Essay Sample on Mindsets and Learning

Introduction

A growth mindset is a person's belief or attitude that his or her intelligence, abilities and creativity can be developed or changed through effort, persistence and good teaching. Conversely, a fixed mindset is the belief that one's intelligence, abilities, and creativity are static. The quote "Nothing is impossible, the word itself says "I'm Possible'" by Audrey Hepburn is a representation of growth mindset. In particular, the quote insists that "impossible" is only identification for the things a person does not know how to do yet. Through resilience and effort, then one can know how to do those things and become successful.

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The videos and class presentations on mindset have been resourceful and beneficial to me. In particular, they have equipped me with knowledge of the two forms of mindsets that people can have. In addition, they have taught me how these mindsets can hinder or promote my academic performance. Based on this knowledge, I relate to the growth mindset the most when it comes to my classes and academic experiences. The growth mindset helps me to create learning goals that strive to improve my mastery and competence in class. Likewise, through this mindset, I understand that the scores in my tests are just a reflection of how I am performing now, not a measure of my academic potential. In addition, this mindset teaches me that through effort and hard work, my abilities and performance can improve.

I achieve the learning goals that I set through a unique approach to learning. In particular, I embrace a deep approach to learning where I strive to attain an understanding that enables me to use and reuse the information I acquire in school in various situations. Mostly, I develop an intrinsic curiosity in the courses in which I have enrolled. Then, I always attempt to learn the background knowledge for a sound foundation in the courses and strive to understand the material for myself and not just to pass the tests. Similarly, in this approach, I always try to relate ideas to my previous knowledge and experiences, which helps me to analyze the logic of arguments in class and in my group discussions. Undeniably, this approach has helped me achieve some learning successes at Stony Brook University. For example, by knowing how to apply the knowledge I acquire in class, group work and individual research, I have succeeded to maintain a record of zero plagiarism in all my assignments. In addition, I have managed to remain an A student since my first semester at the University.

Nevertheless, I have encountered various challenges while at the University. For instance, feeling overwhelmed with school life has been a major challenge. However, in an attempt to overcome this feeling, I have learned to manage my time well to ensure I allocate sufficient time to my classwork, recreation, and social life. In addition, I experienced challenges in adjusting to a new learning environment. Nevertheless, I had to embrace adversity and focus on adapting to the University.

Conclusion

Notwithstanding, I still have some challenges understanding some topics in my classes. For example, the fictional analysis and World literature are topics that I am yet to understand yet. However, I can improve in these topics by putting additional effort and seeking help. In particular, the kind of help I need to make these improvements include remedial classes. I can take the remedial classes with my instructor or a student who is conversant in these topics. Overall, I believe in my abilities to learn anything, which will help me overcome these and other learning challenges that I may encounter.