"Grit is a distinct combination of
passion, resilience, determination, and focus that allows a person to maintain
the discipline and optimism to persevere in their goals even in the face of
discomfort, rejection, and a lack of visible progress for years, or even
decades."- Jenny Williams
Our
goal in Livonia Public Schools is to teach every student how to be “gritty”: How to be tenacious in every aspect of their
lives and reap the benefits as they continue to work toward their life goals,
whatever they may be.
This
article is a review of non-cognitive factors including academic perseverance,
that impact school success.
“Academic
Perseverance (Grit) requires not only an initial surge of momentum in a focused
direction but also the ability to maintain that momentum regardless of what gets
in the way. As a result, students with academic perseverance would continue
working hard for a good grade in a challenging class even after failing several
tests, and they would continue looking for new ways to understand difficult
material instead of giving up. Academically
perseverant students also would be more likely to achieve longer-term academic
goals, such as earning consistently high grades over time, graduating from high
school with a good GPA, qualifying for and getting admitted to a desired
university, or completing a college degree.”
Angela Lee Duckworth’s video on Grit
Angela Lee Duckworth's most recent book on GRIT
Short video on grit
What does grit look like?
Success rarely occurs on the first try.
In fact, there’s usually a pretty long road peppered with all sort of bumps and
potholes to navigate along the way.
Being able to pick yourself up from low
moments is probably the most important skill a child/student can learn. Teach your children/students by sharing your
own struggles. Kids learn from the adults around them. Give your child/student the opportunity to
pursue at least one difficult thing.
Instead of jumping in with a solution when your child/student hits a
roadblock, see if he/she can come up with a way around it on his/her own. Help him/her to think through what the steps
might be instead of telling him/her what they are. Excerpts from the article: The Power of
Defeat: How to Raise a Kid With Grit,
by Jennifer Fink Article
Inky Johnson grew up living in his grandparents' two-bedroom
house with 13 other family members. He slept on a pallet on the living room
floor. According to Johnson, drugs and violence surrounded him. He and his family
moved five times in nine years, all within Kirkwood, Georgia. Stability was
non-existent. He loved his Kirkwood friends and his family. He just knew to
survive he had to get out. This is the long video version of his story, his long-term
goal, and what can happen to a “gritty” person when things don’t go as planned.
Oh man, that video about the Olympian and his dad literally made me cry! Thanks for the wonderfully inspirational blog posts Jen, they are really meaningful!
ReplyDeleteThe book noted on the sidebar is excellent. Quick read with excellent, current data and ways to directly impact students.
ReplyDeleteThe Sesame Street music videos are fun and the elementary students love them! The Bruno Mars video you linked is awesome and there are some great ones with Will.i.am for Confidence & Mark Ruffalo for Empathy:)
ReplyDeleteThe Olympic video is so powerful! What an inspiring message for our staff and students.
ReplyDeleteI loved the Sesame Street video!
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ReplyDeleteI think it is useful to distinguish "toughness" and "grit" even though both can be useful to succeed in the face of adversity. BEING tough implies a more natural tendency to tolerate and forge ahead under circumstances that many would consider too difficult. Showing "grit" to me implies finding ones internal sources of strength beyond what one normally has to rise to the occasion. Strengthening each of our own characters in the area of "grit" means learning how to find and use this inner strength.
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