I was scrolling through one of my social media sights, and I saw one of my friends post about a movie that they recently saw, Manchester by the Sea. He had a lot of comments underneath it saying it was a very good movie. It was talked about at very famous award shows and I wanted to see so for myself. I put the movie on, and I’ll admit, I was very lost at first, it seemed like the movie began in the middle of 3 different scenes. I googled the plot of the movie, so hopefully, better understand what was going on. I finally was able to piece together the scene that was appearing and who the characters were in the story. I am very picky about my movies, especially sad ones. This movie was very sad, but had me on the edge of my seat the entire time! It’s about a man, Lee Chandler, a poor man, who can barely handle life itself, became unbearable by events showing up in his life, past and future, stories that were involved. His older brother had died, and left his brother Lee, in his will, surprisingly, to care for his only son, Patrick. Events come up during the movie that are unfortunately life experiences for some people, and it's hard to imagine that stuff like this, happens every day, to good people, and can be too much to handle for most.
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Writing reflections on the work accomplished, makes me believe I can become a better writer just by asking myself a few questions. Sometimes, YOU can be your own worst critic. So criticizing yourself to great lengths, you know, you can always do better. Here’s a list at to what I saw could better and what I did, to write my own personal academic mindset.
There are many examples in life as to why habits are hard to break. Your mind is a powerful structure that allows things to be prevented or accepted. Beliefs and behaviors come into action when it comes to the difference between a fixed mindset compared to a growth mindset. A fixed mindset has the power to praise the outcome, whether it be negative or positive result. A growth mindset is the “praise of the process.” I believe in the benefit of having a growth mindset. If you believe you have one mindset over the other, keep reading, because I may be able to convince you otherwise.
Carol Dweck, a professor at Stanford University, backs up my beliefs with the research behind it to show how a growth mindset can really change one’s thinking and be beneficial for us all. “When you enter a mindset, you enter a new world. In one world (the world of fixed traits) success is about proving you’re smart or talented. Validating yourself. In the other (the world of changing qualities) it’s about stretching yourself to learn something new. Developing yourself.” In her article, ‘Carol Dweck Revisits the ‘Growth Mindset’, she makes a point that I have been debating myself about the schooling system most of all, and what type of mindset I have in an educational way. “In order to make them feel good in the moment: “Great effort! You tried your best!” It’s good that the students tried, but it’s not good that they’re not learning. The growth-mindset approach helps children feel good in the short and long terms, by helping them thrive on challenges and setbacks on their way to learning. When they’re stuck, teachers can appreciate their work so far, but add: “Let’s talk about what you’ve tried, and what you can try next.” What she means, is to try and motivate students to learn, instead of caring about grades. To have a grade say, “not yet” instead of “you failed.” It gives students the opportunity to succeed and to see the future of a passing and successful outcome of what they were trying to achieve, rather than having the same outcome if that student passed or failed, and not do anything about it. It is what it is, is what a fixed mindset would possibly say. “The education system is flawed!” says, Alfie Kohn. An American author and lecturer in the areas of education, parenting, and human behavior. Carol Dweck also goes on to say, the quote that I most agree with in her studies, “Cheat vs Study” So many times in my high school years, would most of my teachers, just give us credit for doing the work. Not looking over it, going over it, just having an assignment due. Of course to save ourselves from the work because we knew the teacher wasn’t going to check it anyway, we would copy all of our work off each other. Our test scores would be bad, but that only made the teacher want to put a curve on the test so we all would pass. However, that only lead us to cheating more. I can’t remember a damn thing I learned in that class, and I’m very regretful that I didn’t take the time to learn the subject instead of cheating my way through. I did that for most of my classes throughout high school. Why put out the work when you can get the same, or even better grade, getting to the same goal as you would studying? I had struggles learning with my I.E.P. involved, so why make my life more difficult? Was it my interest level? My drive for school? I just figured my mentality was a fixed mindset student. That's how the system is flawed. You can’t judge someone’s intelligence by the grades that they get. They could be earned by cheating or studying (the Cheat vs. Study method.) The process of a growth should be the key goal for every teacher to make with a student. Finding a way to encourage students to do it themselves, the drive to achieve greatness by themselves and for themselves. I’m gonna ask you a series of 7 questions. If you say yes to any one of these questions, you are more than likely, have a growth mindset: Are you accepting and embracing challenges? Are you seeing mistakes as learning opportunities? Are you seeking and listening to feedback? Are you persevering with difficult tasks? Are you practicing and using strategies to improve? Are you asking questions to drive learning forward? Are you taking risks and trying new things? If you say yes to all or most of those questions, you have a growth mindset mentality. Most fixed mindset people believe in Individuals who adopt a fixed mindset rarely excel at anything. Because they believe their intelligence and abilities are what they are, they invest their energy in looking smart instead of learning and developing. In a fixed mindset, if you try something you’ve never done before, say ice skating, you’ll likely give up after falling a few times. This “failure” will feel humiliating and you’ll probably avoid ice skating for the rest of your life. You’ll make an excuse like, “Ice skating just isn’t my thing.” If you believe someone is just a “natural born dancer” or that you “just can’t dance,” you’re holding a fixed mindset. With a fixed mindset, you avoid new challenges like the plague because you’re afraid of being judged. As such, when obstacles arise, you tend to give up quickly. (Scott Jeffery) If you don’t have a growth mindset, I hope this has opened your eyes as to how much improvement is being made in everyday life, and hopefully, has made you, the reader, see the difference your life view changes as a growth mindset, living in this world and the impact it really has. I belong in this academic community. I believe this is the most important attribute of my schooling education. Why? Research shows in an article about evidence on mindsets, “the experience of belongingness is associated with important psychological processes. Children who experience a sense of relatedness [in school]... perceive themselves to be more competent and autonomous and have higher levels of intrinsic motivation [than students with a low sense of belonging]. They have a stronger sense of identity but are also willing to conform to and adopt estab- lished norms and values. These inner resources in turn predict engagement and performance... [Students who experience belongingness] have more positive attitudes toward school, classwork, teachers, and their peers...They invest more of themselves in the learning process” I completely agree with this concept after experiencing it first hand.
I was in the 7th grade when my mom saw on my school grades, how I seemed to be struggling on tests on when I shouldn’t be. She kept me back a grade, by repeating the 8th grade, even though I passed it. Even though, I didn’t need that to happen. She decided to sign me up for testing, to see where my level as a student was. I remember the document of the results saying I was exceeding in math compares to other students, but I was not at the same level as other students in the class. I was given an I.E.P.The IEP is meant to address each child’s unique learning issues and include specific educational goals. It is a legally binding document. The school must provide everything it promises in the IEP. Going into high school, I was given this document saying how I can take tests at a later time, be given study guides to help me, turn in work late, even sometimes given answers on home works to help me as well. You would think most students would strive off of the fact they basically never have to do work, given this benefit. I absolutely hated the fact that I was getting different tests and different homework packets, just because I had a learning disability. I would get pulled out of homeroom every Tuesday with another kid, who also had an I.E.P., just to check up on us to see how we were doing, monitoring our grades every week. I hated it so much, I would never use it. I would struggle so much with high school, keeping up with everyone else, just so I wouldn’t be seen differently from everyone else, and treated like a normal student. I worked my ass off at school, but on the down low of course, just so I could be seen as a normal student. I graduated high school as an honor roll student. I worried a lot about college in general to see if I could keep up with an even higher level of schooling. I had a teacher in high school, named Mr. Lavery. He really motivated me to find a career path and do what I want to do, even though, what I want to major in, needed a lot of schooling, and one of the toughest majors to major in. Even though, I wasn’t necessarily like everyone else, in terms of intelligence or knowledge retaining ability, I still wanted to be seen like everyone else, and had to create my own way as being seen like a smarter student. I found ways that worked for my studying abilities, while remaining on track as a normal student who attended classes and never missed any time in homeroom. Fixed mindset versus a Growth mindset? The different sides and comparisons faced between both Carol Dweck and Alfie Kohn. Carol Dweck's article and Alfie Kohn's article. Carol Dweck’s main focus about a growth mindset, is to praise strategies and results, not efforts alone. “Kids with what she calls "fixed mindsets" stop trying when when confronted with a challenge because they've convinced themselves that they're not good at math or writing or whatever the subject is. She argues that adults can, instead, help foster a "growth mindset" – the belief that the brain is like a muscle that can grow stronger through hard work.” She states later in her article that praising effort alone, does not work. Regardless as to if the answers were right, “at least you tried hard!” What if they didn’t make progress or didn’t learn? Alfie Kohn states in his article; “things like grades, tests, and, worst of all, competition — to become more focused on achievement than on the learning itself. Training them to think about effort more than ability does nothing to address the fact, confirmed by several educational psychologists, that too much emphasis on performance undermines intellectual engagement. Just as with praise, betting everything on a shift from ability to effort may miss what matters most.”
A growth mindset is explained as that people believe that their most basic abilities can be developed through dedication and hard work—brains and talent are just the starting point. This view creates a love of learning and a resilience that is essential for great accomplishment,” by miss Dweck. A fixed mindset is described as people believing their basic qualities, like their intelligence or talent, are simply fixed traits. They spend their time documenting their intelligence or talent instead of developing them. They also believe that talent alone creates success—without effort. After reading both of these articles, I agreed with both statements as they somewhat pursue me as to what type of mindset I would classify myself under. I agree with the fact that the knowledge you are born with is your natural intelligence. However, with practice and different strategies to go about things, can increase your basic knowledge. Some people have more of a natural skill when it comes to others. However, I do believe that believing that you can do something can dramatically affect the outcome when trying to complete the task at hand. The Process. How did I do it? What was my thinking process up to that point of the final sentence of my project? From start to finish. Who did I work with? A better question, who was my inspiration? We had a class period when we had to write about loss. I didn’t realize how much of an impact that night had on me as a child, and still to this day. Hearing people in class talk about their stories, made me want to share my own experience with it. I wrote this fully off of what I could remember from that night and prior memories that stood out to me, leading up to that moment.
What was the most difficult part of the process? I think people struggle with the thought of actually picking the topic, but for me, it was actually sitting down and gathering my thoughts and feelings of that night that he died. Memories of pure fear and panic. Writing about it made it more like a realistic flashback. When did I write this project? I wrote it in class a week before and felt like it was a subject that intrigued me because I haven’t really talked about it, and that is a memory that comes back to me so easily because it was so traumatizing for me. I believe it was a good approach. I had my thoughts written down from a week before that I only had so much time to write on, so it hit the main ideas of the story that I used to write and tell my story with. Where did I write this project? I wrote the idea and notes down in class in a short story form, then carried over to my bedroom, where I sat peacefully and quietly to gather my thoughts. Fully focusing on the memories I had in my childhood that stand out, both good and bad. It was a good approach, I was concentrated in my own thoughts, seeing this memory like a movie in my head, and telling the reader, the plot and what happened throughout it. Why did I choose to write about this topic? It is something very dear to me and something I think about often as it was over ten years ago now. The last grandfather I have left,my dad’s step-dad, is not doing well at all at the moment. It just makes me think of my other grandfather and how taking time for granted is actually a real thing. My only, actual blood-related grandfather that I knew. How involved he would to be in our lives and really showed that he cared for each of his grandchildren. It was a time in my life that I truly remember being so scared, so afraid, and so sad, all at the same time. I wanted to reflect a time in my life, now that is has been some time, to reflect on the past that I haven’t thought of thoroughly, for a while. How will I revise my future drafts to come? I hope to be more descriptive in my emotions I was feeling that night. Reminisce more on memories I can get from my head, without having to look back at some photographs or home videos. Talk about more of the fact that every time I see Monopoly, the board game, I think of him and how he was the one who taught me how to play this game, and win! I wasn’t distracted like I thought I would be, writing my hiraeth, however, it took me a while to start it. I knew what I wanted to say, so it wasn’t gonna take me as long to write it then a story that length would normally take. Stick to picking a day of the week, starting early, and write that day. That way, if you get distracted or can’t do it that day, it’s not a big deal, because you are not cramming and doing it last minute. “Chance! Missy!” I heard for the back door, my poppop yelling, “Get in here!” The screen door screeching behind him as the dogs followed in front. The sun, shining through the back screen door, leaving the heavier, first door, wide open. My older brother and I, watching 90s game shows in my pop pop’s dark blue, velvet-feeling recliner with our little brother sitting in between us. A calm Chincoteague, Virginia setting sun in our peripheral vision, with voices and steps in the background. I’m more interested to overhear the background, than what is playing on the television. “Cash!” I hear, “Get over here!” Thinking, to myself, who’s Cash? “Dad!” I heard my aunt say from the living room, his name is Chance!” Hearing my family laugh amongst themselves in the other room, I decided to get up and join them. I see my grandfather having an ice cold glass of Pepsi given to him by my grandmother, sitting in an upright rocking chair, grabbing, the drink from her hands with a subtle, “thank you” given to her. His hands shaking, bringing it up to his lips, always wondering, why his hands would always shake like that? Later to find out it was his Essential Tremors. Admiring this view of him, sitting next to my mother’s side, with the huge air vent in the floor, behind him, separating the bathroom for the living room. It hurting like hell to step on it barefoot.
May 2nd, 2006. One of my aunts, (that i’m closest with) pulls into my driveway in the afternoon, with her friend in the passenger seat. “Hi Aunt Chris!” “Not now, where’s your mother?” I was taken aback by this, since she usually greets with me with a more loving tone in her voice. I tell her that my mother was on the third floor of the house, taking care of my little brother. She races up the stairs, and has my mommom who lives with us, follow her up the stairs. (It may help if I explain the story of my family a little more. My mommom and my poppop were married and had two kids, my aunt Chris, and my mom, Robyn. They were divorced after some time, but my mom never remarried. He had a kid with another woman, as well as another woman. You can say he got around a bit! He then got married for the second time, in a different state with my mommom Gail, having two kids, Heather and Michelle. So in total, I have 7 aunts, but two of them live in virginia.) My aunt’s friend, Stephanie, took me into another room on the second floor of the house, in my parents bedroom. All of a sudden I heard incredible screeches from the room above me, saying,”Oh my God” “Why” “Why God, why?” and all around just pure screams coming from that room. I start panicking. When you hear your mom in such a state of hysteric, you automatically think the worst, My mind went straight to my dad. He is a police officer in the City of Chester. Where is he? He went to work didn’t he? Why is he not back? Is he okay? Did he get shot and killed? He must of. I think my dad is dead. I start crying a great deal of emotion, screaming and crying. However, I’m still very greatful to this day, that Stephanie, who was with me, reassured me that my dad was okay and alive. My mom called both me and my brother up to the room upstairs. I left Stephanie's side and bolted up the stairs to see my mom. I look around the basketball themed room with the slanted roof, and I see my aunt, my mom, and my mom with blotchy faces and tears dried on their faces. My mom sat me down on her lap, and carefully explained to me that poppop had a heart attack earlier that night and died suddenly. I couldn’t help to be relieved that it wasn’t my own dad,but hearing that your pop pop had died was not something you want to hear either. I started crying, immediately questioning the how and whys? The funeral was lead up to the front door, by a fake looking grass ramp. Staring it down uncomfortably as my mother explained to me, with tear strained eyes that, “pop pop's body is going to look like he is sleeping in a box, but he is up in heaven forever now.” Me and my cousins stayed in the car at the burial, but was forced to come out of the car at the last bit, because he loved his grandkids so much, he would've wanted it that way. This was the first day I ever saw my dad cry. As I write this, with tears slowly making its way down my face, I remember the memories of that house and the screen door that annoyed me to no end and how it would never shut all the way, would become a memory that won’t ever leave my mind. “Snake eyes! Snake eyes! My poppop would yell, as he taught all of his grandchildren, very patiently might I add, the game of Monopoly. Never having any of the fat pieces off of a steak on my plate, because he would eat them all, as well as everyone else's! His giant round belly, his slightly balding head. Not letting any of his grandchildren leave without, “giving poppop a hug”and telling us he loves us. I yearn for the days back of having him around again, hearing his voice again. Needing to know what his voice sounds like again, but having only certain phrases I can put his voice to. Chincoteague Island is a very special place for me. That was an annual excuse to go see my poppop and his family around the same time as the annual pony swim that we went to every year. I desperately yearn for the togetherness that my poppop bought when all of his families were together. The only thing we all had in common was him. I definitely feel like I took for granted the time I had with him and what he did for our family as a whole. It is not the same anymore and I’ll never get that time back again, to re-experience it but only be left with the memories of him and our families being brought together. |
Melanie
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