Shirley Papp

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The Revolution of Education

Shirley Papp

Cindi Harris

English 110

October 20, 2016

                                               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 in a newsletter for Salon Media in 2015 is research on the education system and how we teach our students in comparison to how influence the way they think, Kohn notes that researchers were first curious why ­­a mindset would effect a student’s abilities and that led them to study if the structure and pedagogy of the current school system was truly to blame. While many believe that

The best way to encourage a child’s desire to learn and inspire them to try is through encouragement and praise, the researchers and Kohn conclude that the pedagogy that is today the standard is self-defeating and causes the discouragement the students feel rather than stimulating learning.

Kohn showed that most students find the generic praise they receive to be undesirable and he found that allowing a student at any age to think freely was the best path towards genuinely reaching students on an equal level. According to Khon, individual personalities and ones mindset is becoming too much of the focus, true learning and the true art of teaching involves opening doors and allowing a student to absorb the world and all its knowledge through their own eyes.

To support his argument, Kohn shares “The problem with sweeping, generic claims about the power of attitudes or beliefs isn’t just a risk of overstating the benefits but also a tendency to divert attention from the nature of the tasks themselves: How valuable are they, and who gets to decide whether they must be done? Dweck is a research psychologist, not an educator, so her inattention to the particulars of classroom assignments is understandable.” May teachers believing they have the student’s best interest at heart would see Dwecks research as proof and not question her experience in the classroom. This is one of the many perils of the current teaching method in our schools. After generations of being taught and not learning, even the teachers stopped questioning authority. Ultimately, Kohn presents this information to academic world at large and to the public, so that they might see the truth of how blindly following the path laid out in regards to education can be our downfall.

 I tend to agree with Kohn in regards to his research though I am disappointed to find no solutions to the issue at hand. While Dweck, Kohn and many other write books and do research I have yet to see anyone have a concrete answer. We should all take a moment here to remember we are talking about a structure that can shape a whole generation. That the success or failure of students in school can and will translate to their adult life and their ability to feed and care for themselves in a fast moving economic system that largely doesn’t care about your mindset as long as you do your job (not unlike the current school system).

Khon tells us how praise isn’t going to help students do better in school because it’s a shallow attempt to bait us into better work performance. In essence Kohn argues that “What kids actually need from us, along with nonjudgmental feedback and guidance, is unconditional support — the antithesis of a patronizing pat on the head for having jumped through our hoops.

Thus, the challenge for a teacher, parent, or manager is to consider a moratorium on offering verbal doggie biscuits, period.”

Though I see the logic and even agree, I find that he missed the larger picture that its not just an issue in the schools, it’s in the world. So if you choose to change the entire method of teaching today, and every following group of students from this point forward leave high school with this new found freedom of thought and expression. Then what? They enter a foreign world that they do fit into. The rules and structures we don’t think twice about become extremely difficult to manage and they will easily become defeated. My best example of this would be a spoiled child starting kindergarten. Up to this point they have only known a world of great care and freedom to do as they please. Then comes the instruction to sit, listen and do as you are told. This hypothetical child would find school a miserable place to exist.

Kohn states, “A 2010 study found that when students whose self-worth hinges on their performance face the prospect of failure, it doesn’t help for them to adopt a growth mindset. In fact, those who did so were even more likely to give themselves an excuse for screwing up — a strategy known as “self-handicapping” — as compared to those with the dreaded fixed mindset.”

Basically, Khon is warning that even with the “correct” mindset a student can defeat themselves. It is understandably hard to find a perfect balance when teaching young people, they are admittedly at a point in their life where you can influence their mindset or level of effort depending on how you approach you teaching method. I sadly do not have the answer but I have a fairly faint hope that my writing my influence the one who may someday make a revolutionary change for our greater good.

                                                     Fin

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The central focus of “What it takes to be great” by Geoffrey Colvin is Greatness, and what it takes in order to reach it. Colvin asks “ How are certain people able to go on improving”? Many scientist have conducted studies which all lead to the same conclusion, greatness cannot be achieved without work. He believes no one is born gifted, no talent is just given to a person at birth, in order to be great at something we have to work very hard for many years. This lead researchers to study if  hard was enough to reach greatness. Researchers conclude that  the most important factor is deliberate practice according to Colvin deliberate practice involves continually observing results and making appropriate adjustments, such as practicing with a purpose or a goal. In the article Colvin supports his argument by giving an us example “Simply hitting a bucket of balls is not deliberate practice, which is why most golfers don’t get better . Hitting an eight-iron 300 times with a goal of leaving the ball within 20 feet of the pin 80 percent of the time is deliberate practice.” Ultimately Colvin presents this information to his audience, so that they understand What it takes to be great.

Colvins idea of deliberate practice applies to me more than I’ve willingly acknowledged , his belief on deliberate practice is very accurate in many aspects of my life. He states “simply hitting a bucket of balls is not deliberate practice, which is why most golfers don’t get better.” I can relate to this from personal experience, I’ve been running for about 3 years now I’ve never noticed any improvement over the years but again I don’t keep a certain pace  , I run the exact same distance everyday and i don’t pay attention to the time; I’ve  never practiced deliberately. He explains how not having a goal while practicing can affect our greatness. Another key point that I can relate to is when colvin states “ consistency is crucial” probably another major factor to why i haven’t been able to improve my running skills. In order to be great at something your deliberate practice has to be consistent approximately the same amount everyday , including weekends. I’ve never been constant on my running there would be periods of times I would decide to replace my running routine with an exercise class or a sport, not running at all for a couple of weeks. According to Colvin an average of 10,000 hours everyday including weekends over their lives should be dedicated to deliberately practicing in order to great.

Im confident that Dweck would approve of my calendar because in her article “ Brianology” she states “ teach them how to much fun a challenging task is , how interesting and informative errors are, and how great it is to struggle with something and make progress. Most of all, teach them by taking on challenges”  Having fun is important to our learning and our motivation , when something is interesting you always want to come back to it , it keeps you on your toes, when you challenge yourself it might not always have the best outcome weather it’s not such a good grade or you didn’t complete it they way you were suppose to, but you earned that grade with your effort. My schedule keeps me on my toes it keeps me busy and I make sure to schedule fun!  Learning and study can also be fun , taking on challenge that’s out of your comfort zone , making mistakes, accepting them and laughing about them to later analyze and correct them the next time around is the best way to learn.

[persnicketypapp-blog]

In your blog, you write “I run the exact same distance everyday and i don’t pay attention to the time; I’ve  never practiced deliberately”. In essence saying that your lack of tracking your performance is why you have not had any progress.  However your claim that this is the sole reason for the lack of progress rests upon the questionable assumption that it is the sole reason for lack of progress.  Colvin himself writes “there’s no evidence of high-level performance without experience or practice”. In other words he believes practice be followed up with no just tracking your progress but know how much more work is needed to improve, like how much faster or longer you need to run. 

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Deliberate Practice Blog

      The central focus of Geoffrey Colvin‘s article “What it Takes to be Great” published in Fortune Magazine is to explore the research as to why natural talent is not the key to success, it is hard work. Colvin notes that researchers were curious about what makes someone achieve greatness, is it a natural talent that we are born with? That led them to study not only Major athletes like Tiger Woods but also successful musicians and businessmen like Luciano Pavarotti, Chopin, Warren Buffet and Bill Gates among others. While many believe that we are born with a natural talent or ability that was already there, researchers and Colvin conclude that a specific natural talent does not exist, greatness is earned through hard work dedicating yourself to scrupulously improving through deliberate practice. To support his argument, Colvin shares several scientific studies (done since 1993 by Ericsson and his two colleagues) and examples of individuals throughout history who were famously known for their accomplishments and the innumerable amount of time that was spend to hone their skills. Ultimately, Colvin presents this information to Fortune and the public at large, so that they can remove the false vail of belief that success is something you are gifted at birth and rethink your methods towards your own greatness.

   Colvin presents research suggesting that deliberate practice is the actual key to success. This research finding does apply to me because it is similar to how I approach my daily life. I have always been a firm believer in the concept of hard work is what gets the job done. No individual is born with more knowledge than another; we are all born into a level playing field. It is through hard work and diligence that we better ourselves and achieve greatness. According to Colvin, “You will achieve greatness only through an enormous amount of hard work over many years, also that it must be deliberate practice, involving maliciously fine tuning your skill and narrowing down your weakness’ then spending thousands of hours over almost a decade to become great.” Colvin’s theory of deliberate practice is extremely useful because it sheds light on the difficult problem of how we go about becoming successful. Though Colvin does not focus on this aspect of how as much, I feel it is the most import point he makes. He gives some good examples of how many different types of people, in different fields use the method of not just practicing but studying how well you do and adjusting the approach to continuously improve. I think this is the key to know how to do better as you go. In my experience I approached learning a new skill with the idea that, if I simply just keep trying I will get the desired results, unbeknownst to me that observing how well I do or what areas need more attention was important.  Just relentlessly practicing is not specific enough, you need to know what you are skill you are developing, how to advance to the next level and how hard to push.

     Although he doesn’t say so directly Michael E. Martinez would likely approve of my calendar. I use my calendar as a problem solving tool, with the goal in mind, to be organized with my time. For example juggling study time, personal life, classes and making sure I study enough for each class. Martinez himself writes “Problem solving is exercised daily, often continuously, especially in a complex society where following established rules and procedures is not enough to succeed. Problem solving can be defined simply as the pursuit of a goal when the path to that goal is uncertain.” The essence of Martinez’s argument is that even though there may be already established rules and guidelines to help solve a problem, you might have to move beyond those in order to accomplish your personal goals. By creating this calendar and rearranging parts of my life I believe I have set myself on a clear path to achieve greatness.

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English 110 Blog

English 110

Blog Assignment

Hi fellow students of English 110. My name is Asha Abdi and this would be my first year attending Grossmont College or any college to begin with. Originally I am born and raised in Atlanta, Georgia and moved here almost 6 years ago. Before I attended Grossmont College, I was participating in the Summer EOPS SIP program as well as working a part-time job down in Plaza Bonita. I was introduced to the program by my older sister who is also currently attending Grossmont College.

Something that I am really passionate at and enjoy doing in my free time is cosmetics. Ever since I was 14, I would have an eye for the different looks created by makeup artists and knew it was something I wanted to do. I can recall a time where I had a day to find a makeup artist to do my graduation makeup. I am very picky about who does my makeup and decided to go to MAC cosmetics. They had given me a demo (in which I thought the whole time was free) and ended up paying almost $50 for something I had no intention of buying. I only wanted a sample of how it would come out looking not actually buy the products. At that moment, I had realized the money I had to use for my graduation makeup was unintentionally spent with me not knowing that the demo came with a price. The next day was my graduation. I was so upset and frustrated that I made sure to wake up early and do it myself. I ended up spending two hours on my look and it was worth it. It was the first time that I had done a full face and it came out better than I thought it would be. That day I had ended up booking three girls for an appointment. I was baffled from how amazing it came out and decided to become an artist; hopefully freelance one day.

My talent of cosmetics had not fully developed until I was about 16 or 17. I would always spend so much time on youtube just watching the artists do their thing and think to myself, “I would never be able to reach their level of potential”. Like Dweck’s article, I would have a fixed mindset and thought I was never good enough to learn cosmetics. I was afraid of messing up and someone judging me on how it came out looking. I would practice to myself and when people came around I would put the materials away or wash my makeup off. Until one day my sister encouraged me to keep trying and put in more effort. Everyday I would try on my sisters, cousins, friends, and myself. As I got better I got more confident in my work and felt happy of the level of potential I am capable of now today!

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I can totally relate. Though you don’t see me in make-up a lot. I love doing it, watching you tube...all of it. I’m an an esthetician. Loving to do make-up wasn’t only part of my drive to get my licence but admittedly it was the most fun. Are you considering becoming a make-up artist our working in the special effects make industry?

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Introduction

Hi, my name is Shola! I was born in Manila, Philippines but came to the United States when I was three. As a toddler, you are only starting to figure things out such as language and culture. Having to transition from a language and culture that I had just only started to get the hang of and onto a whole new one was difficult for me. But here I am today, able to easily adapt to both!

I was heavily involved in volunteer work in high school, organizing blood drives,fundraisers,tutoring and volunteering at St.Vincent De Paul Villages.  I have a keen interest in makeup, food, literature and fitness (even if I’m not particularly good at it) but my biggest interest is in the arts. From the very beginning I knew that I wanted to be an art major. I used to dream about having my pieces displayed in my very own art gallery in some upscale city (even though I knew that it was a farfetched dream). I’ve since then realized that it probably wasn’t where my future profession was so I turned to the next thing that I was interested in and that is being of service towards others. So here I am at Grossmont. This is my first semester at Grossmont and so far it’s been good. As of right now, I’m a full time student taking my prerequisites for nursing and will later transfer to a 4 year university.

Art is my outlet, it was the easiest way for me to express myself. Its ability to provoke and inspire while also being simultaneously easy and difficult amazed me. The process and technical aspects of the art and the craft involved in creating a piece was what had originally gotten me hooked. My family and friends always praised what I created setting me in a state of a fixed mindset. Being that they were family and friends, they never critiqued me or ever gave me suggestions on how I could improve, only giving me positive feedback. Senior year came along and I was placed into AP art. I was confident with my skill and thought it would be an easy A. First semester went smoothly.We were tested only for our technical skill doing 2 pieces for 5 months for a total of 10 pieces. However second semester came and it all went downhill. In a span of 4 months I was expected to complete 6 pieces per month for a total of 24 pieces with a turn in date each week. The first pieces were a breeze but I began to slip. All my time was spent on art. I pulled all nighters most nights just to meet deadline causing me to neglect my grades and volunteer work. The most stressful day of the week were formal critique days which were usually on Fridays. This was when you put the results of your hard work up in front of the whole class, explained your ideas and technique then waited for the criticism to come rolling in. Everyone in the class knew that this was when you put it all on the line to find out if anyone else thought what you were doing was actually valid. Being an art student who never got any negative feedback from these critiques, I was overly confident on this piece which to be honest was one of my weakest but I relied on my “skill” to keep me from getting any negativity. As I presented my 14th piece I was immediately hit with harsh criticism from my teacher. I remember sitting there cheeks flushed with embarrassment hearing him completely dissect my piece. My fixed mindset made me believe that I didn’t need anyone’s input in my artwork and I could just shrug their words aside. I had always been praised for what I created and that was the first time that anyone had something bad to say about it. My motivation went down after this along with my effort in the next few pieces but, at the same time it fueled me to do better. I took the criticism as a lesson to myself, using it as a way to bounce back rather than keeping it on my mind and not doing anything about it. Starting off small I revamped past works then slowly started to refine the current ones, finding ways to better improve them. I took criticism much better and even volunteered to be on the receiving end of most of the critiques. Without the harsh criticism from my teacher, I would have never thought to move from my fixed mindset to a growth one.

 I never really explored any other medium besides graphite and prisma colors because I was intimidated from using any other medium. While developing my mindset from a fixed to growth, I took the chance of exploring other mediums such as charcoal and chalk. This was my first piece and since creating it, it has been retouched many times as I explored more techniques. Hope you like it!(: 

BxB

Closeup 

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The art work was so vivid. I have always loved watching someone draw. I have never put much time into learning it  myself and its a thing of beauty to see someone put together lines and shadows and suddenly there is a new life on the page. I hope you never stop creating and exploring your art. <3

[brittanie-duran-eng110fall16]

This is electric kool aid.

Hi there!

My name is Brittanie, I grew up in palm springs but the past year i was living on the east coast. I only recently moved back and have been working like a mad woman to save some cash while i transfer into “student life” which is very strange considering i have not been in a school setting since i graduated in 2009! That is seven years for those of you who don’t want to math right now.

As i mentioned i was living on the east coast this past year, my family is a military family, i say this and people always ask who it is that’s in the service. I think they are surprised to find that everyone but my mother and i are in. My dad is a master srgt. in the us army, my two younger sisters are in the army reserves, and my older brother in an infantry man in the us army.

When the graduations were all done and my younger sisters started their new jobs i made the decision to make the long cross country drive back to California. This time i drove back with my boyfriend who, SURPRISE, is a sniper in the us army. See a trend?

We mapped out our trip and decided we wanted to take about a week to drive and sight see. My favorite stops were seeing the national infantry museum, which just won the best free museum award, and New Orleans. The town was so full of people and unique shops, but the smell!!!! Bourbon street smells terrible, and by terrible i mean walking down this street your eyes water because of all the different smells happening. I will say this, despite the smell New Orleans knows how to party, no matter what day it is, we will definitely go back!

Making it back to California was bitter sweet. On one hand I get to start this new chapter, and on the other i left part of my family and some great friends behind. At least we have In n Out here right?! You don’t know what its like to miss those juicy burgers until they are no longer readily available. (haha!)

So now that we are in sunny San Diego it is my first priority to be in school as often as possible while holding down a job. I intend to go forth and eventually be a nurse, i also have a strong desire to take more art classes and acquire a certificate to teach. Its my true first love being an artist and intend to keep at it for as long as i possibly can. My other interests are running, hiking, areal yoga, and cooking. My interests will motivate me to continue down this educational path because my intention is to be one of those people who does what they love to do.

My family is a big support and with out this support system I probably would’ve ripped my hair out months ago. We are a fun and crazy bunch. I wouldn’t trade them in for a million dollars. This is us this past weekend, we went to a park for a family get together.

Nice to meet you! Till next time. :)

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Sounds like you have some great stories to tell. I hope we do more blogs like this so I can read them. Do you have any art work that you would consider sharing? My family has many types of artists, so I always love seeing new stuff. :)

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This is such a beautiful picture. Did you hire a photographer?

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Heather G first blog assignment

Heyyyy… My name is Heather, My birthday is in June which makes me a Gemini :). I have a beautiful 4 year old daughter. Shes in cheer-leading so my main focus is her & her goals as well. This is my first year as a college student, i’m excited to start a career & finally get my life together. I wanted to get into the medical field but i’m still not sure what exactly yet, i hope i can get the help i need to get me in the right direction of something i really enjoy doing. 

Something that i really enjoy doing is cooking & hanging out with my daughter. I’m always trying to cook new recipes that i find online (also baking). I’m good at cooking Mexican dishes, since i’ve grown up watching my grandmother cook all her authentic meals. I love going to the beach as well, we live in the best city so i try to take advantage of it !!!

Brainology is one of the articles i actually “read” and enjoyed in a while. I feel i connected with it right away. I’m in between with the “fixed mindset” and “growth mindset”. There has been times through out my life where i have been in positions of both mindsets. You should never put a limit on your learning and reading this article made me think how i can improve the way i tell my daughter things. I would want her to always have a growing mindset. I’m interested on learning more about “Brainology”. I also agree that learning from your mistakes is the best way to learn anything. Its actually putting your self up for the challenge and puts you in the hands on experience. I want to have the growth mindset and learn as much as i can out of this English class.

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I thought the same thing about my kids too! I never suspected praise to have such a profound impact. Its amazing how large an impact small changes in praise can change our whole world.

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Who is Shirley?

I always have trouble starting a journal, especially when I have to introduce myself. I find that my self-perception and how others view me are not always the same. But It just so happens that I need to write a blog about myself and how I got to be a student at Grossmont College. So at least I have a prompt to help me.

While this isn’t my first semester at college this is my first time that I’m giving it a genuine effort. After a failed attempt in 2002 and not realizing how to take notes, delegate time for homework or write essays; I found I was a dismal failure and promptly quit after the first semester.

Fourteen years later, I found when it came to my education I had just been spinning my wheels all that time. Going nowhere quickly didn’t settle well with me and I felt that life had taught me the skills to be a successful student. When it comes to my personal talents they are not your typical crafts or sport. The thing I believe that I am truly talented at and actually enjoy doing is logistics. Pure organizational bliss!

For months I wavered back and forth about my ability to learn, after I grew up hearing that I wasn’t college material. Finally I decided that I wasn’t going allow that to hold me back. So I went down to admissions with my head held high, determined.

Drawing on previous experience I was familiar with admissions, financial aid and school programs. While registering, I noticed flyers advertising the Summer Institute Program. I went into EOPS and was lucky to get one of the last spots available. After a quick orientation I was signed up a ready for my first summer back at college.

Initially I was going to attend summer classes anyways as a way to lessen the shock of transitioning back to being a full time student.  But joining SIP turned out to be not only a great ice-breaker to restarting college, but immensely useful to “learn how to learn“ and to be part of a college community. During SIP we divided into three cohorts where we shared an English and Counseling classe for the semester.

Like Carol Dweck‘s article about a  having a “Fixed Mind set” our On Course book from Counseling class touched on similar points like, your belief in your abilities, how you handle set-backs and what keeps you motivated.

In English we learned how to annotate notes, use critical thinking when reading and most importantly how to write an essay. All these were things I lacked and considered to be road blocks to being a successful student. On top of that in our Counseling class we were taught the importance of being a creator in our life instead of a victim. All while forming a bond through shared struggles and desires for success. We laughed, we cried, we learned to appreciate each one of us as an individual and love us all as family.  These people, my new family members are my Ohana.

I was fortunate to have been a part of something that was so much more deep and meaningful than a simple academic class.

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That’s it! Everyone falls before they get back up @

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