After taking the quizzes in Carol Dweck's book, I discovered that I am a mix of the two mindsets, but lean towards a growth mindset. Having a growth mindset means that I believe my intelligence can be developed with persistence and effort (Ricci, 2013). The opposite of this would be a fixed mindset, where one believes that a person is born with the abilities they will have. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay It is no surprise that I am more inclined towards a growth mindset. Thinking back to my childhood, my parents gave me mixed messages about mindset. They believed that most children are born with their own abilities and that there is little room for growth, but they also said that through hard work a person can achieve great things. I remember when I came home with bad grades once in seventh grade, I just chalked it up to being so smart and reaching my potential. My parents didn't support my idea, and although I didn't appreciate it at the time, they made me try harder, redo my work, and encouraged me to ask the teacher for help when I was going through a difficult time. Since then, I have demonstrated a growth mindset in school and in life, working hard for the things I want to achieve and remaining persistent despite the nagging need to give up when things get harder than I'd like. An example of my growth mindset that I saw manifest in life was in most of my math classes in high school and college. I noticed that each of these teachers had different teaching styles, and after adapting to one of their styles, I struggled a bit at the beginning of each new semester to learn from a new teacher. Even though part of me wanted to blame the inconsistent methods of the math teachers, I noticed that even though I struggled at the start of each new semester, I still got a good grade at the end of the semester. So instead of blaming teachers for my short-term difficulty, I encouraged myself to keep trying, to pay close attention to what the teacher I learn well from does, and to do the tasks regardless of whether I found them easy or difficult . This ties into week 2 schema attribution theory. People with a fixed mindset tend to blame their shortcomings on internal factors such as intelligence and external factors such as a teacher who doesn't have a good style. People with a growth mindset look at behavioral factors and understand that they may need to change to achieve the desired outcome. Please note: this is just an example. Get a custom paper from our expert writers now. Get a Custom Essay While I believe I have more of a growth mindset, I see that I have remnants of a fixed mindset. I hope that, through the effort to maintain and grow a growth mindset, my fixed mindset does not “return” to its place, as Ricci says (Ricci, Mindsets in the Clasrrom, 2013). I also believe that these readings have been useful both for my personal reflection and for my future as a teacher.