Growth Mindset Response

I had never heard of Carol Dweck or growth mindset before, or at least not referred to as such. I have seen some of the ideas she spoke about in the video before, mostly on Tumblr post where people talked about how always being praised as the "smart kid" growing up for getting good grades had made them unable to deal with difficult classes when they were older, and caused them to view their own intelligence and self worth as being dependant on getting good grades. They talked about how they wished they had been working hard rather than doing well. I can really relate to a lot of these experiences. The first time I had a class that didn't come easily to me was when I took a college level chemistry class in high school. I cried at almost every homework assignment and test and spent the entire school year thinking that I had somehow lost whatever it was that made me smart. As far as academics go, I still have a pretty fixed mindset, although I've been trying to change that. I would say I have more of a growth mindset when it comes to music. I played the trombone all through middle and high school, and I always found songs with super easy base lines to be mind-numbingly dull. I went to almost every honor band audition and solo competition offered in the area, and those required playing pieces that were much more challenging than anything we ever played in class. I won't  say I never got frustrated with these more difficult  pieces, because that would be a lie, but I always persevered through them and was proud and excited by my improvement when I could play them well.

                                         
                                                         (Drawing by Bryan Mathers)