Let's Get Gritty!

I first came across this term when I picked up Angela Lee Duckworth's book "Grit, The Power of Passion and Perseverance." I was going through a tough time and this book triggered something within me that may have contributed to where I am today. 

Grit is the personality trait of passion and perseverance for achieving long-term goals. When considering what I have learned from my first few Learning & Development classes, I am able to come to the conclusion that Grit may be one of the most important factors in my future classroom. I realized that a key factor in success is resilience and when life is constantly throwing dodgeballs left, right, and centre, it is extremely important that we are able to adapt to challenges and continue moving forward.  

But how are we as educators able to build that resilience in our students? That's where we meet Carol Dweck and her idea of a 'Growth Mindset'. It is imperative that we teach our students that our intelligence or abilities are not fixed, and through hard work and determination, anything is possible. Within this ideology, failure is no longer seen as a permanent state, but as a stepping stone towards learning and improving. Failure begins to sound not so bad after all…

The key here lies in building intrinsic motivation as a gateway to resilience. As we learned in learning key #3 on interests, teachers have a crucial role to play in creating that intrinsic motivation. Having a supportive learning environment, providing constructive feedback, being engaged and enthusiastic, as well as fostering a growth mindset in students, are only a few strategies. If we can build interest within our students, from creating situations of interest in the classroom, we can foster grit through encouraging exploration of our students' individual interests. 

I had always thought that I would like to inspire my students, but inspire them to do what exactly? Of course I want to inspire them to become lifelong learners, to work hard, to be the best version of themselves, to name a few. But above all, I want my students to persevere. Hard times are something that we all experience in our lives. Life has a way of being rough and difficult but I hope to remind my students how strong they really are and to empower them to remain resilient, no matter what they face.

Courtesy of Amritab@OTU