FINAL REFLECTIONS

Memo

To: Jennifer Godeeva

From: Precious McCoy

Projects and Process

This Year in my composition I coarse we had three major projects. The first major project was a This I believe essay, in which we had to talk about a core belief that we lived by. The second project was a rhetorical advertisement analysis, where we selected an ad then asserted whether the advertisement was effective. Lastly, we wrote an exploratory essay about growth mindset and fixed mind where we learned the difference between each type of mindset, determined which mindset we identified as.

My This I Believe essay was about guarding your energy from draining people which I titled, “Beware of Energy Vampires”. I selected this topic as my core belief because it is extremely important to me who and where I expend my energy out to. Throughout this essay I recounted the events in my life that engrained this belief very being. This Essay was special to me because it involved my grandmother who has been an essential pillar in my current strides towards success even after her departure.

My second composition I project was a rhetorical advertisement analysis. This project was a bit more challenging than project one for sure. The ad analysis proved to be more difficult because of the style of writing required to complete this project. In this assignment I selected a Huron Healthcare ad where we had to discuss ethos, pathos, and logos. These concepts were completely foreign to me at the start of the assignment which is why it was more challenging when we began the assignment. But as we began to learn the meanings of the three Latin terms ethos, pathos, and logos I soon realized these are things we unconsciously deal with on a daily basis.

 My third and final composition I writing assignment was an exploratory essay. This assignment by far was the most difficult of all. In this assignment we were assigned the task of examining the meanings of growth mindset and fixed mindset. We also did a MindTap assessment where we identified the type of mind we had. The thing that made this assignment more difficult to me was that we had to use syntax, and the type of quoting styles required.

Learning Outcomes

This semester I have learned how to address different audiences appropriately threw my flexible writing strategies. I have exhibited these skills throughout this year in various assignments, from distinguishing  target audience’s, to integrating reference resources directly into my writing, syntax, and proper citation methods.

We began this journey with our first project which was to write a  , This I Believe Essay. During  this Project 1 read over a dozen, This I Believe essays. The reading and analyzing of other writers’ essays helped me to further understand exactly what the instructor was wanting from me when submitting this course work. During this project I was assigned the task of selecting from multiple essays 3 this I Believe essays and summarizing the belief and its importance to the writer and how the writer incorporated this belief. For example, one of the articles I selected was I Believe in Barbeque. The was a essay which incorporated their belief and its importance of how they felt food BBQ in particularly helped to heel the word in times of turmoil by gathering people through their likeness for these foods. These essays that I read helped me to properly compose my body of writing. Further demonstrating my ability to use reading and writing for inquiry ,thinking, and learning.

In project one we also engaged in peer reviews where my writing was reed by 2  of my classmates. My peers were then required to respond with a grow directive( which highlighted and area of expansion), a glow directive( which high lighted a feature that you liked within the writing), and a Need to know ( this portion featured a part where the peer discussed something within your writing that was potentially missing from the body of work and or lacking.) We then submitted a rough draft of this essay with the changes suggested by the peer who reviewed your work. I then received further instructions from our instructor of changes that would improve my projects readability. These writing processes taught me a lot more about using collaborative processes. Before conducting these types of writing processes, I was completely oblivious to things such as tone, flow, and writing structures. But now that I’ve learned about these typos, I pay much more attention to these details and concentrate on the organization of my writing. Most often I need a reader to serve as a second pair of fresh eyes to catch any mistakes I might have missed.

My project 3 was a rhetorical advertisement analysis. This project was different than any writing assignment that I had ever be assigned. I had to select an advertisement from this century to analyze. I selected a Huron Health care advertisement. Once I selected my advertisement, I then had to discuss the primary targeted audience of this advertisement. Which their audience happened to be upper management health care professionals. This project taught me lots about how to respond to different rhetorical situations .

I also did a Birthday card assignment where I had to create a card suitable for a 7-year-old little girl. This assignment taught me to analyze the audience of my writings as well as the purposes of my writing for various targeted readers.

I was assigned an exploratory essay this was an interesting assignment I had to discuss growth mindset and fixed mindset. I learned to integrate original ideas with those of others. An example of this is, Stanford psychologist Carol Dweck conducted a study  which exposed first year college students to online research that explained, “ that intelligence isn’t a static trait or the luck of the draw but can grow through hard work. ( UA -PTC , Composition Mix , Conquering the Freshman Fear of Failure, page 472)”.

I also performed the task of Demonstrating knowledge of structure, paragraphing, tone, mechanics, syntax, grammar, and documentation inside of my exploratory essay. I examined the mental processes of people who have growth mindsets and discovered the meaning of false growth mindset and fixed mindset. I also had to reorganize my exploratory essay 2 – 3 times to ensure that the paragraphing tone and mechanics flowed smoothly. After submitting my rough draft, I then had to reread and edit my writing for grammar errors, and proper syntax throughout.

Strengths and Challenges

I honestly was most challenged because of my time management issues, as a full-time caretaker of my mom, being a single mother of 3, and working I often had troubles meeting deadlines because I would be spreading myself to thin in one form or another. I also struggled with uploading documents often throughout this year. I had to get my head charge nurse to assist me in uploading documents and even sometimes putting documents in proper formats that were request by the instructor. I feel that my strengths throughout this course was being able to complete the word count requirement with no problems when it comes to running out of talking points.

Overall Benefit

I came into this course with the ideal that this would be one of my easier classes I was mistak. I like writing; I always journal as it seems to come natural to me. I believe I benefited from this course because it challenged me to go beyond the normal surface level generalized tones of how I normally would write. I also learned there are many forms of writing it makes me curious about what’s in store for comp II.

 

               

 

 

 

Memo

To: Jennifer Godeeva

From: Precious McCoy

Projects and Process

This Year in my composition I coarse we had three major projects. The first major project was a This I believe essay, in which we had to talk about a core belief that we lived by. The second project was a rhetorical advertisement analysis, where we selected an ad then asserted whether the advertisement was effective. Lastly, we wrote an exploratory essay about growth mindset and fixed mind where we learned the difference between each type of mindset, determined which mindset we identified as.

My This I Believe essay was about guarding your energy from draining people which I titled, “Beware of Energy Vampires”. I selected this topic as my core belief because it is extremely important to me who and where I expend my energy out to. Throughout this essay I recounted the events in my life that engrained this belief very being. This Essay was special to me because it involved my grandmother who has been an essential pillar in my current strides towards success even after her departure.

My second composition I project was a rhetorical advertisement analysis. This project was a bit more challenging than project one for sure. The ad analysis proved to be more difficult because of the style of writing required to complete this project. In this assignment I selected a Huron Healthcare ad where we had to discuss ethos, pathos, and logos. These concepts were completely foreign to me at the start of the assignment which is why it was more challenging when we began the assignment. But as we began to learn the meanings of the three Latin terms ethos, pathos, and logos I soon realized these are things we unconsciously deal with on a daily basis.

 My third and final composition I writing assignment was an exploratory essay. This assignment by far was the most difficult of all. In this assignment we were assigned the task of examining the meanings of growth mindset and fixed mindset. We also did a MindTap assessment where we identified the type of mind we had. The thing that made this assignment more difficult to me was that we had to use syntax, and the type of quoting styles required.

Learning Outcomes

This semester I have learned how to address different audiences appropriately threw my flexible writing strategies. I have exhibited these skills throughout this year in various assignments, from distinguishing  target audience’s, to integrating reference resources directly into my writing, syntax, and proper citation methods.

We began this journey with our first project which was to write a  , This I Believe Essay. During  this Project 1 read over a dozen, This I Believe essays. The reading and analyzing of other writers’ essays helped me to further understand exactly what the instructor was wanting from me when submitting this course work. During this project I was assigned the task of selecting from multiple essays 3 this I Believe essays and summarizing the belief and its importance to the writer and how the writer incorporated this belief. For example, one of the articles I selected was I Believe in Barbeque. The was a essay which incorporated their belief and its importance of how they felt food BBQ in particularly helped to heel the word in times of turmoil by gathering people through their likeness for these foods. These essays that I read helped me to properly compose my body of writing. Further demonstrating my ability to use reading and writing for inquiry ,thinking, and learning.

In project one we also engaged in peer reviews where my writing was reed by 2  of my classmates. My peers were then required to respond with a grow directive( which highlighted and area of expansion), a glow directive( which high lighted a feature that you liked within the writing), and a Need to know ( this portion featured a part where the peer discussed something within your writing that was potentially missing from the body of work and or lacking.) We then submitted a rough draft of this essay with the changes suggested by the peer who reviewed your work. I then received further instructions from our instructor of changes that would improve my projects readability. These writing processes taught me a lot more about using collaborative processes. Before conducting these types of writing processes, I was completely oblivious to things such as tone, flow, and writing structures. But now that I’ve learned about these typos, I pay much more attention to these details and concentrate on the organization of my writing. Most often I need a reader to serve as a second pair of fresh eyes to catch any mistakes I might have missed.

My project 3 was a rhetorical advertisement analysis. This project was different than any writing assignment that I had ever be assigned. I had to select an advertisement from this century to analyze. I selected a Huron Health care advertisement. Once I selected my advertisement, I then had to discuss the primary targeted audience of this advertisement. Which their audience happened to be upper management health care professionals. This project taught me lots about how to respond to different rhetorical situations .

I also did a Birthday card assignment where I had to create a card suitable for a 7-year-old little girl. This assignment taught me to analyze the audience of my writings as well as the purposes of my writing for various targeted readers.

I was assigned an exploratory essay this was an interesting assignment I had to discuss growth mindset and fixed mindset. I learned to integrate original ideas with those of others. An example of this is, Stanford psychologist Carol Dweck conducted a study  which exposed first year college students to online research that explained, “ that intelligence isn’t a static trait or the luck of the draw but can grow through hard work. ( UA -PTC , Composition Mix , Conquering the Freshman Fear of Failure, page 472)”.

I also performed the task of Demonstrating knowledge of structure, paragraphing, tone, mechanics, syntax, grammar, and documentation inside of my exploratory essay. I examined the mental processes of people who have growth mindsets and discovered the meaning of false growth mindset and fixed mindset. I also had to reorganize my exploratory essay 2 – 3 times to ensure that the paragraphing tone and mechanics flowed smoothly. After submitting my rough draft, I then had to reread and edit my writing for grammar errors, and proper syntax throughout.

Strengths and Challenges

I honestly was most challenged because of my time management issues, as a full-time caretaker of my mom, being a single mother of 3,and working I often had troubles meeting deadlines because I would be spreading myself to thin in one form  or another. I also struggled with uploading documents often throughout this year. I had to get my head charge nurse to assist me in uploading documents and even sometimes putting documents in proper formats that were request by the instructor. I feel that my strengths throughout this course was being able to complete the word count requirement with no problems when it comes to running out of talking points.

Overall Benefit

I came into this course with the ideal that this would be one of my easier classes I was  mistaken. I like writing; I always journal as it seems to come natural to me. I believe I benefited from this course because it challenged me to go beyond the normal surface level generalized tones of how I normally would write. I also learned there are many forms of writing it makes me curious about what’s in store for comp II.

 

               

 

 

 

Exploratory Essay

 The last assignment and project 3 in my composition class was to write an exploratory essay about growth mindset or fixed mindset. This was an interesting assignment; we were required to include 5 sources that were provided and a MindTap activity that assessed whether or not we had a growth mindset or a fixed mindset. This was the most challenging assignment of all three projects, but I learned a lot through completing this project. The intended audience for this project was our professor. Other intended audience members include potential readers of our blogs.

Polished Draft

Growth Mindset or Fixed Mindset

Learning is to acquire knowledge through experience, through studying, and or being taught a skill. It is extremely important to expand your mind through knowledge of lessons as well as through scholarship. The brain is a muscle, just as the triceps, biceps, and abdomen. In order to build a muscle, you must exercise the muscle on a continuous basis coupled with feeding the body the proper nourishment to acquire the desired outcome. Well just like the other muscles in the body the brain needs mental stimulation to grow stronger and smarter. There’s an old saying, “what you don’t use you lose”. I believe that statement to be true. It is important to engage your mind in activities such as reading, writing, brain teasers, new languages, learning a new instrument, mathematics, and any an everything else that interests you to strengthen those brain muscles to prevent deterioration.

For our final writing project, we were  assigned an exploratory essay. In this project we were appointed the task of discovering whether we have a growth mindset or fixed mindset. As this school year was coming to a close, I was beginning to lose my enthusiasm that I began my year with, but this assignment piqued my interest. We were to discover our learning mindset through assessment and investigations done in prior studies. Often people think they have a growth mindset simply by default. In this essay we will explore what fixed mind sets are, what growth mind sets are, and how to cultivate a good mental attitude to create the proper mindset for learning. What are the determining factors for growth mindset and fixed mindset? Are there environmental factors that contribute to these mindsets? Does socioeconomics play a role here? Do physiological aspects have a determining role in your mental attitude? How can one engage in different activities to mold the type of growth mindset to attain success?

This term “growth mind set” is a term coined and established by by Stanford psychologist Carol Dweck. She conducted a study which exposed first year college students to online research that explained, “that intelligence isn’t a static trait or the luck of the draw but can grow through hard work. ( UA -PTC , Composition Mix , Conquering the Freshman Fear of Failure, page 472)” . She continues with “ This fear of failure hits poor, minority, and first-generation college students especially hard. ”according to Dr. Carol Dweck. I’ve learned through reading this as Dr. Dweck says  , “ you can grow your brain through hard work.” I’ve found this statement to be true because throughout this year during the times even when I felt the journey ahead was tedious, and sometimes I worried that I had bitten off more than I can chew, and feeling like I had embarked on an impossible task. Despite my initial doubts I kept going  even when I wasn’t sure what the outcome would be. Dr. Dweck elaborates with, “ The view of intelligence that you adopt for yourself shapes your educational experience” in her article, “Even Geniuses Work Hard” , UA – PTC Composition Mix page 474 – 480.

This article really hit home for me because as a first-generation college student, single mom of three, and freshman I have often succumbed to thoughts of being unable to go the distance in attaining my Nursing degree. As a freshman in college the negative patterns of self-doubt, self-sabotage, and uncertainty frequently creep into my mind making my feel isolated and alone on this road.  They say that smarts are inherited through genetics. Some even believe that it’s a stroke of luck, either you have smarts naturally or you weren’t born with superior intellect. Before reading Dr. Dweck’s , “Even Geniuses Work Hard” . I found myself  constantly dealing with the lack of confidence and self-deprecating ideals.

After reading “ Even Geniuses Work Hard” I gained clarity on why my mind drifted towards those thought patterns. Reading this Article also created a since of confidence knowing that I’m not alone in these thought process. Lastly, this article assured me that my success in completing my goal for gaining my degree and getting my nursing licenses was achievable  through hard work and dedication.

We began this project by engaging in a self-assessment Mind tap activity called, “What’s Your Mindset?” This tool helped to determine whether we identified as a person with growth mind set or fixed mindset. Growth mindset is a belief that one can grow their intelligence through hard work and dedication. Alternatively fixed mind set is when a person feels that they have a set group of traits that cannot be changed. My assessment feedback for my current mindset reads as follows: “ you are unsure about whether you can develop your intelligence. You probably care about performing well and you do want to learn, but you may not want to work too hard for it. You may feel a bit discouraged when performing poorly at something causing your anxiety.” This mindset will ultimately hold me back from reaching my fullest potential and excelling throughout my college experience. Through this activity I learned that my fixed mindset, effected not only my frame of mind but also projected into my assignments. I felt this assessment was overall accurate. Sometimes I do get discouraged when I do poorly on an assignment, and sometimes  get anxiety when it comes to assignments that I am unsure of. While the assessment was mostly accurate their was one portion the that was objective, which was the part that said I don’t want to work hard too hard for success. As I am the oldest of three children, I am no stranger to hard work and anything worth having takes hard work and dedication to obtain. While I did not totally agree with this portion of the assessment it did however help me to self-reflect, and examine an identify ways that I can began to engage my mind to cultivate a growth mindset through the rest of my college experience.                                                                                                                            Next, I examined a source from Ted Talks named, “ Risk Taking, Making Mistakes, and Lifelong Learning” by Dr. Kathleen Ciez – Volz. In this video Dr. Kathleen presents the ideal of  what she called, “ Failing Forward.” This to me was a profound outlook she proclaimed that, “ our failures are what help to propel us to success”. This information helped to rewire my brain on how I Looked at the mistakes I’ve made thus far. She ended her speech with an excerpt from a poem called, “ Don’t Give Up” she stated, “success is failure turned inside out the silver tin of clouds of doubt and you can never tell how close you are you may be near when it seems far so stick to the fight, when your hardest hit cause its when things seem the hardest you must not quit.” This poem was extremely impactful on my how I looked at my college experience, no matter how difficult things may seem continue the planned route taking it one step at a time without deterrence, regardless of the times I fall get back up and continue to aim at my targeted goal.

Then, I watched a bonus Video for further research, The title of the video was, “ The Super Mario Effect: Tricking The Brain into Learning More” the guest speaker of the video was engineer Mark Rober. He proclaimed that, “ Focused obsession is about beating the game not about how dumb you might look if you fail.” This is a key point for me because I sometimes get hung up on my failed attempts and begin to think negatively about the education process. But this video in particularly taught me to in the words of Mark, “ Reframe challenges and focus on the cool end goal and taking the fear of failure off the table makes learning easy and it comes more naturally.” I can completely identify with this concept and know it to be true because in classes of my field of study it piques my interest and courses that are for my degree are less interesting it takes way more mental fortitude to get through these classes. After watching this video, I realized that with a simple change in perspective it would shift the very way that I viewed the learning process as it regards failure. This perspective of learning I believe will be very helpful during future experiences as learning is a lifelong process.

In closing, I will quote from a book called the Master key system by Charles F. Haanel . Albert Garrison the chairman of the United States steal corporation said, “ The services of advisors, instructors, and efficiency experts in successful management are indispensable to most business enterprises of magnitude but I deem the recognition and adoption of right principles vastly of more importance.” (You tub audio , Charles F. Haanel, The Master Key System). Mrs. Haanel continued with, “Nature compels us all to move through life, we could not remain stationary however much we wished every right-thinking person wants not merely to move through life like a sound producing obambulating  plant but to develop to improve and to continue the development until the close of physical life.” Throughout this essay I have discussed some key components that can contribute to a person’s educational perspective. The evidence presented here today seems to indicate that its ultimately up to the person, as to how they will navigate their learning experience. Regardless of your background, your race, economic status or anything else one’s will to succeed is determined by that individuals determination. So will it be a journey filled with lifelong growth and learning or one rigidly fixed in set ways that doesn’t produced the desired outcome.

                                                         Works Cited

Ciez - Volz, Kathleen. “Risk Taking, Making Mistakes, and Life long Learning .” TED.  TED. Oct. 2014, www.ted.com/talks/kathleen_ciez volz_risk taking  making  mistakes  and  lifelong learning . Accessed 8 Nov. 2021.

Dweck, Carol. “Even Geniuses Work Hard,” UA-PTC Composition Mix. Norton, 2020. pg. 474-480.

Haanel F. Charles. “ The Master Key System” YOUTUBE. TUBE June 2017 www.youtube.com/watch?v=g4AatpyYea0&t=4140s accessed Jan.2021

Kirp, David. ”Conquering the Freshman Fear of Failure,” New York Times. 20 Aug. 2016,  https://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/21/opinion/sunday/conquering-the-freshman-fear-of-failure.html. Accessed 8 Nov. 2021

 

Rober, Mark. “The Super Mario Effect – Tricking Your Brain into Learning.” TED.  TED. May. 2018, www.ted.com/talks/mark_rober_the_super_mario_effect_. Accessed 14 Nov. 2021.

Ciez - Volz, Kathleen. “Risk Taking, Making Mistakes, and Life long Learning .” TED.  TED. Oct. 2014, www.ted.com/talks/kathleen_ciez volz_risk taking  making  mistakes  and  lifelong learning . Accessed 8 Nov. 2021.

 

“What’s My Mindset?” — a tool. Accessed 11/6/2021

 

“You Can Grow Your Brain.” Composition I, Instructor Jennifer Atkins-Gordeeva, Fall 2021, UA-PTC. Handout.                                                                                                                                                            

               Next, I will include instructor feedback of my rough draft. This feedback was very informative and helped me to communicate my ideals more smoothly. This information was also critical to the revision of my paper, and important in helping me clarify a more concise message to my audience.  

                                              Feedback to Learner

12/1/21 8:25 AM

This is a good rough draft, but it does not meet the minimum requirements of the assignment yet. You have done a wonderful job of showing where your voice begins and others end, but you need to work on organization, sentence boundaries, word choice, and capitalization. In some places, the sentences are not clear and I think you did not even read it aloud after you wrote it. The reference page does not meet the requirements of the assignment. I have made comments throughout to help you. Make changes, polish this, then read out loud before you submit it again. Since I am not giving you credit for this draft, and since it is a strong rough draft, I am giving you credit for the rough draft instead. 

 Next, I will insert some of my invention techniques that helped me to compose my writing and final draft for this exploratory essay. The technique show below comes from a summary and response packet. These invention techniques helped me to generate ideas on how I structured my paragraphs.

I will now include a second writing technique that also served as a form of pre-writing. The was assigned as an optional task. This pre- writing invention technique was two paragraphs, it included the required percolated question for this style of essay.

Precious McCoy

11/ 19/2022

Optional assignment

Project 3

Introduction paragraphs and Percolating Question

Learning is to acquire knowledge through experience, through studying, and or being taught a skill. It is extremely important to expand your mind through knowledge of lessons as well as through scholarship. The brain is a muscle, just as the triceps, biceps, and abdominal. In order to build a muscle you must exercise the muscle on a continuous basis coupled with feeding the body the proper nourishment to acquire the desired outcome. Well just like the other muscles in the body the brain needs mental stimulation to grow stronger and sharper. There’s an old saying, “ what you don’t use you lose” I believe that statement to be true. It is important to engage your mind in things such as reading, writing, brain teasers, new languages, learning a new instrument, mathematics, and any an everything else that interests you to strengthen those brain muscles.

This third writing project is one of interest for me, we are having to discover whether we have a growth mindset or fixed mindset.  Often times people think they have a growth mindset simply by default. But this essay will explore what fixed mind sets are, what growth mind sets are, and how to cultivate a good mental attitude to create the proper mindset for learning. What are the determining factors for growth mindset and fixed mindset? Are there environmental factors that contribute to these mindset? Does socioeconomics play a role here? Does physiological aspects have a determining role in your mental attitude? How can one engage in different activities to mold the type of growth mindset to attain success?  

                                        Lastly, I will insert a copy of my rough draft below. The feedback I received from my instructor was duly noted. I applied these critics throughout my entire project. From grammatical errors to sentence structure, run - on sentences, organization of this essay, capitalization, and much more.

                Learning is to acquire knowledge through experience, through studying, and or being taught a skill. It is extremely important to expand your mind through knowledge of lessons as well as through scholarship. The brain is a muscle, just as the triceps, biceps, and abdominal. In order to build a muscle you must exercise the muscle on a continuous basis coupled with feeding the body the proper nourishment to acquire the desired outcome. Well just like the other muscles in the body the brain needs mental stimulation to grow stronger and sharper. There’s an old saying, “ what you don’t use you lose” I believe that statement to be true. It is important to engage your mind in things such as reading, writing, brain teasers, new languages, learning a new instrument, mathematics, and any an everything else that interests you to strengthen those brain muscles. This third writing project is one of interest for me, we are having to discover whether we have a growth mindset or fixed mindset. Often times people think they have a growth mindset simply by default. But this essay will explore what fixed mind sets are, what growth mind sets are, and how to cultivate a good mental attitude to create the proper mindset for learning. What are the determining factors for growth mindset and fixed mindset? Are there environmental factors that contribute to these mindset? Does socioeconomics play a role here? Does physiological aspects have a determining role in your mental attitude? How can one engage in different activities to mold the type of growth mindset to attain success? We began this project by engaging in a self assessment Mind tap activity called, “What’s Your Mindset?” This tool helped to determine whether or not we identified as a person with growth mind set or fixed mindset. My assessment feedback for my current mindset reads as follows: “ you are unsure about whether you can develop your intelligence. You probably care about performing well and you do want to learn, but you may not want to work too hard for it. You may feel a bit discouraged when performing poorly at something causing your anxiety.” This mindset will ultimately hold be back from reaching my fullest potential and excelling throughout my college experience. Through this activity I learned that my Mental attitude effected not only from my frame of mind but also projected into my assignments. I felt this assessment was overall pretty accurate, I do often get discouraged when I do poorly on things, I also get anxiety when it comes to assignments that I am unsure of. This assessment did help my to self reflect, identified ways that I can began to engage my mind to cultivate a growth mindset through the rest of my college experience. As a first generation college students, single mom of three, and freshman I have often succumb to thoughts of being unable to go the distance in attaining my Nursing degree. As a freshman in college the negative patterns of self-doubt, self-sabotage and uncertainty frequently creep into my mind making my feel isolated and alone on this road. They say that smarts are inherited through genetics. Some even believe that it’s a stroke of luck, either you have smarts naturally or you weren’t born with superior intellect. Before reading “ Conquering The Freshman Fear of Failure” By David L. Kirp I too was under the impression that I was dealing with the lack of confidence and self deprecating ideals. The coined term growth mind set established by Stanford psychologist Dr. Carol Dweck examined, She conducted a study in which she exposed first year college students to online research that explained, “ that intelligence isn’t a static trait or the luck of the draw, but can grow through hard work. ( UA -PTC , Composition Mix , Conquering the Freshman Fear of Failure, page 472)” . She continues with “ This fear of failure hits poor, minority, and first generation college students especially hard.” According to Dr. Carol Dweck. After reading “Conquering The Freshman Fear of Failure’’ , I realized that Im not alone in my negative self talk through my college journey. I’ve Learned through reading this piece that , “ you can grow your brain through hard work.” Says Dr Dweck. I believe this statement to be true because throughout this year during the times even when I felt the journey ahead was tedious, and sometimes worried that I had bitten off more than I can chew I felt like I had embarked on an impossible task, I kept going even when I wasn’t sure what the outcome would be. Dr. Dweck elaborates with, “ The view of intelligence that you adopt for  yourself shapes your educational experience” in her article, “Even Geniuses Work Hard” , UA – PTC Composition Mix page 474 – 480. Next I examined a source from Ted Talks named, “ Risk Taking, Making Mistakes, and Lifelong Learning” by Dr. Kathleen Ciez – Volz. In this video Dr. Kathleen presents the ideal of what she called, “ Failing Forward.” This to me was a profound outlook she proclaimed that our failures are what help to propel us to success. This information helped to rewire my brain on how I Looked at the mistakes I’ve made thus far. She ended her speech with an excerpt from a poem called, “ Don’t Give Up” she stated, “success is failure turned inside out the silver tin of clouds of doubt and you can never tell how close you are you may be near when it seems far stick to the fight we are hard is he is one thing saying the words that you must not quit.” This poem was extremely impactful on my how I looked at my college experience, no matter how difficult Things may seem continue the planned route taking it one step at a time without deterrence, regardless of the times I fall get back up of and re – route to the targeted goal. Lastly I watched a bonus Video for further research, The title of the video was, “ The Super Mario Effect: tricking The Brain into Learning More” this video was also A TEDxPenn video The guest speaker of the video was engineer Mark Rober. Mark proclaimed, “ Focused obsession is about beating the game not about how dumb you might look if you fail.” This a key point for me because I sometimes get hung up on my failed attempts and being to think negatively about the education process. But this video in particularly taught me to in the words of Mark, “ Reframe challenges and focus on the cool end goal and taking the fear of failure off the table makes learning easy and it comes more naturally.” I can completely identify with this concept, and know it to be true because In classes of my field of study it peeks my interest and courses that or for my degree are less interesting it takes way more mental fortitude to get through these classes. After watching this video I realized that with a simple change in perspective, it would shift the very Mccoy 4 way that I viewed the learning process as it regards failure. This perspective of learning I believe will be very helpful during future experiences as learning is a life long process. Throughout this essay I have While there are some factors that can contribute to a persons educational mind state, The evidence presented here today’s seems to indicate that its ultimately up to the person, as to how they will navigate their learning experience. Will it be a journey filled will life long growth or one rigidly fixed in set ways? discussed the different factors that could contribute to a persons mindset as it comes to learning. While there are some factors that can contribute to a persons educational mind state, The evidence presented here today’s seems to indicate that its ultimately up to the person, as to how they will navigate their learning experience. Will it be a journey filled will life long growth or one rigidly fixed in set ways?