The Growth Mindset Playbook Chapter 3 Reflection

    This chapter of The Growth Mindset Playbook focused on the brain's ability to be manipulated and learn new things over time, which is known as Brain Plasticity. Brain Plasticity is easier to understand for those with a Growth Mindset because they believe that they can improve, which is the basis for the term Brain Plasticity. It is difficult to convince those with a Fixed Mindset that they have the ability to learn new things and improve their performance, since Fixed Mindset people believe that people already have their abilities predetermined. Especially at a young age, but even into adult and elder years, our brains are able to be molded to learn new things and improve the performance of things we want to improve. The chapter mentions not the phrase "practice makes perfect," but the phrase "practice makes permanent." This is a more relevant statement in terms of Brain Plasticity. Because of this, with practice, everyone has the ability to become better at what they wish to be better at. Essentially, Brain Plasticity is the backbone of having a Growth Mindset. They are both connected.

    This chapter, as well, gives many great examples of ways to better help students retain information. It describes how cramming is a huge no when it comes to studying, but it was also interesting to find out that other ways of traditional studying like going over notes, rereading chapters, and even highlighting are proven to not be very helpful when it comes to retaining information. I liked the ideas that this chapter provided, such as having a "3-2-1" activity, where "students write down three things they learned from a previous class period or today's learning, two things they found interesting, and one question they have about content" and "Formative Checks" where "...responses can be recorded on whiteboards or slates...students record their answers and show their work. Facilitate around the room to check for understanding and provide effective feedback" (Brock and Hundley, The Growth Mindset Playbook). This as well as many other examples connects to this chapter's point of that the Retrieval Method is the best way to retain information. I think that these are very useful strategies of helping students better maintain information in their "manipulatable" brains that I will definitely use in my future classroom.

    Overall, I thought it was interesting how this chapter's main point was that anyone's brain can be changed, from the time they are born to the time they pass, and this is done through practice, which really works in molding the brain. After reading this I realized that Brain Plasticity is the backbone of having a Growth Mindset, and once you believe in Brain Plasticity, you can believe in your own self and abilities which will allow you to have a Growth Mindset.