Growth Mindset

Carol Dweck's idea of a growth mindset is an important one in today's scholastic landscape. When I was in middle school, I had little to nothing to do as the curriculum was in no way challenging as the school was the old high school and it was a big time of transition for our school district with fewer teachers and a hour after lunch for "studying." Because of this, I went into high school with no preparation as my time-management skills were lacking tremendously leading to a much harder than necessary first semester. The whole time I was going through this I was wondering how different things would have been had I been pushed harder in my three years of middle school. The idea of the "Not Yet," that Dweck proposed for grading would be a perfect balance to pushing students to maximize their learning. The "Not Yet," grade would not crush students but encourage them to work harder through the more difficult curriculum.

My old middle school - Alton Middle School