two colleagues) and examples of individuals throughout history who were famously known for their accomplishments and the innumerable amount of time that was spend to hone their skills. Ultimately, Colvin presents this information to Fortune and the public at large, so that they can remove the false vail of belief that success is something you are gifted at birth and rethink your methods towards your own greatness.

Colvin presents research suggesting that deliberate practice is the actual key to success. This research finding does apply to me because it is similar to how I approach my daily life. I have always been a firm believer in the concept of hard work is what gets the job done. No individual is born with more knowledge than another; we are all born into a level playing field. It is through hard work and diligence that we better ourselves and achieve greatness. According to Colvin, “You will achieve greatness only through an enormous amount of hard work over many years, also that it must be deliberate practice, involving maliciously fine tuning your skill and narrowing down your weakness’ then spending thousands of hours over almost a decade to become great.” Colvin’s theory of deliberate practice is extremely useful because it sheds light on the difficult problem of how we go about becoming successful. Though Colvin does not focus on this aspect of how as much, I feel it is the most import point he makes. He gives some good examples of how many different types of people, in different fields use the method of not just practicing but studying how well you do and adjusting the approach to continuously improve. I think this is the key to know how to do better as you go. In my experience I approached learning a new skill with the idea that, if I simply just keep trying I will get the desired results, unbeknownst to me that observing how well I do or what areas need more attention was important. Just relentlessly practicing is not specific enough, you need to know what you are skill you are developing, how to advance to the next level and how hard to push.

Although he doesn’t say so directly Michael E. Martinez would likely approve of my calendar. I use my calendar as a problem solving tool, with the goal in mind, to be organized with my time. For example juggling study time, personal life, classes and making sure I study enough for each class. Martinez himself writes “Problem solving is exercised daily, often continuously, especially in a complex society where following established rules and procedures is not enough to succeed. Problem solving can be defined simply as the pursuit of a goal when the path to that goal is uncertain.” The essence of Martinez’s argument is that even though there may be already established rules and guidelines to help solve a problem, you might have to move beyond those in order to accomplish your personal goals. By creating this calendar and rearranging parts of my life I believe I have set myself on a clear path to achieve greatness.

sholaday-blog

I’m also a firm believer in handwork gets the job done and don’t think many people realize that anything can be accomplished through doing so. Your approach to learning a new skill is something I need to of more often since I usually think of the negative outcomes rather than the positive ones which results in me not putting in much effort.

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My take on what it takes to be great

The article “What it Takes to be Great” published by Geoffrey Colvin, the senior editor-at-large for FORTUNE Magazine on October 19 2006, expressed his philosophy that greatness is available to everyone as long as an individual is able to devote many hours of deliberate practice and dedication towards what you may be doing. Rather than just explaining what it is that makes people great, Colvin also describes why natural talent, although a very nice personal perk to have, is irrelevant towards what makes people great. The central focus of the article, as the title may hint at, is to find out what makes a person so great. Colvine says in his article that he, “Understands that talent doesn’t mean intelligence, motivation or personality trait”(28). This prompted him to conduct researches and observations on a few highly celebrated individuals such as Michael Jordan and Bobby Fischer to pinpoint the source of their achievement. He comes up with the conclusion that greatness is not limited to only a few but, rather is available to everyone that puts in the hard work, practice and effort for it. Deliberate practice really is the essential key to improves one's ability and performance, and according to Colvin it is also what allows an individual to either progress to become the absolute best of themselves or never being able to fully seek out the potential they have.

Colvin presents his research suggesting that deliberate practice and consistency are pivotal in order to be able to reach your fullest potential. I agree with his claims and can relate it with my previous struggle with drawing. Drawing was never my strongest point or art in general for the matter before. I used to despise anything that had to do with drawing and always seemed to avoid having to do it even resorting to having friends complete assignments that had to do with drawing before. I know what you are thinking, from my previous post I said I loved art and seemingly made it appear that I used to “live and breathe art.” This had not always been the case and if it weren’t for deliberate practice of drawing, I wouldn’t have been able to find my passion for it. As Colvin says, “Do it regularly, not sporadically ” (31). So that was what I did. I practiced daily, drawing the simplest things onto more complex things even if I didn’t exactly do my best. I still continued and it is so rewarding to see the results of my deliberate practice and consistency almost 6 years later. It truly does take a lot of dedicated time,effort,work and practice to get to where you want to be. Even if you may fail at times, rather than stepping back because of it, should be used as a step forward in the success of what you are doing. Take what Colvin says about Tiger Woods, “ He has never stopped trying to improve, devoting many hours a day to conditioning and practice, even remaking his swings because thats whats it took to get even better” (30). Just because you may be good at something does not mean you stop practicing. To even become better at something, constant improvement is essential to the growth of the skill being practiced. Along with constant improvement, having an open mind towards trying new techniques rather than just doing the same thing is necessary to find better ways to evolve a skill and also to challenge oneself on what they already may know. Without challenge, you aren’t able to fulfill a fraction of your potential if you are always going to play it safe.

Although he doesn't say directly, Colvin would approve of my calendar because I am able to create a “mental model of my business”. In this model I demonstrate how I’m able to manage my time and challenge myself to be more productive and have self discipline Setting goals is important in deliberate practice as it gives a sense of accomplishments when a record of how much practice is kept to be able to look back at how far one has come. Adding to what Colvin says, “Consistency is crucial” (29). It definitely is imperative to be consistent with practice as it allows you to see the maximum results from all hard work being done. Everyone has their own way of studying, but for me it’s all about having a consistent routine. After each class, I like to review my class notes or go over the powerpoint on the lesson learned for that day then immediately begin my assignments so that the lesson is still fresh to me. “Instead of merely trying to get it done, you aim to get better at it” (31). he writes and I believe that this is vital to studying or whatever responsibility you may have . When your main goal for an assignment is just to get it done and out of the way, I believe that this takes away from being able to retain the information on the assignments or lesson. In relation to other responsibilities you have such as a job for example, rather than wanting to finish up a task just for the sake of getting it over with, find ways you could possibly learn or better yourself through it.

queguapojustino-blog

Hey.

Hello all! This is my first semester back since I took a year off from school. I am 20 years old with an undecided major currently though I have been thinking about television studio operations. I work at Fox’s pizza den as a pizza delivery boy. In my free time, i’m usually found playing D&D with my friends or going to the gym with my girlfriend.

One of the games that I like to play the most is Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. It’s a pretty popular e-sport currently even though the community is pretty upset at the current state of the game. I’ve played the counter strike series since I was in 6th grade and haven’t always been good. It’s a nature of the game that you’re not gonna learn unless you get defeated a lot. In this newest iteration of the game, I have invested about 1000 hours practicing and playing. It has taken a lot of angry matches and petty arguments with upset team mates to overcome my weaknesses as a player and develop into a strong team mate in each match. This game is basically my hobby.

There were many times on the steep skill hike it took to be better at Counter-Strike. It is very hard at first when you’re still unsure of how best to play the game. But, after long and arduous ours of basically just running through similar scenarios and gun fights, then you start to improve your aim and cross hair placement. Practicing this game in my free time has given me a better growth mindset that I want to carry into my academic career and real life. It is easy to lose many hours because it’s fun and all the time you spend playing, you’re likely to get better.

This matches up to Dweck’s work when she talked about when coaches asked where all the coach-able players had gone. I think if players were more willing to accept defeat gracefully as a learning experience but still had the poor feeling of a loss motivate them to train harder for their next match or on a smaller level even the next round or play.

But please, don’t look at me like some nerd, I do plenty outside. I like to work out at the gym and run. Above those, I like to go paddle boarding by the beach. Being on the water on a sunny day or seeking the shade of a bridge and just chilling out listening to, basically, the world happening around you. It’s especially dope when you get to paddle alongside some seals but you should still be careful.

Well, that’s about it I guess. I’m checking the paper and I think this assignment’s about done. Yup, done.

sholaday-blog

Hey Justin, I used to be a pretty avid gamer back then and Counter-Strike happened to be one of the games I played. I never played to the extent that you do as I found it to be frustrating to get the hang of (I prefer console more than PC) but, compared to other games why do you choose to play CSGO the most? Do you have any other favorites?

serenagonzalez1-blog

SerenaGCEnglish110

Hi, my name is Serena, and I am a freshman in college. I graduated from Monte Vista High School earlier this year on June 16. This is my first semester of college, and already I can tell it is quite different from the only schooling system I’ve ever known. However, I personally don’t mind at all, I enjoy a good challenge and new experiences, even if it can be scary sometimes to try something new or different. My plan as of right now is to take my general education classes and hopefully figure out what I want to major in so that I may then take classes to benefit my chosen path. I will also be transferring to a four year university later on. Aside from my academic career, as of now it has been a long while since I’ve done or even found anything I really love or am very inspired by, but I’d very much love to find a passion in life, whether it’s a hobby or my entire future, or hopefully both. I believe that if I am fortunate enough to choose my own path in life I should certainly make it worthwhile and choose something I love to do so that I can strive to make the most influential mark I possibly can on this world. But aside from that I’ve always loved to just go out and find something to do, whether it be a wonderful time at the beach or a treacherous hike in the mountains or just a casual stroll through nature, I honestly do not enjoy sitting around getting lost on social media or wasting time watching pointless videos, which is something I’ve never imagined myself saying seeing as I used to love doing exactly that, and my dearest friends were Netflix and YouTube. However, I’ve realized it is never nearly as satisfying as getting a breath of fresh air and making the most of each beautiful day that we aren’t always promised. Although I know Facebook and Instagram used to be a massive part of my day when I thought I knew what living was, so whatever floats one’s boat. Not only do I love to just get out, but I also love to exercise. Although I’m not too crazy about the gym and the mechanical environment it offers (in my opinion), I do love the kind of exercise that is so enjoyable you sort of forget you’re exercising, like: riding a bike, swimming, volleyball at the beach, jumping on the trampoline with my psychotic little siblings, going for a run OUTSIDE where you actually feel like you’re going somewhere, and the list goes on. But hey more power to those who know what works best for them. However, as a child I wasn’t very active and would have much preferred a Spongebob marathon while sitting/lying in the awkward spine-crippling angle I loved to sit in rather than dare to ever go outside my house without a bag of Hot Cheetos in my hand. Although that lifestyle no longer floats my boat, I can safely say it wasn’t an easy journey to get out of the cave that is my home as well as my comfort zone, seeing as I am a very shy and socially awkward human being that has yet to comprehend how one maintains conversation with someone that isn’t one’s mother. It is still something I struggle with immensely, but getting out and enjoying my days as I prefer to has helped me to physically break out of my shell, and in a way makes socially doing so not seem as difficult. I won’t lie there are many times where I fall off track or seem to lose my sense of self or motivation, if I’m honest that was literally my entire summer. However I do recognize that it is a choice, even on the days that aren’t as fabulous as the rest, there is no reason to be sulking in my pajamas with a bag of Doritos and Orange is the New Black. There are days, weeks even, where I have to remind myself of this everyday, but I try to always remember the woman I strive to be: the strong, confident, independent, self-disciplined and self-loving woman who knows who she is, what she wants, and does not back down or give up when it comes to what she aims for. I know that does not occur over night, but I do keep in mind that every day counts. The article as well as the video by Dweck have reminded me that my mindset is essential in my journey as well; the limitations placed in my life are placed there by myself and myself alone. At times I do recognize many “fixed” mindset qualities in myself, as well as “growth.” However I hope to efficiently learn more about both so that I may embrace the one that I believe will help me to make the most for myself as well as others.

sholaday-blog

Hi, Serena! I can relate a lot to what you are saying. I’m really shy and it takes a lot for me to be able to speak up let alone speak to others without stuttering. I know that it takes a lot of time and will to move out of the comfort zone as it’s not something easily done. But from what you have said, I find it really inspiring that you recognize these limitations and are motivated to make the changes. Not many people are able to do so and it makes me proud, as someone who has been in the same boat, to see that you are so driven to make these changes even if they may seem difficult at times.I wish you the best and hope you keep a positive attitude towards this progression!

Introduction

Hi, my name is Shola! I was born in Manila, Philippines but came to the United States when I was three. As a toddler, you are only starting to figure things out such as language and culture. Having to transition from a language and culture that I had just only started to get the hang of and onto a whole new one was difficult for me. But here I am today, able to easily adapt to both!

I was heavily involved in volunteer work in high school, organizing blood drives,fundraisers,tutoring and volunteering at St.Vincent De Paul Villages. I have a keen interest in makeup, food, literature and fitness (even if I’m not particularly good at it) but my biggest interest is in the arts. From the very beginning I knew that I wanted to be an art major. I used to dream about having my pieces displayed in my very own art gallery in some upscale city (even though I knew that it was a farfetched dream). I’ve since then realized that it probably wasn’t where my future profession was so I turned to the next thing that I was interested in and that is being of service towards others. So here I am at Grossmont. This is my first semester at Grossmont and so far it’s been good. As of right now, I’m a full time student taking my prerequisites for nursing and will later transfer to a 4 year university.

Art is my outlet, it was the easiest way for me to express myself. Its ability to provoke and inspire while also being simultaneously easy and difficult amazed me. The process and technical aspects of the art and the craft involved in creating a piece was what had originally gotten me hooked. My family and friends always praised what I created setting me in a state of a fixed mindset. Being that they were family and friends, they never critiqued me or ever gave me suggestions on how I could improve, only giving me positive feedback. Senior year came along and I was placed into AP art. I was confident with my skill and thought it would be an easy A. First semester went smoothly.We were tested only for our technical skill doing 2 pieces for 5 months for a total of 10 pieces. However second semester came and it all went downhill. In a span of 4 months I was expected to complete 6 pieces per month for a total of 24 pieces with a turn in date each week. The first pieces were a breeze but I began to slip. All my time was spent on art. I pulled all nighters most nights just to meet deadline causing me to neglect my grades and volunteer work. The most stressful day of the week were formal critique days which were usually on Fridays. This was when you put the results of your hard work up in front of the whole class, explained your ideas and technique then waited for the criticism to come rolling in. Everyone in the class knew that this was when you put it all on the line to find out if anyone else thought what you were doing was actually valid. Being an art student who never got any negative feedback from these critiques, I was overly confident on this piece which to be honest was one of my weakest but I relied on my “skill” to keep me from getting any negativity. As I presented my 14th piece I was immediately hit with harsh criticism from my teacher. I remember sitting there cheeks flushed with embarrassment hearing him completely dissect my piece. My fixed mindset made me believe that I didn’t need anyone’s input in my artwork and I could just shrug their words aside. I had always been praised for what I created and that was the first time that anyone had something bad to say about it. My motivation went down after this along with my effort in the next few pieces but, at the same time it fueled me to do better. I took the criticism as a lesson to myself, using it as a way to bounce back rather than keeping it on my mind and not doing anything about it. Starting off small I revamped past works then slowly started to refine the current ones, finding ways to better improve them. I took criticism much better and even volunteered to be on the receiving end of most of the critiques. Without the harsh criticism from my teacher, I would have never thought to move from my fixed mindset to a growth one.

I never really explored any other medium besides graphite and prisma colors because I was intimidated from using any other medium. While developing my mindset from a fixed to growth, I took the chance of exploring other mediums such as charcoal and chalk. This was my first piece and since creating it, it has been retouched many times as I explored more techniques. Hope you like it!(:

Bobcat x Bull Skull

Bobcat skull closeup

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