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Module 2 Reading Log: Dweck & Wallis

Angie Tang

School of Education, Biola University

SEED533: Social Science Pedagogy

Dr. Daniel Honeycutt

January 20, 2023

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Module 2 Reading Log: Dweck & Wallis

Carol Dweck’s theory of growth mindset transforms the way that I think about the

attitudes that I would like to instill in my students towards the successes and “failures” they

encounter throughout their education journey. Dweck contrasts the growth mindset with the fixed

mindset, which believes that, “intelligence is simply an inborn trait– that they [students] have a

certain amount”; in contrast, students with a growth mindset, “believe that they can develop their

intelligence over time” (Dweck, p.16). As an educator, my role in the classroom is so much more

than just teaching history content; through the implementation of suitable classroom activities

and constructive and supportive feedback, teachers are able to foster lifelong learning habits and

mindsets that students will take with them throughout their academic career.

I understand that infusing history content into my students’ brains is not the most

important part of my job; rather, what is arguably of greater importance is training my students to

be critical thinkers and encouraging the flourishing and development of lifelong learners. I

consider it worthwhile to adopt some of the strategies that Dweck suggested that are explicitly

centered around a growth mindset. Dweck encourages teachers to emphasize the merits of

challenges and the process of overcoming them instead of portraying immediate success as the

ideal to strive towards. Because of the educational mindset that I grew up with, I know that I may

subtly emphasize and congratulate immediate success even without noticing, so I have much

relearning and rephrasing to work on. Dweck provides specific examples and phrases such as,

“OK, Let’s solve this mystery!” as a manner in which teachers can help students approach

problems that appear to be frustratingly unsolvable (Dweck, p.18).

Claudia Wallis’ article provided scientific support in the field of psychology that further

confirmed the validity and reliability of Dweck’s growth-mindset framework. I was fascinated by
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the scientific evidence that reveals that, “making a mistake with high confidence and then being

corrected is one of the most powerful ways to absorb something and retain it” (Wallis, p.1). The

experience Willis describes, one that is familiar to so many of us, was my worst nightmare

growing up in the classroom. However, no one ever challenged or tried to change my negative

attitude towards taking risks by raising my hand and potentially getting the answer wrong, so I

continued to associate feelings of shame and embarrassment with those kinds of situations. It

never crossed my mind that this trend and common experience that students experience was

actually a reflection of a certain culture towards failure that is prevalent in many American

classrooms. In fact, Wallis highlights Japanese cultural attitudes towards learning and failure in

order to expose areas in which American classroom cultures should shift their approach. Instead

of looking down on mistakes, Japanese teachers would openly hold discussions on common

errors, and setbacks were widely understood as part of the learning process (Wallis, p.2).

I also appreciated Wallis’ collection of real-world examples from teachers who shared

how they promoted a “growth mindset” across different classrooms throughout the country. For

example, Leah Alcala, a math teacher, stopped putting the students’ grades on the tests, so that

she could emphasize to them the importance of looking at their progress of learning instead of

focusing on quantifying their competency in a score (Wallis, p.4). Furthermore, I was amazed

that Kushal Patel, a STEM teacher, was able to create an environment where students openly

discussed and even proudly took ownership of their mistakes. Both of these readings helped me

reconsider the classroom and grading procedures that I thought were unchallenged because I had

never experienced any alternatives growing up; however, I hope to be able to create a safe space

for my own students, where we can focus on enjoying the learning process and cultivating a
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growth mindset, instead of valuing ourselves and our potential solely based off of a quantitative

score.