EXP 105 Week 5 Journal Reflecting on Your Mindset.

DOWNLOAD: EXP 105 Week 5 Journal Reflecting on Your Mindset.

Reflecting on Your Mindset [CLO: 4]. Due by Day 3. This week we will be enhancing our understanding of self by exploring the powerful concept of mindset. You will engage in a journal activity to guide your exploration and processing of this concept of mindset. You will be asked to step outside of your comfort zone, dig deep, and be honest with yourself. Keep in mind that there are no right or wrong answers. Therefore you will not be graded on specific content in your journal, just that you took this opportunity to inspire personal thought and ideas.

Prepare: Your mindset is the view you adopt of yourself and whether your abilities, talents, and characteristics can change, or whether they are defined at birth. Critically read the Mindset Summary article. The graphic included in the article provides an illustration of the two types of mindsets – growth and fixed. Watch the interview with psychologist Dr. Carol Dweck, The Growth Mindset, as she introduces the concept of mindset.

Reflect: Using journals fosters learning in many ways. Journal reflections focus on what’s going on inside you. It’s about your own unique emotional journey. Writing a journal entry can be a place to expand your mind by going inside and discovering more about yourself, or in this case forming a deeper personal connection with the course learning content.

Write: Select one prompt below that you most strongly connect with and write your honest reflection in response. Prior to writing your own, click to view the Model Journal Entry. 

• Prompt 1: When do you feel smart? Is it when you’re doing something flawlessly or when you’re learning something new? How can you transform striving, stretching, and struggling into something that makes you feel smart?
• Prompt 2: Do you use feeling bad as a reason for doing nothing? When you feel disappointed, frustrated, cheated, or depressed, do you use this as a reason to stop trying? What steps could you take to help growth mindset thinking overcome your fixed mindset? What could you say to yourself to change your internal talk so that it supports a growth mindset? 
• • Prompt 3: Think of something about yourself you’ve been wanting to change. What is it? Has a fixed mindset prevented you from doing this? Think about it from a growth mindset and explain how you would make this change.
  • Prompt 4: Think of a time you faced an important opportunity or challenge with a fixed mindset. What were your thoughts and worries about your abilities, other people’s judgments, and the possibility of failure? Describe them vividly.
  • Prompt 5: What did your parents do that fostered a fixed or growth mindset in you? Do you praise your children’s intelligence, creativity, or other characteristics to make them feel talented or smart? Think of the last time you did this. How could you have given growth oriented praise instead?