Math and Mindset: Math Journal Reflection 2

What are some important things you learned today that everyone your age should know? 

 

Freshman Year Me Response: 

The first thing I learned was positivity and perseverance is key in math. I wish I had known this in high school. For my senior year I signed up to take a Physics class, which involved a lot of math, my Physics teacher (who was also my Chemistry teacher) saw that I was signed up for class and told me that I probably shouldn't take it. She told me that she didn't believe that I was succeeding in her Physics class, and I should drop it. So, I did. Her words hurt me and made me think I was stupid and terrible at math. I would like others my age to know that they can do the math, and even if you have a teacher that says you can't use that to work harder.   Another important thing I learned today was words of encouragement from others make a big impact on the way you think about math. The videos about how students who were told they were smart while the others were told they were hard-working, were very interesting and I think everyone should watch it. 

Senior Year Me Response 

One of the things I learned after watching the videos was about mindset. I think everyone my age should know about the growth mindset and should learn how to use it. A growth mindset is when you think positively about a situation and work hard no matter what. People with a growth mindset will continue to persevere even if they are faced with a challenge. Sometimes, as human beings, we tend to see something that is hard for us to understand, such as math, and we give up and don't even try. That is an example of not having a growth mindset. I think that if we trained our brains at a young age to have a growth mindset, we would succeed at so many things in this world, and not just math. This is a great takeaway for me not only for myself but for my students as well. I want to create a classroom environment and culture that promotes growth mindsets. Another important thing I learned about was a fixed mindset. Often times when students are labeled as "smart" this can actually be very dangerous instead of a compliment and create a fixed mindset instead of a growth mindset. It can feel good to be called smart, but when you "fail" at something then you start to think you are not that smart. You start to take the easy options in school so that you continue to seem smart, instead of challenging yourself. I think this is good to note not just for myself but for my future students as well.