I really feel like I need a quick reflection on a lecture I have just attended. It has resonated with me and made me realise how negative my thinking can be sometimes! I am aware (and a fan) of Carol Dweck’s Growth Mindsets and ‘not yet’ theory. For me, it focuses more on learning and knowing we can ‘grow’ our brain. However, the lecture by Jonathan Brown (@ Dundee Uni) looked at developing a challenge mindset. While I know I am being taught this for applying to pupils, I couldn’t help but see how I can apply some of the strategies discussed with myself! I can be prone to negative and ‘threatened’ thinking, and I know that it can only be positive to simply step back and question, “why don’t you see this as a challenge, and not a threat?”. Not only will it benefit me, but also the pupils I will teach in the future. Explicitly teaching and modelling this challenge mindset and developing self-efficacy can show them they can have control over their own successes too! It will also make me the best version of myself, and a more positive teacher I am, a better teacher I am bound to be!

It just really had me thinking about the ways in which I approach my university work. Why do I sometimes fear and dread the challenge of essay writing and not see it as an exciting opportunity to learn new writing skills?! I am going to start asking myself, “what is the BEST that can happen if I take on this challenge?”. When I go on placement I am all about professional development and improving my teaching, all to offer my best self to the children. So why can’t I make it a lifestyle to offer the same to myself? I should be the best version of me, for me, too!