Book Review and a Pairing: Mindset by Carol S. Dweck

Mindset: The New Psychology of Success
Carol S. Dweck
Random House, 2006
Genre: Nonfiction, professional/personal development, psychology,
Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

Ada Twist, Scientist
Andrea Beatty
Illustrations: David Roberts
Harry N. Abrams, 2016
Genre: children's, picture, growth-mindset,
Rating: 5 out of 5


I thought I would try something new today in my review of Mindset by Carol S. Dweck where I connect this to a completely different genre of book.  It's pretty common now to do this is middle and high schools, pairing nonfiction texts with fiction texts, but why not pair this with a picture book?  We'll see how it goes!

Mindset explains the differences in psychological mindsets and how they affect a person's chance at success.  This book was chosen as our school's book discussion for our professional learning community (PLC).  It's not necessarily a "teaching book" but it's very applicable to teachers, coaches, and parents because it lays out the difference between a fixed-mindset and a growth-mindset.  Dweck also discusses the strengths of the growth-mindset and how a person might find himself or herself in the fixed-mindset early on in life.

For much of the book, Dweck gives anecdotes to illustrate her point, using celebrities, sports stars, politicians, heads of famous companies, etc. as her examples.  I will admit this was sometimes annoying.  I understood what she said when she explained it, but then I had to read through multiple little stories and examples of people who exemplified that idea.  I skimmed through some of these.  The parts that I found most compelling were the chapters on teaching and the development of children and young adults into one mindset or the other.  It kept me questioning my methods and ways of speaking to my students and my own child.  I just finished this book last week and I'm already very conscientious of the words I'm using with both.  I've added in a new way for my students to question their own growth throughout the year and I'm devoting more class time to looking at our personal growth.

What I was disappointed in, was the lack of direction in how to teach growth-mindset to students.  There was much talk about how teaching students the growth-mindset is doable--even if they are in a fixed mindset--but there wasn't any real suggestion as to HOW to do this.  The best was suggestions on the words to use when dealing with a student or your child one-on-one.  I wanted something more concrete that I could incorporate into my classroom.

It was through this frustration that I started thinking of Ada Twist, Scientist by Andrea Beatty.  My daughter got this book for Christmas and we love it already.  In this story, Ada questions EVERYTHING!  She makes messes and tries to figure out the answer to all the questions.  Each question brings on new questions.  Her teachers don't know what to do with her and her parents are supportive, until she ruins dinner, tries to put the cat in the dryer, and makes everything smell bad. But Ada starts thinking and thinks some more and more and more and more.  And the questions keep coming.  She's learning, she's not stuck.  She's not a bad kid, but one who just wants to know and has a love of learning.  It is a truly adorable book written in rhyme that emphasizes the need to question and to learn on one's own and how it's okay not to be perfect.  It's okay to make mistakes.  That's a lesson that we all need every once in awhile--especially a kid.

So I thought that it would be applicable to meld these two books together--as different as they are.  Adults:  go read Mindset by Carol S. Dweck and look at yourself, how you think of your abilities.  Consider what you expect of your children or the children in your life.  Then go read Ada Twist, Scientist by Andrea Beatty and share it with those children in your life.  Talk about Ada and how she continues to question and even if she's wrong--it's okay.  She just needs to think a little more, question a little different.  Encourage the mistakes, encourage the thinking, encourage the growth!

Are there any "strange" book pairings you can think of?  What do you think of your mindset?  Are you stuck thinking of your inability to do something, or do you need to reconsider what it truly takes to improve oneself? 

Book Review: Why Not Me?

Why Not Me?

Mindy Kaling

Crown Archetype, 2015

Genre: Essays/Memoir/Humor

Source: purchased

Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

~What It's About~

Mindy Kaling has penned another humorous set of essays about her life as a woman in the spotlight.  This time her essays have moved on from stories of her childhood and experiences breaking into the business.  She's focused on her life as a celebrity, including essays about days on the set, fashion, her love life, meeting some incredible people (like President Barak Obama!), and her friends.  Her stories are filled with humor that pokes fun at herself and others in a lighthearted way.

~The Good~

I love Mindy Kaling.  I didn't really follow her on The Office, only watching now and then, but I love love love The Mindy Project.  I'm very sad that we don't have Hulu and have considered getting it solely for the the purpose of watching new episodes.  I think she is funny, and, after reading Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (And Other Concerns), I know she is smart, resourceful, and a great role model for girls--no matter what they want to do with their lives.

That being said...

~The Not-So-Good~

There are hints at the same strength and intelligence that I found in her first memoir--not to say that this book isn't intelligent.  She pokes fun at people and herself in intelligent ways that are still lighthearted, but I missed seeing the insight that filled her first book.  I felt that was missing in this book.

It was difficult for me to connect to her in Why Not Me? because there was so much focused on being a celebrity--which I'm not.  There were entire essays devoted to fashion, which is fine, but it was a fashion that is not accessible by a vast majority of the public, and it turned me off almost immediately.  I understand that this is her life and that she has worked incredibly hard to get where she is.  She even wrote one essay that focused on her typical day and it was long and harrowing and not easy.  I get that.  She deserves what she has earned, but it was difficult for me to make any connections to her when she wrote about extravagances that are not attainable for most people.  Maybe I'm jealous?  I don't know.  I do know that I felt like the depth of her first book was missing from this one.

~Final Thoughts~

I still love Mindy Kaling and want to be her friend.  I think she's incredible and a wonderful role model for teenage girls who are looking for somebody to idolize.  She stands for hard work and determination and not allowing someone else to dictate the direction you're taking your life.  I love all those qualities and they do peek through here.  If you're going to buy only one of Mindy Kaling's books, I suggest Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me.  If you love love love Mindy Kaling, then borrow Why Not Me? too.  It was well written, but don't expect as much insight as her first.

Want to see my review of Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me?  Check out the review here.

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Mao's Last Dancer

Mao’s Last Dancer: Young Reader’s Edition

by Li Cunxin

Walker and Company

2008

Mao’s Last Dancer drops us into Li Cunxin’s world, growing up in Communist China under the rule of Chairman Mao.  Li’s family lives a peasant life, struggling to survive and battle starvation on a daily basis.  One day is chosen to attend the Beijing Dance Academy and trains to become a ballet dancer.  Li takes us through his struggles growing up in China and his travels to America, where he learns what it means to be free. 

The book is divided into three parts.  The first part, which seemed to be the longest and most difficult to get through, chronicles his daily life in their village.  Li describes his family and how they live in a commune with his extended family.  We learn about his school life and how much of it was devoted to learning the philosophies of Chairman Mao.  Children were taught to love their great leader from the get go and anyone who dared defy his teachings was a traitor.  Most of this section is devoted to describing his mother.  His deep love and respect for his mother is evident in this first section.

Things start to pick up in the second part when Li is chosen to audition for the Beijing Dance Academy at the age of eleven.  He has to leave his family and live at the school for 11 months out of the year, but he already understands that this is an opportunity that could allow him and his family an escape from their tough life.  The curriculum at his school is more focused on indoctrinating the young ballet students rather than ballet technique, however their teachers still expected much of these young dancers from the get go.  This lack care led to many injuries and a sense of fear that Li felt for most of his first few years.  Despite these difficulties, Li becomes a wonderful ballet dancer and when Chairman Mao dies and more Western influences trickle into the ballet training, Li’s love of the art grows as well as his ability.  With an opportunity to study in America, Li leaves for 6 weeks.  It is here that he realizes that most of what he has learned about America is a lie.  He begins to understand that in China he will never really be free like he can be in America and it is essential that he find a way to stay.

There is also a third part in which Li is in America and trying to defect from China.  It is rather short and just wraps everything up neatly.  It was more interesting than the other parts, but also only a few chapters.

I chose this book because it is about a dancer.  Nonfiction books are not what I automatically go to—in fact I often shy away from them.  I figured reading about dance would keep me more engaged since I have a dance background.  It did, but it took a while to get to the part where I was interested.  Although it was beneficial to see how Li’s ideas about Communism and his great leaders evolved and then later faded, I was still pushing myself to stay focused.  There was plenty about his hard work and determination to make it as a dancer, but I was not drawn into this story as much as I had wanted to be.

Teach Like Your Hair's On Fire by Rafe Esquith (Not YA)

Okay, so I admit that this is not Young Adult Literature. In fact, it's not fiction.  This is one of my nonfiction selections for the summer.  Specifically, it's about teaching--surprise!

If you're a student of mine, or a teenager, you may want to skip this one, but feel free to read if you'd like.

If you're a fellow teacher, you may enjoy the review below.


http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6939776

Teach Like Your Hair's On Fire reads more like a memoir than it does a book on teaching.  Rafe Esquith details how he runs his classroom and what areas he focuses on (all of them it seems).  He discusses building character with his students, creating a film club, a problem solving club, book clubs, a theater troupe, and all sorts of different activities for his students.  I'm amazed by Mr. Esquith's dedication and also the dedication of his students, with his optional classroom hours before and after school each day, plus time on Saturdays, past students staying after to be involved in different activities, and the trips he takes with his traveling theater troupe. He truly has some amazing ideas and techniques, but I will be honest: most of it seems impossible to me, a new mother, who already feels the lack of time with my daughter eating away at me.   In fact, his extreme dedication has actually made me feel guilty for not also doing these things, and I know that I already do quite a lot.  So teacher friends, although I did enjoy some chapters quite a lot and found them helpful (chapter two details his central behavior plan using the six levels of moral development and is just fascinating to read), be prepared to feel inadequate after reading this--unless you too are able to devote hours before and after school, on the weekends, every day and have the most wonderfully behaved students ever--all of them, all of the time.  I, for one, have quite a lot of growing to do in order to become such a phenomenal educator.

Stay tuned for To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee.  I am revisiting this book after quite a few years.