Fall 2015 Update: Challenges for Weeks 8, 9, and 10

My last post covered Weeks 6 and 7 and part of 8, and in this post I'll finish up Week 8, plus Weeks 9 and 10. My guess is that as students start finishing up the class, I'll have fewer posts... but anyway, there will be at least one more post to document this semester's experiment, and maybe two. I'm labeling them: Fall15.

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One of the growth mindset challenges is an "If I ran the school" question, and this student came up with a great idea for a "major exploration class" as a type of Gen. Ed., something preferable to Gen. Ed. classes in which students have no interest at all. And what was very useful for me was that I shared this post at G+ and it provoked a pretty intense discussion with some friends of mine there! So, I am especially grateful to this student for having provoked what was, for me, a very useful discussion about Gen. Ed. It is a topic we need to talk about more, much more, IMO.

And here's another post about how important personal interest is for learning, illustrated with the bliss cat: "After thinking about it and talking with my parents, I decided to switch to International Studies. I have thoroughly enjoyed my new major and no longer feel bogged down when I have to go to class or work on assignments. I think following your passions is a very important thing to remember. I think this is the only way you can truly put forth your best effort."

And another response to the "If I ran the school" challenge: "If President Boren were to ask me to name one thing to improve education it would be to have professors that want and love to teach. If the teachers are not willing to teach very well then that defeats the purpose of growth mindset." (Yep, I agree: it's hard being someone totally dedicated to teaching at a research university, and I'm not sure how many students are aware of how big a tension that is at a school like OU.)

As always, there were some good reading and writing experiments: One person experimented with doing the reading in a different place... with nice results! (I like the idea that outside is less stern than inside.) Another student experimented with a blend of music and writing.

This student is in a novel-writing class, and she used a cat meme to get going again after some writer's block: "Sometimes learning feels so difficult, it feels like struggling. But nothing truly worth anything in life is easy to obtain, is it? And then I remember my motivations, and I write one word at a time, like one step at a time, and I am moving forward out of that so-called "muddy middle!"

Several students wrote about time management challenges and setting priorities, like here and here, which included a link to a pretty scary infographic about the effects of sleep deprivation... it does not lead to growth, that's for sure! (The time challenge is something I really want to develop into an explicit theme in the class next semester; I've gotten some good ideas for that from people's posts.)

One student found a connection between the optimism of growth mindset and a theme of faith and hope in a Sunday sermon.

Growth mindset is a big part of not just training the mind but training the body too; here's a post about an inspiring marathoner.

I liked how this student found a fellow student to inspire her: "Below is a meme that reminds me of someone who inspires me. He is in medical school and has accomplished so many things. Not only is he book smart,  he also does a lot of mission work and goes on medical mission trips to help others. This is something I dream of doing one day. Now that I saw that he can do it, I know it is possible for me to accomplish my goals one day. This meme also reminds me to be genuinely happy for the success of others."

Another one of the challenges is sharing with someone else, and I loved this post about sharing with someone who was worried about grades: "This week, I was able to share the power of the Growth Mindset idea with someone else. They were really down about their grades as it is right after midterms here at OU. I was able to encourage her because I have been in that position, but also, I was able to tell her that failing grades are not defining of your identity or character! A grade of F can simply mean "not yet" and that is perfectly alright. She seemed to be more encouraged by my words at the end of our conversation so I really hope that I was able to help her in some small way!"

Another student cheered herself up with the cha-cha cat: "Have you ever studied so hard for an exam and you get your grade back like... womp, womp, womp. That happened to me this week. Though I am certain I will still make the grade I want, it still sucks. However, I saw this meme and it made me laugh and feel better."

And here's a nice post with some thoughts about trying harder, accompanied by one of the high-climbing cats!

I am pleased to report that people found/made some great memes and materials online, too, like the ones below; I am going to have such a good harvest of items to use in the class announcements next semester thanks to all the good things people have shared this semester!

One student made this lovely poster about ambition with Automotivator:

This comes from a student who is also working with young children; she's been using growth mindset to help her!

And here's a fun one: MUCH GROWTH SO MIND

In this post someone shared Praise, a video about Carol Dweck's research.

Embrace Risk: I loved this post from someone facing new challenges at her job.

Several different versions of the wonderful "fish and tree" meme showed up, and here is a presentation I had not seen before:

And here's a cat - a big cat this time:

This student was inspired by the Star Wars infographics about growth mindset: "It was interesting to think back to the movies and realize how each character's actions fit the growth mindset and static mindset perfectly. Yoda believed that any challenge could be conquered if you had faith in yourself. There was no fear in Yoda's character, only wisdom. On the other hand, Darth Vader lashed out on the Republic and took his feedback in a negative manner. It really made me think how a different way of thinking could have two completely different outcomes. In other words, the way I perceive myself and my efforts could make me a Yoda or a Darth Vader."

Finally, this is a graphic from a previous earlier week, but since several students chose it as their favorite item from Week 8 in their review posts, I thought I would share it again here... it really is fabulous!

English: Don't be fooled by first impressions!

A friend at Google+ shared this post with me, and I found it very helpful:

The cognitive biases that are killing your decisions by Jory Mackay.

From the post: "In our minds, the first bit of information we take in does hold special sway. The Anchoring cognitive bias is our tendency to rely heavily on our first impressions (or ‘anchor’ information) when making a decision. Once the anchor has been set, other judgments are made by adjusting away from that anchor without taking into consideration other viewpoints."

So...

Don't be fooled by first impressions!

This image is from cheezburger.

English: Growth can happen in leaps and bounds.

A friend at Google+ shared this post with me, and I found it very helpful:

The cognitive biases that are killing your decisions by Jory Mackay.

This is a quote from the post: "Maintaining a growth mindset isn’t a matter of walking up a staircase one small step at a time. Most often, personal growth happens in leaps and bounds—more like jumping between floors on a trampoline."

Of course, sometimes growth can happen staircase step-by-step, but it can also happen in leaps and bounds. I'm not sure if it "most often" that growth happens this way as the author claims, but what a nice feeling that is when growth does come in the form of a big leap!

The image is from cheezburger.

Growth can happen in leaps and bounds.

Fall 2015 Update: Week 6 and Week 7 Challenges + Week 8 Reflections

Here is my write-up on the Week 6 and Week 7 growth mindset challenges that my students did (see earlier posts about Weeks 2/3 and Weeks 4/5 plus the start of the semester): very inspiring stuff! In addition, there are some comments here from the Week 8 Reflections posts; I really liked the way that growth mindset emerged in those posts as a kind of class "theme" even for students who have not been doing growth mindset challenges each week.

Here are some of those challenges people worked on:

Time challenges. Lack of time and time management challenges are the most commonly recurring topic, as here for example. The problem is that scarcity of time (like poverty) becomes a terrible trap: you don't have time to find a way out of your lack of time. Consider this student's remark about not having time to do growth challenges: I think it’s a good idea to challenge yourself, but I’m just trying to make it out of this semester alive.

One student learned how to use Cheezburger (yes!) to make this meme about wanting to get more sleep:

Another student shared this picture of time as she concluded that her biggest challenge across all classes is time management:

Writing challenges. Luckily, doing a growth challenge doesn't have to take more time. Students are already doing writing for this class, and the challenge can be to try a new style or a new writing process strategy, like this person trying first-person style, or this person doing story-within-a-story style, while this person worked on writing shorter (which for many people — including me! — is harder than writing something long).

Reading challenges. I am also excited that some people are trying reading challenges! One student read in a new genre, and another student did a reading out loud challenge.

Blogging. I thought this was so cool: a student who has her own food blog — HappyHealthyNoms — blogged about growth mindset there, and here's what she wrote about that: I hadn't heard of Growth Mindset before this class, and it has really helped me a lot. It's an important thought process, and I hope by sharing it on my other blog, that it can help others!

More about blogging. I am excited that this student now sees the power of blogging for growth and learning: I thought of this while day dreaming in my biology lecture the other day. As I was thinking about taking notes, I thought to myself, wouldn't it be really cool to create a blog for each class. Everything will be organized by date, would have a heading, and you can access it anywhere because all you need is a link. You would no longer have to email yourself the document to view it on another computer. 

Connecting classes. This student explains how growth mindset can be applied across classes: I definitely think that my mindset has changed in this class and I have been able to apply that to my other classes as well, which is so freaking cool!! And something similar from this student:  I actually have been practicing the growth mindset things I read. I've been trying various types of studying for this class and even others.

Speaking in class. Speaking up in class can be really hard, especially in a foreign language class (I used to teach language classes, so I know!) Here is what a student did in French class: I am very proud of myself this week. I actually spoke in front of my class the other day. Not only that, but I spoke in French! This is a big deal for me. I can read and interpret French perfectly, but speaking it is another thing. I have recently been practicing on an app I downloaded on my iPad and it makes me read stories aloud. I was very excited when I finished speaking French, and my teacher was impressed! I guess you cannot succeed unless you try!

... and, even better, that blog post about the French class challenged another student: As I was scrolling through this week's growth mindset posts, this post caught my eye. I think what made it important was that this was someone's success story with the growth mindset. It goes to show that you don't know what you're capable of once you try it. In this student's case, she never spoke in French in her class, but she finally did. I want to overcome my own inhibitions and gain something from it, just like this student! I don't really like to speak up in class, so I want to push myself to participate more in my class discussions with my professors in the future! 

Talking to others. Growth mindset is not just for college classes, of course, and this student talked to her mom, who is a teacher, about growth mindset, and to some other teachers as well. Here is what she found out: Some had already learned about this and said that they loved the concept, but sometimes it is hard to do in a classroom. Something about the amount of time in a class room and sometimes things like standardized testing get in the way. 

Beyond school. Growth mindset is also not just about learning in school. One student wrote about learning handy work from his dad, while another student wrote about teaching band.

Mindset as habit. It was also reassuring to learn that promoting growth mindset is useful even for those students who already have adopted those habits, as this student explains: I haven't been doing any of the growth mindset challenges. This class has been a pretty good opportunity to practice the mindset habits though. As I said in my original Growth Mindset post, this is a strategy that I have kind of discovered on my own over the last decade or so. I enjoy being able to learn, especially if it comes from any sort of failure. I like to know that I can still be challenged.

Encouragement. It makes me really happy that the growth mindset concept can give students the encouragement they need, as this student explains: I had heard of Carol Dweck and her theory before, but I had never actually applied it to my own life. I have only completed two growth mindset blog posts, but the idea of growth mindset has been in the back of my mind all semester. At a time when everything has seemed completely out of control, those challenges have actually been a blessing—something I never thought I would say about a class assignment.

Asking for help. Here is my favorite challenge story of the week — it is not easy to ask for help, and one student faced that challenge head-on: When I'm not working at a high level, I am really hard on myself. In the past, no matter how hard things got, I was completely unwilling to ask for help from anyone, including instructors. This semester, I've started to see that this doesn't do anything but make things worse for myself. This past week, I asked for an extension for the first time in my college career. Even knowing that I had a very, very valid reason, I still felt a little bit ashamed. But, I asked. I know that doesn't seem like a big deal, but it really is to me. I asked for help at a really crucial time. I ASKED. Before, I would have seen it as a failure. Today, I see it as a roar.

Reflecting on memes. In addition to finding and making their own memes (see below), some students reflected on memes that show up in the class announcements. It's really helpful for me to see which of those class announcement memes people connect with!

Small steps. I really identify with this cat. Little steps, baby kitten. Little steps. And another student remarked about this kitten: Each week I have focused on something that I want to improve on so that I can have overall improvement.

Not knowing. I like it because some times I feel like we get discouraged when we don't know how to do something. We should not get discouraged though because doing things that we do not know how to do is the only way we can learn to do them.

Making mistakes. I really liked this meme for this weeks growth mindset, because it made me think about my great grandma. My great grandma used to always tell me "Baby you were created to make mistakes. However, the decisions that you make after those mistakes, is what creates your mind". I never really understood what she meant until I listen to the TedX Talk about growth mindset.  

Failure. My favorite type of positive reinforcement, I have come to find, is cute, funny, and motivational little memes. Positivefail thinking is key! So, like this cute little meme I found says, it really hurts to fail but it doesn't mean YOU are a failure. You just have to keep trying again and again. 

Difficult is not impossible. The Storybook project is probably the best showcase for this. It is a project that is small enough that I can actually finish, and isn't so overwhelming that I can't tackle it on a weekly basis. I'm excited about it, excited to work on it, excited to receive feedback and make it better. There is always room for improvement and it has a ripple effect into everything else you write.

Worth it. I think this really stood out to me because it applies to me in one of my classes this semester. This class was said to be extremely hard. Right now, I am only holding on to the fact that a lot of people said it would be worth it in the end. 

Look boldly ahead. I will miss this class when it is over, but the tools learned will always come in handy. Feeling stumped in writing? Rewrite something you like! Rewrite something you don't like so that you do like it! Understanding what makes things work and not work is a big part of being able to tell a compelling story.

And below you will find the various memes and infographics that the students found or made and included in their posts, and by saving them here I will be able to re-use them in future classes: what one student connects with will probably speak to other students too! Students also explored different kinds of resources. For example, one student found a YouTube video about Steve Jobs and growth mindset, and another student found a Carol Dweck quote that she really liked.

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Reflections. As I was creating my meme for this week's growth mindset, I decided to base it off of something that was relevant to my life. Sometimes, I look at the past negatively; decisions I've made, tests I've failed, etc. However, I think that sometimes the past can inspire you for the future.

Ingenuity. This infographic shows the process of being a genius which involves much more than just intelligence. In fact, intelligence isn't even listed in the graphic. Instead, ingenuity takes inspiration, perspiration, improvisation, aspiration, contemplation, exploration, daily frustrations, imitation, desperation, and pure elation. 

Great things. This spoke to me as I've been working on a side project recently. Each day bit by bit it improves and is refined. I'm having conversations with people about features and how to create a better experience. I am seeing "a series of small things" being "brought together" to create this incredible tool. For me, sometimes starting small helps to get everything started and going. Approaching everything from a large perspective can be difficult at times. It's good to see the big picture. It is also good to get started with the small things.

Niche. Everyone has their own niche. If everybody were really good at the same thing, not only would life be really boring, but nothing would really get done.

 The red dot! I would like to feel less overwhelmed on the second half of this semester. I’ve been taking it as it comes. I’d like to be able to have more control over my schedule for the rest of the semester.

Negative thinking. Perspective is a huge part of growth mindset. You have to be aware of your surroundings in order to succeed. Knowing what is happening and how you are feeling and why are huge aspects of succeeding. Don't give up, look at the big picture.

Creating. I will not even try to summarize how this student got from Caesar to creating and Grumpy Cat - just read the post! :-)

You can do it! Although I haven't completed many growth mindset challenges this semester, the messages have stuck with me.  I have worked hard to reframe my successes and failures in such a way that inspires growth instead of stagnation or resignation.  I continually remind myself that by returning to school, I've already overcome my past failure. Being a returning student doesn't make me a failure. It shows my hard work and determination to return despite obstacles.  

Keep moving forward! I would say that this class has been a good opportunity to practice the growth mindset activities.  If I do the work, I get a good grade but I also have to revise the work, and continue to improve my writing every week. 

 

And another motivator from the world of nature: Believe in yourself.

What can I say to myself? Now I have a new way to frame my problems. Instead of putting myself down and thinking that I don't have what it takes, I try to use what I know to attempt the problem. All I need is a little faith in myself.

Everyone is born with an intense desire to learn.

This is quote from Carol Dweck's book Mindset: "Everyone is born with an intense drive to learn."

Dweck says "drive," but I changed it to "desire" because the LMS my school uses is D2L, formerly known as Desire2Learn.

Everyone is born with an intense desire to learn.

Unfortunately, instead of cultivating that desire to learn, school often stifles it instead. So, get in touch with your inner child, and let that desire to learn grow!

The image is from cheezburger.