Art and the Growth Mindset

"Ms. D, that's too hard!" "I can't do it like you" "I'll never be good at art!"

These are definitely not all of the "fixed mindset" phrases that I hear in a day in my art classroom but they are the ones that I will always remember . Each time it breaks my heart as I try to find the words to encourage my students to continue their work and techniques that I teach them all year long. Unfortunately, in an ideal world, I can encourage ALL students and show them that mistakes are life's way of saying "you're on the right track, you're just not there yet".

As I sat one summer afternoon, enjoying my summer vacation as all teachers do, with my coffee in hand and light music playing in the background, I can hear my two dogs dreaming on the couch. This is not to say that I don't enjoy learning all year long. Summer is my time to recharge, research and review all of the ways that I can improve for the following school year. Research has become a sort of friend/foe since graduate school.

Research does one of two things for me..either it stifles my thought process and I have to take a break, eventually losing interest in the subject or it does the opposite. I love watching TedTalks because they not only are informative but they always seem to spark ideas that I can tend to obsess over and eventually demonstrate in life and in the classroom.  On this particular day, I watched a TedTalk by "Grow Mindset" guru, Carol Dweck. For years, she has been studying in various school settings around the country on how retraining the mind to have a "growth mindset" approach in learning as well as teaching styles can help students not only make the passing grade, but also teach them life long skills in how they deal with success and failure as adults. I'd like to begin my record of my "Adventures in Teaching Growth Mindset"! Experiment time, here we go!

Here is Carol Dweck's TedTalk:
https://www.ted.com/talks/carol_dweck_the_power_of_believing_that_you_can_improve

Her book: Mindset: The new psychology of success, 2007

Stop Taking Selfies and Take Action

For the love of all things Holy, please stop taking selfies and take action.

You're beautiful/handsome and 2017 will be your year.

You don't need likes and shares to know that. You should know that in your heart and above all, know it in your mind.

Selfies aren't reassuring, they're fleeting. Just look at everyone's SnapChat accounts.

Now don't get me wrong, I've taken the proverbial seflies or 100 but don't fall into that downward spiral. Wake and smell the actual roses people.

There's so much hatred and greed out there and all everyone wants to talk about is how many likes they got on their photos??? WTF.

Fight it.

Fight the urge to put your face out there to be judged. Ask yourself before you post anything, would you want your parents/children/spouse/future spouse/future children to see what you think is important in such a tumultuous time??

We are wondering why we are in the state that we're in and it's because we value how much 'unknown' people who like/share the shit that we post. Share your opinion about current events once in a while and see how many likes/shares that you get. Compare the likes/shares you get on your selfies to how many you get on your opinions. There will be a difference.

Pass the time with things that matter in 2017.

https://news.artnet.com/art-world/heres-artists-say-future-america-donald-trump-741710