Mind set

After reading about Carol Dweck and listening to some of her work regarding mindset I became very aware of the way I look at things. The fixed mind set and the growth mind set can be applied to so many different situations. The funny thing is about this class so far is that it always seems like the topics we discuss become relevant in my life. The whole week leading up to class I was struggling with the toddlers I care for. There were so many timeout and I was leaving work frustrated and unhappy at how mad I had gotten throughout the day. But they were misbehaving, didn't I need to be more strict?
It was very clear to see how my week went, going into work with an attitude of being strict and trying to set boundaries because the children don't know any better and must respect me vs when I went into work on Friday ready to take in what was going on with the kids, and why their behavior was bothering me so much and maybe in the end they just needed more focus on different activities instead of being punished for acting out constantly. Friday was no different than the other days this week, I take care of two boys who are under three years old, they have energy and there is always conflict. Monday through Friday I was so set in the way I did everything, they started jumping on the couch and I would say no! they would not stay with me while walking around in the zoo, so I'd lecture them and give them timeout! It was a negative spiral. On Friday it was no different, after breakfast they started running around and jumping on the couch. Instead of getting bothered I played with them for a couple minutes, giving them attention and engaging in a game with them around the couch instead of jumping. After that I encouraged them to go play with the kitchen set because I was "hungry" for pancakes and just like that the jumping stopped. When they wouldn't stay with me while walking I calmly explained why it was important that we stayed together and we moved around more between activities to not give them a chance to get tired and start wondering off. I don't think it was necessarily my actions, although having more activities helped, but looking at the situation differently made me more open to change the way I was doing things.
The other aspect of Carol Dweck's work that made me think was, is it possible to have a fixed mindset about some things and not others?
How do children develop growth mindsets on their own someones? is it by the example of role models around them?

Did you know?

It's interesting to see the numbers and facts appearing on the screen as the music intensifies the message being delivered by this video. Social media has grown so fast and has been spread worldwide.It can be scary to see how fast things are changing and it's easy to feel outdated when technology is constantly moving forward at this fast speed. And during this five minute video 67 babies were born in the US, 274 babies were born in China and 395 babies were born in India...do you know how many times I've seen this video??
This equals to a large amount of babies being born to a world where there are 600 tweets a sec. By the time these kids are my age they will be watching shocking videos like this and thinking that things are moving as fast as they ever have, and they will probably be right.
"The future of learning is shifting from pouring knowledge into individuals' head to enabling them to tune their networks to solve unanticipated problems as they confront them." (Tony O'Driscoll)
I think this quote is fitting with the information provided on this video, mainly because there is so much information available to us all the time, and it's important to know how to sort through this and understand what is and what is not important and how to use the information we are getting in a useful manner.
The main message I got from this video is that I can't stay still, I must move forward with the technology.In the begging of this course I did not have a twitter account, so I decided I will try to tweet. The whole concept of #hashtags is a little foreign to me so I think it's good to step outside my comfort zone and try something new. I never really got the point of tweeting and saying what you think and feel to the world, I was quite ok not sharing my thought in that manner, but it won't hurt to try.
#youliveyoulearn

Daniel Pink - Drive

Motivation, desire to accomplish something, drive!
This is something I've always had plenty of, in the things I want to accomplish that is, on the things I don't care much about my drive is usually in the opposite direction.
While watching Daniel Pink's video all I could think of was "of course!!!" it all made sense that intrinsic motivation leads to more creativity and productivity.I have noticed just watching my own behavior that what motivates me more is usually an intrinsic motive rather than an extrinsic one, such as a monetary reward. Not that money can't motivate me but as I feel like it is on a short term basis and not in the long run.
When it comes to my work life, what motivated me to dedicate myself in the past wasn't how much money I was making, but the impact my work had on the overall picture. How well recognized I am, sure having a bonus here and there feels good at the time. But knowing you are capable and that your work is valuable feels much better for longer.
I see this in children as well. I work with a two-year-old ( kind of human being that is very unpredictable ),  often I am trying to motivate him to do something, such as put his shoes on to go outside or put away his toys. Usually when the motivator is extrinsic and I say if you do this you will get a gummy. Sure he will sometimes do it, sometimes not, it usually turns into a struggle and we both end up frustrated.
But when my patience is at a high and we talk about the importance of doing the task I'm asking of him and I give him time to understand it and complete the task there is no struggle. And I forget about the gummy all together, and so does he.
Intrinsic motivation is harder to find, usually you have to dig a little deeper but the result is worth it, no matter what setting you are in.

Randy Pausch Last Lecture: Achieving Your Childhood Dreams

Wow! This lecture was so inspiring, I had no idea what I was in for. Besides the obvious life outlook inspiration Randy Pousch demonstrates in his lecture, he also is so incredibly positive and encouraging of any dream one would have. I hadn't given much thought lately about my childhood dreams, like Pousch I have achieved some childhood dreams and some I decided I was not going to work towards and that's ok.

As a child my dreams were the following: 

        

1. Be a pediatrician 
2. Be a teacher (I would divide my work week accordingly) 
3. Speak English fluently
4. Be a mom
5. See the golden gate bridge (thank you full house)
6. Live in the US
7. See/ touch snow

Some of these dreams came true after a lot of hard work. I took English lessons after school twice a week for 5 years starting when I was 12. I printed the lyrics to every song I liked and sang it until my American accent was perfect (although, it turns out the Spice girls are not American). When I was 17 I came to the US to be an exchange student and was so lucky to be placed in Santa rosa, flying into SFO which means I saw the golden gate bridge on my first day here, thus fullfilling dream #5. My host family took me to Tahoe which allowed me to fulfill dream # 7 ( I did not realize how cold a human could possibly feel untill this dream came true so I decided the tropical weather suits me better after all). I get very close to fainting every time I see someone's blood (or mine for that matter) which would directly impact dream # 1, but that's alright because my dream of being a teacher (#2) is very close to becoming a reality after having lived in the US for the last 8.5 years fulfilling dream #6. Dream # 4 can wait for the time to be right, but for now Monday through Friday I am like a mother to two little boys and I love (most) the time I spend with them. It's great to spend time with them and be responsible for them with the perks of sleeping at night and being only responsible for myself past 6pm.

Ps: the head fake is: Have passion in what you do and follow your heart's calling and you will love what you do and how you do it.