This week's DLMOOC really got me to think about mindsets and how we can really get set into the way we think. Growing up I was pushed into the upper level classes and always felt like I was not as smart as some of the students I has classes with.
Many of my classmates from high school are doctors, lawyers, and stock brokers. To know that makes me feel like I somehow did not fit into those classes. My parents wanted me in the "smarter" classes so I took them. I had this fixed mindset that I was supposed to be there. Some of the classes I struggled with and some I did not, but when I got to college, I had a shock. I was somewhat unprepared for what I walked into. I ended my first semester with a very low GPA and it took me an extra year to get into the education program because I had to get my GPA up. Because of the fixed mindset I had in high school on taking these upper classes and sort of "skating by", I never realized that it would come back to get me.
This is something I try to explain to my students. I try to tell them that high school is much easier than college. Even as freshmen I have students that are in a fixed mindset of, "If I can't do it, I won't and I am not going to try." I continually make an attempt to get them to succeed but they do not have the support from anywhere else, so it is a very difficult process. I learned a lot from this week's readings and it really got me to think about ways I can try to engage my students.
Here is the link to my storify:
Week 9 Storify-Academic Mindsets
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