Growth Mindset: Multiple Intelligences

I am a Peer Learning Assistant (tutor) for the Student Learning Center this year. This semester, they wanted all tutors to learn about the theory of multiple intelligences and implement it in our sessions. So I have heard a lot about this theory, and really like it.

The two intelligences that I would like to develop are visual-spatial and interpersonal. My visual intelligence is particularly lacking.

Photo rights from Creative Commons CC0 Source: pxhere

This year I moved into an apartment with my friend and she was always getting mad at me because I had absolutely zero input on how to decorate and organize it. I just couldn't find a vision, much less know what to put where to make that vision a reality. To develop this, I think it would be good practice to try and visualize what I want before I take action. For example, I think I am far more kinesthetically inclined. I would rather begin and keep trying to fix it. But if I don't allow myself the process of trial and error always, I will have to develop my visual skills.

While I think I have good interpersonal intelligence, I would always like to develop it further! It's still not great, and we definitely need great interpersonal skills to excel.

Growth Mindset: Discussion with Dan

Challenge yourself!
Photo by Ralph Hightower Source: flickr

For this discussion, I decided to talk to my friend Dan. I figured if anyone would be open to the Growth Mindset Method it would be him. Turns out, he already knew about Growth Mindset because he did Boy Scouts, and he said that they did a big push for Growth Mindset about five years ago. So rather than it being a discussion of me telling him what the method is, it was more about how great it is, and why and how it can be used more in schools.
Dan brought up the point that he thinks, particularly in the Political Science department, higher education is much better about applying this method. He feels that professors are pretty explicit about getting deep into discussion which challenges thinking rather than having the focus be regurgitating information. He talked about how the classes truly build off of each other, so if you learn for a test, you won't do well in later classes. The more you challenge yourself, the better you will do.
Dan thinks that the real problem is in secondary education. He thinks that middle and high schools are teaching for standardized tests or for grades, but that the students are truly learning anything.
I asked Dan if he actively applies the Growth Mindset to his academic endeavors. He said that "surface level", he is studying, learning, and pushing himself in order to to get good grades because he thinks grades and scholarship are important. However, he does think he still challenges himself to learn. I asked if he thinks secondary and higher education needs to be restructured so that he doesn't need to worry about grades and can apply Growth Mindset 100%. He didn't think restructuring was necessary, so here we disagree. I think education should fit the "not yet" philosophy whereas he thinks that is unnecessary/impossible.
It turned out to be a productive conversation as we compared our experiences with Growth Mindset and debated the application of the theory in schools.

Growth Mindset

When I was 16 years old, I was hired to be a dance teacher. I had no formal training for teaching, I was just a good dancer who had volunteered as an assistant to teachers every year since I was 10. After 6 years of teaching dance, much of my knowledge has been trial and error. I taught ages 2-18. I noticed that around the age of 8, kids stopped trying their best for fun, and suddenly became frustrated as soon as they didn't do something perfectly. I didn't know how to motivate them to keep trying or help them understand that you'll never do something right the first time. Sometimes you do a step wrong 100 times until you realize how to do it right. 

Source: The World Bank Blog

When I was briefly in the College of Education, I took Educational Psychology. In the course, we watched the same Ted Talk video of Carol Dweck explaining Growth Mindset. It helped me understand not only my own learning process, but how to help other children. Whereas I grew up driven and optimistic, other children are not so secure in themselves and break down when not praised. I realized that I had to praise students not only when they improved, but when they failed. My new phrase I adopted was "If you didn't fall in dance class today, then I didn't push you hard enough." 

I think that in my life outside of school, I have developed a Growth Mindset. I enjoy putting myself in new, awkward social situations. Not because I'm an eccentric extrovert or a sadist, but because I know when I push myself, I learn more. I do things for fun that are outside my comfort zone and teach myself new things while enjoying the process. However, I have yet to apply this mindset to my academic life. I was taught growing up that B's are unacceptable for me. I agonize over every academic failure. I want to succeed because I learned to crave validation from my teachers and peers. When something feels too difficult, I want to shut down. If my peers find something easy that I struggle with, I feel inept. I don't know how to overcome these fears and anxieties, but I try by focusing on how I am learning and improving. 

This semester, I want to focus on bringing this growth mindset into my language classes, particularly my French literature class. As I get into more difficult literature with French, I can feel myself getting behind with vocabulary and I struggle to understand more abstract writing. When I don't know what something means or struggle to follow, I will remind myself that if it were easy, I'd be wasting my time and money in college. I am in that class because it is pushing me to become a better reader.