1.5 Fixed Mindset Characteristics

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  Posted by CUNY Mindset Initiative on March 11, 2024 at 11:02 am

  💬  Reflection/Discussion: 

  • Reflect on your own experiences and identify instances where you have exhibited characteristics of a growth mindset or a fixed mindset. How did these mindsets influence your approach to challenges, setbacks, and learning opportunities? What strategies or shifts in mindset have you found effective in cultivating a growth mindset or overcoming the limitations of a fixed mindset?

• Seth Lehman

  Member

  June 12, 2024 at 2:06 pm

  I like your emphasis on having a “beginner’s” mindset. This might be especially hard for us to do when we are in a role where our students tend to view us as the experts. Second, I’ll echo the encouragement to leave space for some unstructured time to read, reflect, meditate, and think about what could be better in our work. For me, this has resulted in some good ideas and practical changes that I probably wouldn’t have considered otherwise.
  Casandra Silva Sibilin (she/her/hers)

  Member

  June 21, 2024 at 8:12 am

  @elizabethklein1 – Thank you very much for the article. I was able to open it and will check it out!
  Casandra Silva Sibilin (she/her/hers)

  Member

  June 21, 2024 at 8:19 am

  Hi @jelizabethclark – thank you for sharing your change of name to “drop in student hours”! I like that! Come to think of it “office hours” is really not very descriptive and just describes a location (often associated with being a “serious” place to do “work”) and is probably not helpful overall.

  It reminds me too of an experiment I tried a few years ago. I was reading one of Cal Newport’s books (probably A World Without Email) and he recommends doing office hours for colleagues as a way to reduce emails. I tried something like that for colleagues, but it didn’t seem to work. I think that’s a very different situation than with students, but it makes me wonder how much the name “office hours” can sound uninviting in that context as well.
  Elizabeth Klein (she/her)

  Member

  June 21, 2024 at 9:50 am

  Thanks! My trick is remembering this when grading papers and telling my teacher candidates to avoid “3 grows and glows” when grading student work is not easy. This is the way that they are coached at work. I want to break myself and my students of thinking that it has to be a robotic list. One of the examples that resonated with students is when I told them of a recent experience with an editor and how helpful she was in her feedback to me.
  John Beaumont

  Participant

  July 15, 2024 at 12:38 pm

  From my deeply Catholic background, I think I had a fixed mindset about learning and living. It was only when I realized that I was letting the word should guide a lot of my thinking that I really began to grow. Should was keeping me locked in place and frustrated. Focusing more on what I could potentially do and what small changes I could make or small steps I could take that things started looking up. I try to share this lesson with students.
  Careen Purcell

  Member

  July 15, 2024 at 4:28 pm

  As a clinical instructor in a healthcare environment, I exemplified a growth mindset and a solid commitment to learning. While conducting nursing skills training for students, I encountered a medical device I could not operate. In a display of transparency and eagerness to expand my knowledge, I approached a registered nurse for assistance in front of the students. Subsequently, I effectively demonstrated the operation of the device to the students. By openly acknowledging my lack of expertise, I conveyed the importance of continuous learning and seeking guidance, fostering a growth mindset.

  To counter a fixed mindset, I have embraced constructive criticism(which can be difficult)  and interpreted mistakes as valuable learning opportunities. I am dedicated to embracing challenges, a crucial mindset in the ever-evolving healthcare field, and focusing on continual learning and development.
  Lucien Smith

  Member

  July 15, 2024 at 6:41 pm

  Working in the health and wellness industry for two decades I have worked with people to get healthier in their everyday lives, becoming stronger and more resilient moving from “I can’t” to “I can, I will, and I have”. A beautiful sight indeed to facilitate and be a part of that process of self-discovery. I was fortunate to have learned to never judge a book by its cover and allow space for the fire of the human spirit to shine bright through believe and action. From my own experience, continued growth and process of self-discovery I share firsthand knowledge and observations across age, class and culture of what is possible when one finds purpose, passion and spends mindful time on any endeavor.
  Qin (She)

  Member

  July 16, 2024 at 1:01 pm

  I remember taking a college-level pre-calculus course the summer before my freshman year for college. I struggled with it and not for a lack of trying. I visited the graduate instructor’s office hours weekly and spent hours trying to work out the problems. As this was a 6-week summer course, somewhere beyond the midpoint, I noticed the graduate instructor’s frustration and my confidence diminishing. Until that point in my academic studies, I’ve sailed through math courses without much difficulty. After consulting with my academic advisor, they suggested dropping the course so that it wouldn’t affect my incoming grade adversely. I never took pre-calculus again and instead used other math courses to fulfill my math curriculum. I developed a fixed mindset when it came to pre-calculus and never rose to the challenge. Something that I learned later while watching a Ted talk by Carol Dweck was the power of “not yet”. Instead of seeing that failure as an inability to do pre-calculus, I can reframe it as I wasn’t ready yet so that it creates a bridge to approach the subject again in the future.
  Lucien Smith

  Member

  July 16, 2024 at 2:00 pm

  Lucien Smith wrote:

  Working in the health and wellness industry for two decades I have worked with people to get healthier in their everyday lives, becoming stronger and more resilient moving from “I can’t” to “I can, I will, and I have”. A beautiful sight indeed to facilitate and be a part of that process of self-discovery. I was fortunate to have learned to never judge a book by its cover and allow space for the fire of the human spirit to shine bright through belief and action. From my own experience, continued growth and process of self-discovery I share firsthand knowledge and observations across age, class and culture of what is possible when one finds purpose, passion and spends mindful time on any endeavor.