Throughout our first unit in maker we’ve learned about growth mindsets. A growth mindset is a better way of thinking, it’s a way to see mistakes as improvement, and it’s a way to challenge yourself.

We began the unit by learning about grit and effort. We started watching a funny video called “Timo the cat and his hammock.” The purpose of watching this video was to see how Timo has a growth mindset. Although he kept falling off the hammock he never gave up and in the end he happily rested on his hammock.

We also took a quiz measuring our grit. The quiz contained scenarios where you had to rate the level of similarity you had to it. I scored a 4.08/5 for my grit which I thought was a good starting point for the unit. Click here to view my quiz

The next few lessons were about comparing the differences between a growth mindset and a fixed mindset. One lesson that stood out to me was one where we had to make a chart comparing what we had a fixed mindset about and what we had a growth mindset about. At first the whole class was confused and didn’t really understand how to make it. After asking around the class we started to understand what we had to do. It was difficult for me to think of things I had a fixed mindset about because I tend to ignore them. When we finished the chart we had to pick one thing we had a fixed mindset about and reflect on why we have it and how we can change it. The last part required that we picked a quote that described our fixed mindset and to give detail on why we chose it.

The next section had three main parts to it. Failure, success, and time. For each one we were shown a video talking about what qualities each of the subjects have. My favourite video was the one about failure made by Derek Sivers. I liked how he related everything he talked about to a real life situation he’s had. It made everything make so much more sense and it made me start to make connections to my own life.

For the video we had to make sketchnotes, however I find sketching difficult so I took regular notes on pages then created the sketches at home. I mentioned the things that stood our to me the most.

At the end of the unit we had to use all of our knowledge in a project. We had to use a picture of ourselves and choose an academic goal for the year. We started by brainstorming goals we could use. For my brainstorming I made a web with goals for each subject. I decided to go with the idea of challenging myself in work unlike before. I went back and forth with ways to word the goal. One day in class we had peeers critique the wording and that’s when I got it. Taylor had the idea to make mine more detailed by adding “in independent assignments and projects,” but didn’t know how to end it. I then came up with “I will push myself when given independent projects and assignments by always looking for a more challenging way to complete them.” The images below are the critique and revision that happened on showbie. Read from the bottom up 🙂

The next stage required picking a photo. Luckily for me in the summer my friend Sage and I went around Deep Cove taking pictures. She had just bought a camera and was really into photography so I went around posing and it was actually really fun. Not to mention she got some great shots. So when I heard we had to have a nice picture of ourselves I asked her if I could get the pictures. I had a lot to choose from but settled for one that had a good place for text.

After everyone had an image we began our drafts. I went through several drafts adjusting the font and the position of the text.

This unit taught me a lot and opened my eyes to areas where I have been displaying a fixed mindset. Now I will endeavour to have a growth mindset not only in my learning but in my day-to-day life too.