Growth Mindset Project

For two weeks, each student had to learn something new that demonstrated a growth mindset. Over the two week period, I decided to learn how to knit. I wanted to learn how to knit because I think it is interesting to see all the different kinds of thing people are able to knit. Also, it is a new hobby that I gained and it is a fun way to pass time. My growth mindset project impacted me in the way I do math. I've always struggled with math, so doing the growth mindset project at the beginning of the year helped me become more open minded when I am struggling with a problem. I wouldn't say I continued to work on improving my knitting skills, but I did continue knitting. I didn't learn other techniques, I just went with what I started with. I think learning a new technique would've been time consuming since learning even the basics of knitting took me a while and since I had a lot of working to do during junior year, my time was very limited. Doing this project helped me believe in myself when I struggle with a math problem in the beginning and I eventually learn from my mistakes and understanding where I went wrong.

Problem I struggled with

A problem I struggled with was the Cow Problem. In this problem, a farmer had a cow tethered to an outside corner of a 10' x 10' barn with 100' of rope. He only wanted to plant grass in places that the cow could reach, no more and no less. We had to calculate how much square feet of grass the farmer needed to plant. It was easy for me to understand the individual components when solving this problem, but when we had to use everything we've learned altogether, I feel like it was all happening too fast and I wasn't able to fully understand what we did in order to solve it. I understood the process we did leading up to the cow problem but for some reason, when we were finally able to use all the components to solve it, I just couldn't.

Area I enjoyed

An area of math I enjoyed doing this semester was when we switched the math curriculum to lecture style. We would have lecture days and then the next day we would have a work day meaning that we were able to work on the worksheet that was given to us the day before. I thought this curriculum really helped me get a better feel for what college math will feel like since I know it will mainly be lectures. I also liked how we had work days because I was able to get help from my peers if I was confused.

Overall Growth

I have grown this year by creating a close bond with my table mates in math. I sat with them all throughout junior year, and I can tell that we've become good friends and we always help one another when we are working on math problems. I felt most comfortable around them which helped made math class enjoyable. I decided to take Pre-College Algebra in senior year. I chose this course because I feel as if I still need to strengthen my algebra skills first. I'd like to be confident in my algebra skills and if Pre-College Algebra will help me do it, then so be it. In order to be successful in math next year, I will try to take advantage of the resources that are given to me. When we had a senior panel come in and talk to us about their experiences being in Pre-College Algebra and Calculus they all said that the teachers had a bunch of resources that were accessible to students. I want to keep reminding myself of that during senior year, so I know that if I am struggling, there are plenty of resources that I can use.