An article posted on USNews.com regarding Carol Dweck, a psychology professor at Standford University way of viewing Growth and Fixed mindsets. Dweck believes that by giving students or children Fixed Mindset (Verses Growth Mindsets) treatments (Basically "everyone deserve an award") you are directly hindering their ability to understand that they can improve. We are teaching our children that either you are good at, or not good at certain subjects, making them believe the idea of growing greater in that area is unlikely. it's important for children to know that our brains are a muscle that can absorb the knowledge that we throw at it. One of the interesting points Dweck makes is the idea that: When you give a child the idea they it is impossible for them to do wrong when they actually do wrong it hits them like a train.
An article posted on Salon.com by Alfie Kohn seems to be contradictory towards Carol Dweck's claims. Honestly, it's a very long article and a lot of information to sum-up, feel free to read more about it here. To give you a sense of what you are reading: It's an article that is debating Dweck's ideas, and brings up the facts that the research is almost 20 years old and couple possibly no longer accurate. Honestly, read the comments and you'll be laughing for twenty minutes. So, with that out of the way... What's the difference between Growth and Fixed mindsets. Well, Fixed Mindsets are the idea that you are either good in certain areas or not, you are skilled in this and not that and it isn't worth your time attempting to get better at that area. A Growth Mindset is the idea that we should be teaching our children and students that they can improve in areas they are not usually good at. The idea that we should be teaching our children and students to work harder, not just give up because they believe it isn't their cup of tea. So.. Which would I consider myself to have? More than likely a Growth Mindset. I don't believe everyone deserves an award and I don't believe everyones perfect. Living with the idea that I could never improve is not something I would be comfortable with. A feeling of doing better is something that always is in my life, there's always that next step and next goal... even if I fail many.. many.. many.. times.
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of thWho did I work with to compose my hiraeth project? Was this a good idea?
A more intelligent choice was have been to choose someone who writes naturally, but I don't anyone that does that. Due to my situation I had to settle with my buddy Zach, he review it, and that's about it. It wasn't a good idea, it was most likely a horrible idea. I didn't get a lot of feed back. In fact, all I got was "Looks good". What was the most difficult part of my writing process? Why? What did I do to overcome the obstacles? Recalling, writing, and getting my point across. Remember what I was writing about was the hardest part in my opinion, I do not have a very good memory to begin with. Writing was also difficult, as I'm not a natural writer. The majority of my writings are very awkward and hard to understand, if even readable. Getting my point across was is a huge challenge of mine, like right now, this is supposed to be a paragraph but it feels like I'm writing a bullet list. I wasn't truly able to overcome these obstacles. When did I write this project? Good Approach? Late... Clearly not a Good Approach. No excuses but there have been a lot of fucked up situations in my life right now, I'm doing what I can. Where did I write this project? Good Approach? In the middle of my DPR 100 class. I wouldn't consider this a bad approach as I'm way ahead on all of my work.. did it all yesterday. Why did I choose to write about my chosen hiareth? Really the only good memories I could even attempt to put on paper. How will I adapt/revise my writing process for further revision of the hiraeth assignment? There's a lot.. I honestly want to rewrite the entire project, it feels lacking. It doesn't have nearly as much meat as I would like. I fear that I do not get my point across nearly as well as I'm supposed to. Living in a childhood filled with confusion, fear, and deception is the worst thing that comes to mind. Family constantly cutting corners and telling lies, believing they are protecting you from themselves.
The remembering of a safe, normal home, is something that is slipping from my mind as everyday passes. It used to be, Mom would come home from work and prepare dinner. Dad would arrive shortly after her, somedays. It’s so easy to ignore, or not notice that things that are truly wrong with a family, especially when you’re so young. The best memory I have of my family are on those pennsylvania snow days. A fluffy snow on the ground, perfect for sledding, but a beautiful sun over head. Just warm enough to make you feel safe, and warm. I remember leaving in the morning with my Dad, sometimes having to make a run to Walmart first because the day previous we somehow cracked the old one. I remember making a WaWa stop right after Walmart and getting a warm hot chocolate. The feeling I would get when we first pulled up to the park with the great big hill was overwhelming. It looked as if it was molded perfectly by someone who loved to sled. Dad and I pulled up to the park and sat in the car finishing our hot chocolates, soon as I finished I hopped out and grabbed the sled from the back seat of that old Dodge Caravan. Sled in hand I ran to the top of the hill getting in position as I was glace to my Dad, he was still walking up. I trusted myself flying forward letting out a loud giggle, he would too because by the time I’ve completely flipped because of a divide in the ground. It was so cold, but so enjoyable. Right after sledding we made another stop at WaWa of course, getting those delicious stuffed pretzels and I would get another hot chocolate and my Dad would get his normal dark roast coffee. Home would follow Wawa, where we would sit and watch some random TV Show, usually Courage the Cowardly Dog, or something of the sort. It wasn’t long after those sledding days that I began to realize those drinks that my Father loved so much were a gift from Johnny Walker himself. I began to realize those days when my Mother was extra tired was actually from the consumption of two percocets, a normal for her. When i was ten years old I watched my family fall apart and creep into this dark zone. Hiraeth is a welch term which means to have a longing for which a place you cannot return or never was. In this blog assignment we are told to write about our possible topics for our Hiraeth papers. This is hard for me, I know what I want to write, I know how to write it, but it's a topic I don't talk about much.
My topic will have to do with my childhood and the inability to ever have my family the way I wish it once was. My family was consumed by drug abuse my entire life. |
JoshuaA computer science major, and an a college blog-man-guy. ArchivesCategories |