The Brenna Board

[shazel7-blog]

PERILS! of Growth mindset

“The Perils of “Growth Mindset” education: Why we’re trying to fix our kids when we should be fixing the system” an article by Alfie Kohn, the problems with fixed mindsets in our school system today. Kohn talks about how our schooling system is pushing our kids into a forced mindset by rewarding “intelligence” with extrinsic rewards and not recognizing our students for their struggles. Essentially our kids are brought up in the school system being self-handicap with praise and worrying about the final outcome of their tasks, ignoring the way they get there. Along with this, many kids are also exposed to the stress of tests, studying, and not focusing on soaking up the knowledge given to them. It’s even come to the point where kids start believing what the media and society says and not believing in themselves anymore, because of their gender, or even political status.

Kohn talks about a lot of problems that are involved with the “Growth Mindset” system of education, but the leading piece of evidence I found was with praise itself, and how it’s hurting them in the long run. In Kohn’s article, he talks about how praise is a form of “manipulation.” In other words he sees praise as a form of verbal reward. Research has been done proving that kids become less interested in what they are doing if praise or reward is involved. Now isn’t this just another form of manipulation. “Praise communicated that our acceptance of a child comes with strings attached” Kids should deserve our full support, if there are always strings attached, wouldn’t that just be us trying to “force” our kids into a certain mindset, instead of a growth one?

I completely agree with Kohn in his argument, fixing students mindsets diverts attention to other societal factors that influence education. Think about it, if you grow up thinking that you can’t do certain things because you are a girl, or that you have to be good at something because of your race, doesn’t that sort of contradict the healthy learning style. Not only does this influence sexism, poverty. Economic, or political barriers, it limits the students’ potential. For example. When I first started cheer leading my junior year of high school, I was my usual position as a back spot. I wasn’t the strongest of all of the back spots, mostly because the rest of them were guys who were quite a bit bigger than me. Over the summer we all were practicing one man stunts. This is when I realized I was clearly a lot weaker than my fellow back spots when I struggled a lot more holding my person then they did.  This could have easily taken me down a road of a fixed mindset, thinking that I couldn’t do what the others could because of my naturally smaller build of a woman, but it didn’t. Nobody praised my efforts but instead supported me while I practiced to build up my muscle. Sure enough I was right there with the guys that August at the football games with a person in my hands like the rest of them. Just as Kohn says, “What kids actually need from us, along with nonjudgmental feedback and guidance’s unconditional support” This is what my team was for me. Honestly, no reward or praise could have gotten me when I was, all I needed was support, and that’s what our kids need in school today.

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[shazel7-blog]

[sholaday-blog]

My take on what it takes to be great

The article “What it Takes to be Great” published by Geoffrey Colvin, the  senior editor-at-large for FORTUNE Magazine on October 19 2006, expressed his philosophy that greatness is available to everyone as long as an individual is able to devote many hours of deliberate practice and dedication towards what you may be doing. Rather than just explaining what it is that makes people great, Colvin also describes why natural talent, although a very nice personal perk to have, is irrelevant towards what makes people great. The central focus of the article, as the title may hint at, is to find out what makes a person so great. Colvine says in his article that he, “Understands that talent doesn’t mean intelligence, motivation or personality trait”(28).  This prompted him to  conduct researches and observations on a few highly celebrated individuals such as Michael Jordan and Bobby Fischer to pinpoint the source of their achievement. He comes  up with the conclusion that greatness is not limited to only a few but, rather is available to everyone that puts in the hard work, practice and effort for it. Deliberate practice really is the essential key to improves one’s ability and performance, and according to Colvin it is also what allows an individual to either progress to become the absolute best of themselves or never being able to fully seek out the potential they have.

 Colvin presents his research suggesting that deliberate practice and consistency are pivotal in order to be able to reach your fullest potential. I agree with his claims and can relate it with my previous struggle with drawing. Drawing was never my strongest point or art in general for the matter before. I used to despise anything that had to do with drawing and always seemed to avoid having to do it even resorting to having friends complete assignments that had to do with drawing before. I know what you are thinking, from my previous post I said I loved art and seemingly made it appear that I used to “live and breathe art.” This had not always been the case and if it weren’t for deliberate practice of drawing, I wouldn’t have been able to find my passion for it. As Colvin says, “Do it regularly, not sporadically ” (31). So that was what I did. I practiced daily, drawing the simplest things onto more complex things even if  I didn’t exactly do my best. I still continued and it is so rewarding to see the results of my deliberate practice and consistency almost 6 years later. It truly does take a lot of dedicated time,effort,work and practice to get to where you want to be. Even if you may fail at times, rather than stepping back because of it, should be used as a step forward in the success of what you are doing. Take what Colvin says about Tiger Woods, “ He has never stopped trying to improve, devoting many hours a day to conditioning and practice, even remaking his swings because thats whats it took to get even better” (30). Just because you may be good at something does not mean you stop practicing. To even become better at something, constant improvement is essential to the growth of the skill being practiced. Along with constant improvement, having an open mind towards trying new techniques rather than just doing the same thing is necessary to find better ways to evolve a skill and also to challenge oneself on what they already may know. Without challenge, you aren’t able to fulfill a fraction of  your potential if you are always going to play it safe.

Although he doesn’t say directly,  Colvin would approve of my calendar because I am able to create a “mental model of my business”. In this model I demonstrate how I’m able to manage my time and challenge myself to be more productive and have self discipline Setting goals is important in deliberate practice as it gives a sense of accomplishments when a record of how much practice is kept to be able to look back at how far one has come. Adding to what Colvin says,  “Consistency is crucial” (29). It definitely is imperative to be consistent with practice as it allows you to see the maximum results from all  hard work being done. Everyone has their own way of studying, but for me it’s all about having a consistent routine. After each class, I like to review my class notes or go over the powerpoint on the lesson learned for that day  then immediately begin my assignments so that the lesson is still fresh to me. “Instead of merely trying to get it done, you aim to get better at it” (31). he writes and I believe that this is vital to studying or whatever responsibility you may have . When your main goal for an assignment is just to get it done and out of the way, I believe that this takes away from being able to retain the information on the assignments or lesson. In relation to other responsibilities you have such as a job for example, rather than wanting to finish up a task just for the sake of getting it over with, find ways you could possibly learn or better yourself through it.

[shazel7-blog]

Before I even looked at the content of your writing I noticed your BEAUTIFUL calendar right away, go you! It’s also refreshing seeing another person who seems to be into art as much as I am. Overall your paragraphs were convincingly written and excellently put together, I applaud you. :)

[kyliestrothers-blog]

“What it takes to be great” Blog Assignment

       The article, “What it takes to be great,” by, Geoffrey Colvin, revolves around the idea that “deliberate practice” is linked to greatness. He suggests that, greatness is not a talent or a gift that one is born with, instead to be great, it is something that must be earned. Colvin argues that, the only way to achieve greatness is through hard work and a lot of time and practice. Throughout the article, Colvin focuses on what true greatness is, and how it is achieved.  Further into the article, it becomes clear that the keys to greatness are; hard work, dedication, practice, and repetition.   

        Colvin presents research suggesting that, anyone can be successful if they practice what researchers call, “deliberate practice.”  Deliberate practice 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.” (Colvin ph12).  Specifically, Colvin notes that, “you will achieve greatness only through an enormous amount of hard work over many years.” (Colvin ph1).  Colivin’s point is that, you can’t be great without dedicating a lot of time and effort towards whatever it is you desire to be great at. I have to agree because for me, I love to draw and I want to be great at it, but to do so, I have to keep working at it, and that takes a lot of time and dedication and even repetition when trying to perfect a certain technique. Furthermore Colivn says that, “nobody is great without work.” (Colvin ph8).  Ultimately, Colvin stresses that you can’t make anything of yourself if you don’t do anything. Even if you are not great at something, if you continue to practice, you will improve, and being something is better than nothing. So, to obtain greatness, you must continue to work hard and deliberately practice as much as possible. 

        Although she doesn’t say so directly, Dweck would likely approve of my calendar because I set specific times for myself to work on homework and to focus on my studies. Dweck believes that, students with a growth mindset become more motivated and put, “considerably more effort into their classroom learning, homework, and studying.” (Dweck ph29). I think that by setting aside specific times for study, it helps keep me motivated to stick with my schedule and keep up with school work. Moreover, I think that Dweck would also agree with Colvin’s argument. In her article, “Brainology,” she talks about how people with a growth mindset are willing learners and can improve on whatever tasks they set their minds to. Dweck states that, “…intelligence is a potential that can be realized through learning.” (Dweck ph5).  The essence of Dweck’s statement is that, the more you learn, the more you know, thus leading you towards that goal of improvement and greatness. Again Dweck claims that, “…everyone can improve their abilities.” (Dweck ph5).  This is the same concept that  Colvin makes; that anyone can be great and improve, it’s just a matter of how much work and effort they put into it. Essentially, both writers believe that everyone can improve and anyone can be great.

[shazel7-blog]

Nice paragraphs, I can really tell you put a lot of thought into them! And hey, I love drawing too:) And good idea mentioning growth mindset, I know that’s what I was thinking about when reading Colvin’s article haha

[shazel7-blog]

Brenna Burbridge

9/18/16

The central focus of Geoffrey Colvin’s article “Secrets of Greatness” published on October 19, 2006: 3:14 PM EDT is research on what it takes to be great. In the article, Colvin explains why researchers were curious about why some individuals were better at doing things than others, and curious to know if it was because of their natural talent. This question led to numerous studies on a person’s natural ability vs. hard work and practice. Although many researchers believe greatness is something you are born with, researchers and Colvin can conclude that greatness is awarded through hard work, deliberate practice, and consistency. To support this argument Colvin shares data from research from well-known athletes, for example, Michael Jordan. Colvin talks about how Michael practices beyond the scheduled team practices to improve his skill along with many other examples. Ultimately, Colvin presents this information to us readers, to let us know the truth, that talent doesn’t come naturally in order to be good at something, you must first deliberately practice long and hard at it.

As I was reading through this paper, I wrote down a lot of comments in the margins saying “yeah!” or “I completely agree!” After saying this I bet you can see my stance on this topic, you got it, I’m in total agreement. For a good reason too! You have to work to build any skill, you even had to practice walking once upon a time, and you aren’t born knowing how to write beautiful sonnets. The more you practice something deliberately the better you get. I remember my freshman year in high school, I joined the JV cheer squad. Mostly because I was awful and there was no thought of me joining varsity anytime soon. Cheer was hard at first, it was hard remembering the routines and lifting people who were even bigger than me, I was weak and an awkward dancer, as well as very shy, but I stuck with it. I always danced my hardest, stayed positive, but most of all I didn’t give up. My senior year in cheer I was at the top of the dog house as Varsity captain. I was one of the very strongest on the team, and the one others from my varsity squad and the JV squad people came to for help. So whenever people say that talent comes naturally, they’re lying, its hard work but it pays off.

My study time consists of flashcards, highlighters, and an evenly spaced out schedule for doing so. When you’re studying, you can’t just learn everything overnight.  Just like you can’t become an iron man champion overnight, it takes practice, and maybe even a little bit of failure. As Eduardo Brinceno says in his article, “Mind Shift” in paragraph 17, “If we’re more precise in our own understanding of mistakes and in our communication with students, it will increase their understanding, buy-in, and efficiency as learners” Basically what Brincenceo is saying here is that the only way to increase the overall knowledge of students, it to recognize what is wrong. I believe Brinceno would be in full agreement with Colvin and her article. Recognizing the wrong, is also a form of bettering yourself, which means you are practicing! In turn ladies and gentlemen, if you deliberately practice something, anything, you will get better. Nothing comes naturally to us, that’s why we’re human.

.create

[safariiiilive]

Story Time

Hello my name is Sarah Danby. This is my second year of college. I did take a year off after completing my first year off school. I was working at the Safari Park as a Guest Ambassador, then right around the end of September I applied to Mesa Airlines. I got the job!! Packed up a month’s worth of food and clothes and flew out to Phoenix Arizona and started my training. A month went by and I graduated Flight Attendant school. On graduation day we were given our base assignment I got Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW). So I flew home back to San Diego packed up my car and drove out to DFW. Was flying around for about 3 months when one day I got so fed up with the rudeness of the passengers and quit my job packed up my car again and drove back home in February. And I got my old job back at the Safari Park. And I was working all the time and I was just constantly thinking “am I going to be one of those people that just get stuck at the safari park for life?” One day I received an email from Grossmont saying it’s that time again to enroll in classes, so I did and now I’m here.

I love cheerleading and anything to do with tumbling and being competitive. I started all-cheer in the fourth grade and did it every year until 8th grade when high school came around I made both teams the high school varsity team and a freshman and level 4 all-star cheer. Unfortunately they practiced on the same days at the same time. Knowing that if I quit high school after making the team I couldn’t try out again for two years, I picked high school cheer. Traded in the all-star competitiveness for Friday Night Lights. Senior year I did both teams because I had some extra time on my hands. I made the level 4 team named Wr4th. Our team was very close regardless of the very large age group ages 7-18. In the beginning of the season at our practices we would stick our routine perfectly. But at the first competition of the year our team completely fell apart and ate carpet (the blue mat we compete/practice on… very rough texture sometimes leaving a rug burn in its place). After that our team kicked it in to high gear to get back on top. The next few competitions we received first place and overall best performance. But then just one week before our competition in Vegas my team had a tragedy, one of my teammates got meningitis. She got sick very quickly being in the ICU we couldn’t visit her. The next practice we made her a card to get better soon the whole team signed it. The next morning we got an email stating that Jewel had passed last night in her sleep. I was devastated because the last practice she was at I didn’t attended because of a high school event. My team was once again broken apart, until our coach gave us a new meaning to competition… Do it for Jewel, because she no longer can. At the competition in Vegas my team was the very last team to go on, and we’ve never had a bigger audience than that day. Before we start the music our captain yells “Do it for Jewel” and we all look up to the sky pointing one finger up to Jewel. I don’t think my team has ever hit a routine harder than that day. The news quickly went worldwide that we were doing it for Jewel, that teams from all around the world would post pictures wearing all purple and putting the #DoItForJewel. Our team went on doing every competition for Jewel. That we got a paid bid to Summit, the biggest competition on the year (also the last one). We went to The Summit (cheer worlds for level 4 and below) and my team won! Number 1 out of 900 teams that competed. I missed my senior prom to go to this competition because winning this competition was much bigger than a high school dance. Cheerleading wasn’t always easy and I wasn’t always this dedicated to the sport until I started gaining skill and getting placed on higher level teams. I worked day in and day out in the cheer gym and the regular gym to get to where I am today.

When I first started taking classes and seeing all the older girls flipping across the gym I was just amazed how easy they made it look. And that when I tried doing a backhand-spring I quickly fell into a fixed mindset. And would come to practice no longer motivated to do anything with tumbling. But I am very lucky that I had such supportive coaches and teammates. They would constantly cheer me on and give me new ways to look at how to conquer and new skill. Right after learning the backhand-spring everything after that was a piece of cake.

Here is a link to a tribute of Jewel

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=

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And here is a link of Wr4th at Summit, sorry its kinda terrible in the beginning but it gets better as soon as we start.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sj390V8peHk

[shazel7-blog]

Hello fellow cheerleader! It’s nice to see I have another cheer sister in the room. I really enjoyed reading your blog, it brought back a lot of fond memories from my high school cheer years. While reading your blog i could imagine what was going through your head, that means it was well put together. And i agree back handsprings were tough to get. 

[gavinlopes97-blog]

About me

My name is Gavin Lopes, i’m an 18 year old college freshman at Grossmont college and Southwestern College studying to eventually become a firefighter. when i’m not at school or at work i’m usually out hiking with my friends or at the range. i’m an avid shooter and take great pride in the sport/hobby, i also like working on cars, and doing anything and everything aquatic. I currently have 2 jobs and my family and I are in the process of moving to our brand new home in lakeside. MY family consists of Me, My Mom, My sted-dad, my sister, and two dogs who I love more than life itself. I was born and raised right here in San Diego however I have always wanted to live in northern Arizona. mainly because of the beautiful views, good state legislature, and my entire family lives either there, texas, or california. 

[shazel7-blog]

Oh my gosh you’re going to be a firefighter?! Me too that’s so cool!!! Have you ever thought about joining a fire explorers program at a station, it’s a really good way to get a leg up in the game. And nice blog excellent wording. 

[shazel7-blog]

[shazel7-blog]

Hello there

               My name is Brenna Burbridge, I’m 18 years old and brand new to Grossmont College as of summer. I just graduated high school, and am diving straight into the shark tank of adulthood and am ready to get a head start on life. About three months ago I decided to move out of my parents’ house and begin my journey.  I’ve always known I wanted to move to San Diego for my profession and I’m so happy I’m finally here. Although my life is drastically different I’ve always had one thing to stay the same, and that’s my love for drawing. Ever since I could remember I’ve been obsessed with art, drawing to be more specific. My guess is that this deep fascination and love for it stems from my dad painting with me creating “masterpieces” when I was small. We would sit in the kitchen almost every night and paint anything we could think of. The whole process of drawing completely fascinated me, transforming an ordinary blank piece of paper into a beautiful creation at the swipe of the hand. I can never be happier than when I’m drawing, I disappear into a land of my own and draw what I see. Nothing can describe my feelings or personality better than my art can. While I was reading these articles by Dweck and Briseno I was actually thinking about my artwork. It actually reminded me of what my fifth grade art teacher would always tell us, “There is no such thing as a mistake in art, just create something new.” This is sort of the message I got from these two articles. If you have a closed mindset, you’ll always end up crumbling up a paper you don’t like and never advancing you skills. Although, if you use a growth mindset the only way your skill level will go is up! I wasn’t always the best drawer, I went through my phases. From the people who looked like power puff girls, to the giant headed people, to the scary attempts at realistic people. No matter how awful the art was though, my parents always acknowledged my time an effort I spent on the pieces. I don’t remember them saying too many times that I was the best at it or how ‘amazing’ of an artist I was, but how to make it better.  Even now I continue to practice this skill because you can always get better, as long as you never give up. You could be the next Van Go but you would never know if you gave up trying to draw a stick figure. Nobody is instantly good at something, it takes time effort and failure to become great.

https://www.pinterest.com/search/pins/?rs=ac&len=2&q=drawings&etslf=7132&eq=drawings&term_meta[]=drawings%7Cautocomplete%7C

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