Hello my Socratica Friends! We’re here to help you be a Great Student. Today we’ll talk about a surprising truth: it’s possible to be a Great Student even in the midst of failure.
Unless you spend your whole life on the Bunny Slopes, setting games to Easy Mode, refusing to stretch yourself in any way - you’re GOING to experience failure pretty regularly. Failing is not really FAILING. It’s actually a very common occurrence when you learn how to do anything!
It’s how you HANDLE failure that matters. Picture two kids, both learning how to ride a bicycle for the first time. They both WILL fall down.
It’s inevitable. It’s gravity! But one of them immediately gives up and runs home crying about how unfair it all is.
The other one gets back on the bike, and pretty soon she’s riding all over the neighborhood, visiting the park, going on adventures with her friends. Both of these kids experienced failure. They both have the skinned knees to prove it.
But only one of them allowed this experience with failure to be the end of their bike-riding career. The other one LEARNED from her failure and grew from it. Which kid would you like to be?
The one who takes the easy way out and has to ask their parents for rides everywhere? Or the kid who has earned an extra degree of freedom because she worked for it? You may argue that one kid is just naturally better at bike-riding.
This may be true, maybe one of them has a better innate sense of balance, or their center of gravity is lower or something. That doesn’t mean that they both don’t have room to improve. This is the key idea behind the “Growth Mindset.
” Stanford researcher Carol Dweck coined the terms “growth mindset” and “fixed mindset” to describe how people saw learning potential. If you believe that you have the potential to get better through effort, you will put in that extra work, which will lead to better performance. Hence the “growth mindset.
” If, on the other hand, you think that everyone has a fixed potential, and you’re never going to be able to get better than that ceiling, you think it would be a waste of time to keep trying. That’s the “fixed mindset. ” The problem with the fixed mindset is - how do you KNOW what your ceiling is, if you give up so easily?
Aren’t you just settling for something lukewarm, because you don’t like that uncomfortable feeling of working at something you’re not good at. . .
. yet? In Dweck’s research, she and her colleagues found that the most effective learning environment was one that had high expectations for students, combined with support.
Their studies showed that even when you start with students all at a similar prior achievement level, those that were taught in a way that fostered the growth mindset had markedly improved grades. This involved the teachers clearly articulating the message that intelligence could be developed, just like how a muscle gets stronger with training. Effective support was an important part of this equation.
It’s not enough for teachers to say to their students that they set high standards. It’s essential that students also believe that their instructors will be there to teach good strategies for success, to help them become better students. Speaking of support, did you know you can support Socratica on Patreon?
Let’s use our GROWTH MINDSET and bring in more funds so we can make more great videos for you! Now we know, Socratica Friends, that not all of your teachers are prioritizing the Growth Mindset. This is PROBABLY not their choice.
Many schools are struggling with poorly managed resources and not enough hours in the day. That doesn’t mean that YOU can’t choose to have a growth mindset as a student on your own volition. Let’s talk about ways you can make that happen.
First and foremost, stop comparing yourself with anyone else. I know that can be challenging, especially if you’re in a school that grades on the curve (WEIRD). It honestly doesn’t matter if you think someone else is inherently smarter or more talented.
From now on, the only person you’re competing with is: YOURSELF. How well did you do last week. Resolve to do better this week!
This is your new measuring stick. Decide for yourself what sort of goal would be a good stretch of your abilities. Careful not to pick an outcome which may not be completely in your control.
Instead, set a goal that is purely determined by your effort. For instance, if you typically study 30 minutes a day, set a goal for next week that you will study one hour a day. This is something that you can achieve, if you put in the effort, compared with the nebulous goal of “get better grades.
” There’s another study done by Carol Dweck in collaboration with Claudia Mueller, that showed that the kind of praise teachers gave students could sway whether they adopted a growth mindset or a fixed mindset. When students were praised for their intelligence, they tended to respond by assuming that identity - either they WERE a smart kid, or they weren’t. However, if they were praised for their hard work and developing their study skills, that fostered a growth mindset.
So think of a treat you might give yourself as reward for developing your study habits. If you spend a week meeting your study goals, you give yourself a little present. It could be as simple as a gold star in your planner.
If you’ve never received explicit instructions in HOW to learn - well, I’m not too surprised. That’s why we’re making this series here at Socratica. We suggest you choose one video a week, and take that week to incorporate that specific skill into your study habits.
If you don’t think a certain study tip helps, that’s okay. We hope you will try a variety of techniques, and find what works best for YOU. One of our very favourite study techniques is PRETESTING.
This will teach you to learn to LOVE mistakes. Here’s how: When studying for a test, use a practice test to figure out what you DON’T know - and only study that! If you didn’t take a pretest, and make yourself aware of all your mistakes, you’d have to spend WAY more time studying.
This way you won’t waste your time studying everything equally. Here’s how to really use failure to grow - Take it one step further and follow up your mistakes every day. Figure out why you got that problem wrong on your homework.
Share your mistakes with your friends, and what you learned from them. I want to share with you a quote from one of our favourite writers here at Socratica, Neil Gaiman. He wants you to know: he doesn’t write his excellent books in final form on the first try.
Rather, he tries, fails, tries some more, learns from his mistakes, and finally, makes something beautiful. ““I hope that in this year to come, you make mistakes. Because if you are making mistakes, then you are making new things, trying new things, learning, living, pushing yourself, changing yourself, changing your world.
” Neil Gaiman Some teachers just don’t know how to respond to students who are struggling in school, and they seem to play favourites with the students who do well. Now’s your chance to give YOURSELF the extra attention you really needed. Whenever you find yourself stuck on a problem, or struggling with a concept, step back and take a minute to recognize what’s happening here.
This is the moment when your intellect is growing. Be proud of yourself. It’s just like lifting weights at the gym.
There’s not much point in lifting weights that are easy for you, right? If you want to get bigger and stronger, you have to keep putting on more weight until it’s pretty hard. And don’t be afraid to ask for help.
Even bodybuilders know - you should use a spotter. Seeking out challenges, pushing yourself past your preconceived limits - it’s all part of being a GREAT STUDENT. Socratica Friends, we literally WROTE THE BOOK on "How to Be a Great Student.
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