Anthony Labrador

English 110 Blog

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Other factors...

The central focus of Alfie Kohn’s article “The perils of ‘Growth Mindset’ education: Why we’re trying to fix our kids when we should be fixing the system” published on Sunday, August 16, 2009 by Salon, is research on the growth mindset and how there is other ways to help our children, and how we should fix our educational system. Kohn notes there is other ways than just having a growth mindset to become successful in school and etc, this led him to research more and more into the educational field. While many others believed that just having a growth mindset will help you become a better student and that will lead you to a path to success, the researchers like Kohn, believe that you cannot only have a growth mindset, there is other factors to become successful in school and explains that our educational system is flawed. Kohn presents that if students are too worried about mindsets they would get too caught up and suffer from it, he says “Here’s another part of the bigger picture that’s eclipsed when we get too caught up in the ‘growth vs. fixed’ (or ‘incremental vs. entity’ ) dichotomy: if students are preoccupied with how well they’re doing in school, the their interest in what they're doing may suffer(57). Kohn states this because he wants to point out that it doesn't matter what mindset you use, it is about the amount of learning, you are actually learning, for example if you only worried about the mindset you are using then your learning will suffer. Kohn also presents the fact that our educational system is broken and had to be fixed. He states this because he sees our students only looking for the grade to pass the class, and not actually caring about the learning aspects, the students care more about the grade and not the knowledge that they are getting. The evidence that Kohn introduces in his article are for the most part, is citing experts and some factual stats, and some personal examples. In the article Kohn cites Carol Dweck, acknowledge her mistakes and tells us why it is wrong. Kohn states “Carol Dweck used the label ‘incremental theory’ to describe the self-fulfilling belief that one can become smarter”(55). Kohn states this and them continues to say why it is wrong with her theory and then tells his views on it. I think this makes Kohn more credible because he states the mistake that an educational theorist made. Kohn also cites theorist who also agree with his ideas, making him more credible, and he also states some personal examples, making his stories more relatable to the reader. He also gets factual stats to back his argument. For example when Kohn is stating that praise can make a student feel like “if you're complementing me just for trying hard, I must really be a loser”(56) he brings us stats like that “if you google the word praise and effort more than 70 million hits”(56). He does this to show the experience that the students will think when we praise them for their effort, than helping them learn the subject. Kohn asserts that focusing on the mindsets of students diverts the attention to other factors. I do agree with Kohn and how he thinks that their is other factors that change our learning capabilities. I agree with Kohn because we cannot only focus on fixing our mindsets and then magically become successful at school and learning. There is other factors in our lives that hurt our capabilities to learn and factors that help our capabilities to learn. In my life I had experiences that hurt and help my drive to learn and etc. For example when I was in my Sophomore year of high school, my uncle, was diagnosed with cancer and for my family that was a hard thing to grasp, imagine a fifteen year old teen, having to handle his uncle who helped him so much in life, diagnosed with cancer and then unfortunately passing away the same year, having a good time with school and focusing on learning. You cant, you cant just change your mindset for this occasion and then become great at school. You have to find other factors to help you get passed this and focus back at school. I did get past this and made this my motivation to become great in school, not just having a growth mindset but learning to have a better life and to make my uncle proud of me. This is a perfect example on why a growth mindset is not the only thing that can help you become a successful student, there is other factors that are good and bad that help you motivated to learn, and many more I can state but probably be too long for this blog.

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What it Takes to Be Great

    “What it Takes to be Great” by the senior editor-at large of Fortune magazine and business expert, Geoffrey Colvin, is a well-written informational and persuasive article. Colvin begins by unmasking the closed-minded statement made by Warren Buffet, a statement in which he was implying that people are either talented, or they aren’t. To put Buffet’s words back in his mouth, Colvin discusses how no one posses a “natural gift” and that success is the result from hours of practice and hard work. However, he also puts an emphasis on how talent doesn’t mean intelligence, motivation, or personality traits, which is what it seems Carol Dweck tried to convey in her research. Colvin also points out that not just any type of practice will do, in order to reach greatness, it calls for “deliberate” practice, which is “activity that’s explicitly intended to improve performance that reaches that reaches for objectives just beyond one’s level of competence, provides feedback on results and involves high levels of repetition”. Colvin refers to Tiger Woods, Michael Jordan, Jerry Rice, and multiple credible studies to put misguided statements, such as Buffet’s, to rest and unveil faith for anyone who aspires to reach their ultimate goals. 

      Colvin presents research suggesting that progress can only be made through deliberate practice, activity that is strictly intended to enhance and improve performance, that strives for objectives just beyond one’s level of competence, provides feedback on results and involves high levels of repetition. Those unfamiliar with playing a sport may be interested to know that your success basically boils down to not how much you practice, but how you practice, a fact that I can attest to. In high school, my volleyball coach always said,” Practice doesn’t make perfect, perfect practice makes perfect”, and he proved himself right when he advised me to focus on one specific at a time, rather than just going through the motions, and the results were positive! Colvin gives an example through an experiment in his article as well, which he explains in paragraph fifteen,” In a study of 20-year-old violinists by Ericsson and colleagues, the best group (judged by conservatory teachers) averaged 10,000 hours of deliberate practice over their lives”. Notice how Colvin points out that the violinist did deliberate practice, and not just regular practice, being that deliberate practice has a more explicit focus. Another case that proves Colvin’s research and my personal example are connected can be found in paragraph twenty-two,” Tiger Woods is a textbook example of what the research shows. Because his father introduced him to golf at an extremely early age - 18 months - and encouraged him to practice intensively, Woods had racked up at least 15 years of practice by the time he became the youngest-ever winner of the U.S. Amateur Championship, at age 18.”, and although Colvin didn’t directly say “deliberate practice”, he most certainly implied it. 

    Although she doesn’t say so directly, Carol Dweck would likely approve of my calendar because of the seventeen units I am taking inquire that I posses at least a partial growth mindset. In Dweck’s article,” The Mindset of a Champion”, paragraph five, when describing people with a growth mindset, she claims, “They believe that people can cultivate their abilities”. In other words, Dweck believes that people’s talents and potential can be developed through hard work and practice, and that statement connects to my calendar because my heavy school work load displays I put a premium on my education and willing to greatly expand my knowledge within a short period of time. However, if the calendar is closely examined, someone could assume I obtain a fixed mindset. In the same article, paragraph four, Dweck’s view is, “ Some hold a fixed mindset, in which they see abilities as fixed traits”.  I mention this quote because most people would agree that my classes aren’t the most challenging, my math and english courses are the second easiest courses available at the institution, I’m not taking a science course, and the rest of the classes are introductory courses, so the curriculum is basic for the most part, in which I come off as a frightened individual who assumes that challenging myself will expose my deficiencies.

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I agree with your statement on why Dweck should agree with your calendar because you do have elements of her growth mindset in your calendar, for example you are setting aside time to study and somewhat challenging yourself. Also it is amazing to see you have seventeen units and still have time to study, go to the gym and maintain and healthy life style, I hope, I can do the same. 

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How to be great

In this article Geoffrey Colvin’s main point is that nobody is born great, it takes the right work ethic to become a legend. Colvin highlights the greats such as Tiger Woods, and Berkshire Chairman Warren Buffet two outstanding people in their completely different field of work. The only thing they have in common was the hours of work they put n in order to be labeled as “one of the greats.” Colvin calls it deliberate practice, which is essentially practice to improve performance that goes beyond what one, can do and reflects on the end results. It’s no easy work either, Colvin uses words such as, high level, crucial, intensive, and other words of such sort to describe the type of work. Colvin also states how the greats weren’t always greats. Stars such as Michael Jordan or Jerry Rice have been either cut or passed up by teams before they got to such a high level in their career. Overall, greatness isn’t given it’s earned with hard work and preparation, Colvin also points out that maybe we may not all be professional athletes but that doesn’t mean we can’t be great in any other field we pursue.

                In this article Colvin presents to us the idea of “deliberate practice” which he states is, “activity that’s explicitly intended to improve performance that reaches for objectives just beyond one’s level of competence, provides feedback on results and involves high levels of repetition.” Brutal, demanding, and exhausting practice that push them past their limits, then reflecting on results to get better.  We tend to relate the idea of deliberate practice to athletes; because the word “practice” is commonly used in sports, but the theory of delibirate practice can be used almost everywhere.  As an athlete we spend hours of our weeks in practice doing drills to not only increase the heart rate but to build this type of muscle memory, so when the games begin we perform without much thought. I realized that just attending practice wasn’t enough but according to colvin it may not be enough. Colvin’s research states that one must go beyond the average practice time. In the article he quotes Ericsson, “Elite performers in many diverse domains have been found to practice, on average, roughly the same amount every day, including weekends.” What Colvin is trying to point out that average or slightly above average performers practice during scheduled practice time, but the Elite take their work beyond the schedule time and put in the extra work.  This research applies to me, I seen first-hand that extra work can give someone the slight edge over their opponent. As Colvin preaches hard deliberate practice and Dweck about the growth mindset, I can use both theories as a formula to be the best student/athlete.

I created a calendar that I intend on following through to the best of my ability, it includes everything I would do from the time I wake up to when I lay down to sleep again. After reading plenty of articles about mistakes, motivation, and the formula for greatness I think I developed a pretty stable plan. Although she doesn’t say so, Dweck would be likely to approve of my calendar because; I’m setting time aside to actually study. Dweck talks about growth mindset and how people with this type don’t quit in the face of adversity; instead they embrace it and learn from it. I know i will struggle in college therefore i intend on following through with my calendar and use the designated study as a time to learn from my mistakes i made. I look at setting aside a certain amount of time to study daily without any distractions as the equivalent of shooting three pointers to increase accuracy. Studying isn’t physically demanding but it is mentally exhausting, as I learned in a previous article our brains are like a big muscle. If I work out my legs and biceps daily then I should do so with my brain.  Colvin also states in his article, was that practice should be challenging, so as I continue to develop my calendar I plan on scheduling certain subjects to study. Not only the subjects but how I would study whether that’s reading, or annotating, or reviewing, I think this would increase my knowledge and not waste any time. Overall with these last couple of articles we read, i think i can make a plan that will set me up for success.

[juliaenglish110-blog]

I agree with you in your third paragraph! Dweck’s theory about growth mindsets is extremely useful because it sheds light on the issue as to why some people don’t end up achieving as much success as others, and that’s because of Dweck’s claim that with a growth mindset a person is more likely to be willing to challenge themselves, and with great motivation comes great success!

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Adrian I like how you set aside time to actually study and I do also think Dweck would agree with your calendar because, you are willing to have a growth mindset by setting aside study time. I also agree with you on your point of view about deliberate practice. 

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My Scheduled Life

    The central focus Geoffrey Colvin’s article “What it Takes to be Great” published in October 19, 2006 is research on how you as a person can be great if you put in work and time. Colvin notes that researchers were first curious why people who are successful and great at a certain thing became great and how did they become great at it and that led them to study that to be great you have to put in work and time to become great. While many believe that greatness is born with and its natural, the researchers and Colvin conclude that greatness is earned by hard work through deliberate practice. According to Colvin deliberate practice involves specific practice on a certain thing to make you better and better, and to practice with a purpose to make you better. To support his argument Colvin shares examples on how deliberate practice helps people achieve greatness. Ultimately Colvin presents this information to the general public, so that they know how to achieve greatness and become successful in life.

    Colvin presents research that deliberate practice and hard work can help you obtain greatness, or become successful in any thing you set your mind too. Colvin in the article states people aren't born with a talent and just become great, they had to earn it with hard work and years and years of deliberate practice. In the article Colvin says “The best people in any field are those who devote the most hours to what the researchers call ‘deliberate practice’ it’s an activity intended to improve performance…” ( Paragraph 12 Page 29) When Colvin says this he means that if you want to be great and or successful you need to earn it with hard work and time/effort. I agree with Colvin’s research because to be great at something you do have to put in work and effort, and there is no such thing as being talented at that one thing and becoming great, you have to put the time and deliberate practice to become successful and great. In my experience as photographer, you can not just be gifted/talented at photography, you have to put in work and effort to become great. I learned that practicing my skills (deliberate practice) can make me a better and greater photographer. Now that I am somewhat good a photography and do get hired as photographer, I still do deliberate practice, because that is what makes you great at something, and time, practice and effort can help me obtain my goal to be great. 

    Although Briceno doesn’t say so directly in his article titled “Why Understanding These Four Types of Mistakes Can Help Us Learn”, Briceno would like my calendar because I have plenty of time to study and do homework but I only have free time on Friday and weekends, this means I have time to reflect on my mistakes that I have made in the weekday and fix them before the new week starts. It is important to know that learning for your mistakes can help you learn and grow as a student and as a person. There is four types of mistakes and all are not created equally but we still have to try and learn from them. Briceno states “ Mistakes are not created equal, and they are not always desirable. In addition, learning from mistakes is not automatic.” (16) Briceno states this because learning from mistakes takes a long time to learn and it is not automatic that we can learn from it, but trying to do so everyday can help us learn and grow from the mistakes we make. This applies to my calendar because as you can see my weekdays are packed and I have school and work, therefore having free time on the weekends and Friday will help me reflect on the mistakes I might have done in the weekday and help me prepare for the following week, smarter and knowledgeable than before. Having my free time only in the weekend will also help me focus on school and work on the weekday further helping me learn from my mistakes and grow as student and a person.

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Anthony Labrador Intro

Hi fellow students and Ms. Harris, this will be my first semester in college, which means that I am a freshman and college life is a whole new lifestyle, I’m trying to adapt too. So far I like college and everything about it, learning wise is a faster pace than high school and I like that. Before I enrolled to Grossmont, I was at Eastlake High School, this school was located in a suburb area in Chula Vista, CA. Eastlake was a fun high school, but I'm pretty sure everyone or most people loved high school too, but I loved it, they offered so many classes to help us grow and learn as a student. I wanted to go to a university right after high school but didn't have a stable financial plan, so I decided to save money and go to Grossmont College for my general education classes,Then transfer to a university When I started middle school I gain an interest in photography and started to do it as a hobby and soon later loved it, more and more. As I grew older, and when I mean grow I mean graduate to Eastlake High, and I found out Eastlake High had a photography class, but only upper class-men could take it, so I waited till that day. When the time comes I would be good at, better than I am now, that was freshman year. So freshman year to sophomore year I started to do photography activities to help me grow and learn as a photographer. Then with a snap of a finger, I was a junior in high school, and I took the photography class. In my junior year I learned a lot due to my fantastic photography teacher, Mr. Hinkle, he was also one of my favorite teachers in high school. Senior year started and I became an advance photographer and took photography advance, and also was in yearbook for my school. Later on the year I was recruited to be a photographer for my schools newspaper, Eastlake Edge. All of theses opportunities helped me grow as a photographer. Now In college, I am now a free-lance photographer and I do get hired to be a photographer for weddings, birthdays, car shows and etc. I participated in many events like the ones I stated before. In the near future I want to grow my passion for photography and become a photojournalist.

My passion for photography can not have a fixed mindset to it, you need a growth mindset because photography is a form of art and you have to add to things you already know to become better and better. Just like Briseno and Dweck, you cannot be afraid of mistakes, you have to learn from them and grow from them to become a better photographer. You also need to learn from the things you can not do and challenge yourself to become better. 

My website academically relevant to the class

http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2015/11/23/teachers-parents-often-misuse-growth-mindset-research-carol-dweck-says