Assignment: Write an objective summary embedded in a personal response to one chapter of your choice (from chapters four through seven) of Carol Dweck’s Mindset. Your essay will have two parts: the audience analysis and your actual summary and response essay.
Audience Analysis: You will write an audience analysis with me as the audience.
• The audience analysis will be the first page of this paper (see notes from samples in class). This part will be written as you go through the process of selecting your specific audience (broad groups, such as “US citizens,” “college students,” or “adults” is too broad for this assignment – narrow it!).
o Thoroughly describe your research steps as well as your missteps that helped determine how you narrowed your audience. In short, explain your thinking regarding how you chose your audience (begin with the broad and end with the narrow).
o Discuss the specific audience you chose and analyze the demographics and values of that audience. You may use sources to explain who the audience is that you are writing to and why.
o Explain what your context and purpose are for your audience. Why are they reading your piece?
Summary and Response Essay: Your summary and response essay will have the above audience as your focus.
• The summary of your reading: your summary of Dweck’s main ideas from the book (chapters 1-3) will be included in the introductory paragraph and the summary of your chosen chapter (4-7) will be the second paragraph. The summary of your chosen chapter should be one paragraph of about 8-10 sentences. It should identify Dweck’s general topic for the chapter, her thesis, all her main supporting points, and her conclusion.
o The summary should represent Dweck’s argument in your own language, without any quotations from the text
o The summary should be complete (cover all main points) and objective (regardless of whether you agree or disagree)
o The summary should leave out supporting evidence (data, anecdotes, examples)
o A person who has not read the chapter should be able to understand its argument
• The reflective response should be founded on a single trigger quotation that you find particularly compelling in Dweck’s chapter. Your response may agree with Dweck, or disagree, or some combination of the two. You will likely want to address why this topic is important to your audience and to you personally. Are you persuaded? Why or why not? What can you point to in the chapter that supports your opinion? What can you point to in your experience that supports your opinion?
o The response needs to have: a thesis, most likely at the end of the introduction; a summary of Dweck’s entire argument (the chapter you have chosen); several body paragraphs that support the position you take in the thesis and that use evidence from the chapter (either paraphrases or quotations) and evidence from your experience; and a conclusion.
o Be sure that your response is to a specific idea from the chapter and does not cover all the ideas in the chapter. Focus on the main idea that your trigger quotation exemplifies.
Chaper 4 summary:
Author Carol S. Dweck introduces Chapter 4, which is divided into eight sections, with an anecdote about former baseball player Billy Beane (b. 1962). He is one of the rare people who have a natural aptitude for a sport. Everyone thought he would be an amazing baseball player, but his fixed mindset prevented him from excelling. As general manager of the Oakland Athletics, he encouraged the team and staff to have a growth mindset. That led them to a winning season in 2002.
In the first section of Chapter 4, “The Idea of the Natural,” Dweck sets out to disprove the fallacy of the naturally gifted athlete. Michael Jordan (b. 1963), Babe Ruth (1895–1948), Wilma Rudolph (1940–1994), and scores of other top athletes worked incredibly hard to become the best in their fields. Even when star athletes talk about the effort it has taken to get where they are, the public still likes to believe athletic talents are innate, not grown.
The second section of Chapter 4 is “Character.” Dweck defines character as the “ability to dig down and find the strength [to carry on] even when things are going against you.” It’s what allows individuals to get to the top of their fields and stay there.
Dweck provides real-life examples of athletes with character—including tennis player Pete Sampras (b. 1971), track star Jackie Joyner-Kersee (b. 1962), and soccer player Mia Hamm (b. 1972). She also cites former baseball player Pedro Martinez (b. 1971) as someone with a fixed mindset and no character. This judgement is exemplified by a temper tantrum Martinez threw during a 2001 championship game between the Boston Red Sox and the New York Yankees.
The third section of Chapter 4 is “What Is Success?” According to Dweck, people with the growth mindset consider personal success to be “when you work your hardest to become your best.”
Section 4 of Chapter 4 is “What Is Failure?” People with the growth mindset are actually motivated by setbacks. They use failure as a learning experience and inspiration to further develop their skills.
People with fixed mindsets, on the other hand, don’t deal with failure well. They see losing or not doing well as permanent personal labels, and therefore they avoid failure at all costs. For example, tennis star John McEnroe (b. 1959) once performed badly during a mixed doubles match. He didn’t play mixed doubles again for 20 years.
“Taking Charge of Success” is the fifth section of Chapter 4. Dweck describes how top athletes with growth mindsets continually learn and adjust their craft to deal with different challenges.
Athletes with fixed mindsets, like McEnroe, are “[a]lways a victim of outside forces.” Losing is seen as someone else’s fault.
The sixth section of Chapter 4, “What Does It Mean to Be a Star?” explores the relationship each of the mindsets has with teamwork. People with fixed mindsets think of themselves as separate from the team. They rely solely on their own performance. People with growth mindsets see themselves as part of a larger whole. They do what is good for the team, not their own ego.
Athletes with the growth mindset have the right idea. As Dweck says, “A superstar’s talent can win games, but it’s teamwork that wins championships.”
In Chapter 4’s seventh section, “Hearing the Mindsets,” Dweck compares the mindsets and performance of two young basketball players. In 2004, Iciss Tillis (b. 1981) was a forward at Duke University. She was talented, but her performance never lived up to her abilities. She had a fixed mindset and was convinced that if she didn’t do well, she would be a “nobody.” Her team did not make it to the championship that year.
That same year, Candace Parker (b. 1986) played basketball for Naperville Central High School in Naperville, Illinois. Raised to have a growth mindset, she had no interest in being a star athlete. Her focus was on consistently improving her game. That year she beat five men in the basketball dunking championship.
The last section of Chapter 4, “Grow Your Mindset,” lists tips to help readers change their mindsets from fixed to growth. Dweck encourages readers to “find success in learning and improving, not just winning,” and to get involved with sports that may have once seemed too hard.
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