Caption from Carol Dweck, Mindset: The New Psychology of Success (2007) Photograph from Cheezburger.com
My growth mindset often varies between subjects. Those to which I have a natural inclination (literature, political science, and mathematics) are those in which I have the most hope for improved knowledge. When it comes to those from which I'm disinclined (science, engineering, some business subjects), I consider myself as having little ability to improve and only the ability to memorize what's needed to pass.
The most difficult part of learning a relatively difficult subject is breaking through those early barriers. While I might eventually become better at a subject, the most difficult part is grasping those foundational concepts. Achieving this with difficult subjects can often take so long that I'm forced to juggle more advanced concepts while trying to solidify my more basic knowledge.
Of those classes I'm taking this semester, the ones about which I'm more concerned are those which require heavier memorization, such as marketing and my German language course. Analysis has always been one of my strong-suits, but memorizing numerous terms and then defining them accurately remains difficult.
One of my goals is to find a method with which I can more efficiently spend my time on those subjects that seem difficult now. Doing so in an organized, efficient way would help ensure that I get the basic concepts before having to move onto whatever is built on top of this foundation through the rest of the course. I think that by establishing a firm foundation, I can more easily work on the other, more difficult aspects of the subjects.
Hey Corbin! I took German as my foreign language and loved it, although my family is from Germany so it wasn’t that foreign for me! I agree with you that I sometimes tend to see myself as having a ‘natural inclination’ towards classes and really need to work on exploring how I can improve my attitude towards other classes. I love to organize things, so I may try and find a fun way to organize my studying to make it more enjoyable for all of my classes!
ReplyDeleteSometimes, it can also become difficult to motivate yourself to learn new material. I know that is the case for me. I have to create some kind of reward in order to get myself to learn something that's difficult. I tend to walk away from it and find excuses to not do it if it's difficult to learn.
ReplyDeleteHello Corbin,
ReplyDeleteI think this post is very interesting and relatable. I feel like I am the same way you are when it comes to classes that require a large amount of memorization. I find that these are my hardest classes and I think that is because it is harder to see the practical application of these courses outside of just memorizing terms.