Blog Post #1

• Do you feel that you have more of a malleable/growth mindset or a fixed mindset?

  I feel like right now I have more of a growth mindset. When I encounter something challenging at a subject at school I try different strategies to be able to understand things better. I like challenges because they make my brain exercise and think of alternatives, different pathways. Having a growth mindset is definitely something that has helped me throughout my educational and professional life. I do have to say I used to have a fixed mindset until I was about to finish high school. For example, for classes that were challenging for me, I would study hard and end up not getting the grade I wanted or needed I would just do my best to memorize things rather than understand why. I thought this would get me to the grade I needed and pass. Which is actually true. However, I would find myself struggling even more because I did not understand the concepts from the previous class. Instead, now I work better on looking for a better way to do things and be successful.

• How has your educational journey thus far influenced your mindset?

I used to never want to ask for help. I suppose because I had a lot of pride and wanted to do things by myself with no one else’s help. However, it wasn't until I took precalculus I realized that maybe a study group wasn't such a bad idea. It turns out, it was a great idea. I noticed that other students were struggling with the same concepts as me. Together, we would come up with different strategies, shortcuts, different ways to solve problems and understand how they happen. Not only that, but I also benefited a lot from my professor’s office hours and tips. I would also be constantly looking for online practice tests to simulate testing for this. particular class. Since then, I learned that there are so many other people out there struggling as much as you are and that I don’t have to be scared to ask for help. Furthermore, I found out that sometimes study methods you use for a subject will not be as useful for another subject. Therefore, I try to often challenge myself by trying different study methods that might seem tedious and time-consuming but will really help me understand the material I need to learn.

• How has your mindset impacted your success thus far?

My current mindset, growth mindset has definitely helped me succeed both at school and at work. For example, for my biology classes I used to always make mind maps to summarize the contents of lectures and it would turn out to be a great technique to study and pass my exams with really good grades. But again, I was just memorizing terms. I realized that when I would talk to someone about the topic I was learning it was as if I was teaching it. This method exercised my brain even more by explaining why things happen especially if the other person had “questions” as if I was a teacher. Furthermore, I work with animals in an animal shelter, and a lot of times we deal with pets that are not so friendly. One of my coworkers showed me a restraint technique to vaccinate but I realized that pets would become increasingly anxious and stop trusting us for the remaining part of the medical exam. I took the initiative to tell them that it would be more beneficial for both the pet and the tech to start with treats to distract them instead of immediately restraining them. In fact, I saw that pets would trust me even more after poking them with a needle because I would motivate them and show them that I am not trying to hurt them. It has been a very successful technique that works in most animals that we see.

• Do you feel that you have benefitted from your mindset, or has it impeded your learning in some way? If so, how?

My mindset has definitely been so beneficial in my life. I believe that having a growth mindset not only helps you but others around you as well. I believe my mindset has a lot to do with teamwork and I use it in my daily life to do things better. I use it from the simplest tasks to the harder ones whether is personal, school, or work-related. Having a growth mindset expands your imagination with tons of ideas and unique ways to do and think. For instance, when I have a lot of homework or a lot to study I often become anxious and stressed because part of me believes I will not be able to accomplish all my assignments. But, the other part of me feels very confident and looks for other ways to do all my homework and learn. I do not like to give up, especially when it comes to my education. I constantly look for videos on how to study better, how to organize school life, etc, and try to apply all of these videos in my life and it turns out it really does work. One thing that was life-changing for me was using “active recall”. It consists of testing yourself constantly. That is not the only method I use to study though. I also pretend to be “teaching” the material to someone else or after I read a chapter I grab a piece of paper and try to write down everything I remember. Actively looking for different ways to learn has been so advantageous and I look forward to looking for more challenges and systems.