Seminar Reflection

Think of a time in your past that you believe defined you as an individual. (Fixed mindset!) Look at it from a growth mindset point of view. Ask: What did I (or can I) learn from that experience? How can I use it for a basis for growth?

Reflection

A time in my life that I had a fixed mindset was when I was being bullied in elementary school. At the time I felt being short and quite defined me as a person. I felt that I am quiet and there’s nothing I could’ve done to change it. I even started agreeing with my bully and believing that I am weird because I’m so short. My fixed mindset led me to not make friends or get high grades because I preferred to stay quiet than talk to others or participate in class. My teachers would try to encourage me by telling me I am smart. They would ask me to help students understand the topics the way I understood it. But my fear of speaking to others and how they would respond to me stopped me from being able to help my classmates. I also realized I was hurting myself from not talking to the students when I didn’t understand the instructions given.

After I graduated fifth grade and changed schools, I thought I should try being less shy by trying to make friends. I started talking a bit more and participating in school. Looking at this experience now with a growth mindset, I realized I had a terrible fixed mindset because I believed the things that were said to me and preferably would not like to address that. However from my experience I learned to let go of negative things and not believe in them. After this experience I became more of my real self by being less shy and meeting new people. Throughout all my teenage years in middle school and high school, I started getting better grades than in elementary because I didn’t have a problem participating or doing group work.

Now that I have a growth mindset, I realize I wasted time not believing in myself and not putting enough effort into learning as well as others. Many

students experienced participating in front of the whole class which I refused to do back in elementary school. Turns out now I have to and want to do more activities that are related to discussing topics with people/groups. From my experience I learned to not let my height or how “shy” I can be, stop me from achieving anything anybody says I can’t do.