Just a week ago I attended an orientation for a student leadership workshop and the speaker was a man who had teamed up with the OU math department to study the difference in Mindsets. After listening to his short presentation my mind was literally blown away. Mindsets is something I think people are already somewhat aware of, especially for teachers or really anyone who teaches a skill. These instructors see the difference between students who go far and those who wind up quitting. Now we just have a coined term for the difference in those people. The way I can relate to Mindsets the most is when it comes to math. I never felt like I was good at math, maybe decent enough to get me by but by no means was I a math genius. Did I have society to thank for leading me to believe girls are not good at math? Did I have my parents to thank for giving me too much praise for being able to count to 10? I'm not sure who I have to thank but I know for one thing I was absolutely positively NOT going to take math in college. I thought I will choose a degree that has nothing to do with it! Now if you have read my introduction blog you will know, I am a junior in my Geology degree. When I first declared my major I had failed to look at the degree sheet and not see all the Engineering Calculus, Physics and Chemistry courses needed to complete my degree. By the end of my freshman year I was defeated, I told myself I was too dumb for this and instead of seeking help I quit.
Imposter Syndrom, it is a term I had not heard before last weekend. It is a term used for people who have had high achievements and feel as if people are watching and waiting for them to do well but fear being exposed as a fraud. During my freshman year before I had quit this is exactly what I had felt. I did not want people to know I needed help, I was afraid of looking dumb. I was smart (or at least that is what I had been told my whole life), I did not need help, I had never needed help before!
During the year I took off I decided one late night that if Geology is what I want to do then Geology is what I am doing! I did not care if I had to go to every office hour, tutoring session, spend hours watching youtube videos over math, I was going to retake my failed classes and pass!
I did not understand or know it but in that moment my Mindset had changed from a Fixed Mindset to a Growth Mindset. I may have learned the hard way but I am happy I learned and now when people see my grades or find out my major and say "wow, you're smart!" I reply, "no, I just try and study really hard. You could do it too!".
The study of Mindsets has intrigued me so and am happy to find out this course will give me the opportunity to find more out as I have already done so by watching Carol Dweck videos and learning more from the original research.
Control-Alt-Delete from learning by heart blog
I'm happy to hear you've done so well in your classes! There are few subjects (if any) that someone can be good at without working hard. It just shows the importance of diligent work that even if someone thinks they're not good at a subject, if they spend enough time and effort on it, they'll succeed. Some people just need more practice in one subject and less practice in another subject.
ReplyDeleteOne of the things that could help prevent students from giving up on those subjects that they think they're inherently bad at is telling them examples like this, of people who were able to overcome their self-proclaimed inadequacy in some subject and become very successful. None of us are born with a knowledge of how every calculus concept or geologic principle works.
I can definitely relate to the impostor syndrome. In high school, I was a relatively high achieving student but college hit me hard. I was also so afraid of asking for help because it felt like admitting to myself that I wasn't as good as people thought I was. I've definitely come a long way since then, and the fact that so many of my teachers and mentors have focused on fostering growth mindsets has played into that.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad that the growth mindset was able to affect you so profoundly as well; congratulations on your progress and best of luck as you continue your OU journey!!
Yeah, I definitely felt that impostor vibe when I left school the first time. The good news is, you managed to change it all around relatively soon. On top of that you ended up with something you can be proud of and enjoy!
ReplyDeleteI think part of the problem under a static mindset comes from the praising in a way. It also comes from the grading system. If John and Jane are in highschool then they're young and impressionable.
If Jane's math teacher is a jerk and only cares about grades, then that will teach her to not ask for help again and that she's not good at math.
It goes the other way too. Say John's History teacher is really fun. He gets really good at putting in the effort at first, but then he figures out how to get the best grades with the least effort. This makes him think he's naturally gifted in the area. Then he gets to college, and maybe the professor has a completely different personality, approach, grading system, and feedback system. John, is set up for failure. He was told he was really good, and he got an 4.0 in the class every year in high-school. Now John's met with adversity, and he crumbles because of the fear that he's not good enough. He's been trained to expect things to be easy, and not to challenge him.
It seems like the current system is stacked against students no matter what side they fall on.
First off, I adore your image that you chose to insert into your post. It is very inspiring and actually exactly what I needed for the day. I had never heard of imposter syndrome but it did remind me of a few people that I knew in high school. Sometimes it does feel as though we are failing no matter what we do, but I feel as though in reality it is simply the amount of pressure we impose on ourselves to be the best and succeed. It isn't fair for us to beat ourselves up about this. We should be more encouraging to ourselves.
ReplyDeleteI am so inspired by your post. I do think that I am still in a fixed mindset even though I want to believe that I’m not. I too am afraid to ask for help because I don’t like the feeling of looking dumb. However, now that I’ve grown more as a person, I’ve come to realize that it’s the exact opposite. Now, I see people who ask for help as the people who want to succeed harder. I look at them as being brave enough to push for what they want and I hope to one day be able to do that for myself as well. Thank you for your post.
ReplyDeleteJust like you, I have never heard of Carol Dweck until this course. I always think it is interesting to look back at our growth mindset posts after traveling this far into the semester. I think we are all doing a good job of keeping track of our assignments and writing great stories for everyone in the course to enjoy!
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