December Staff Development News
A Newsletter for the Seward Staff by Dr. Dominy
Share Your Grit Story!
We have the following action step in our strategic plan:
*Identify systematic opportunities to integrate the growth mindset, resiliency, and grit into our curriculum.
* Promote a culture of “Telling your story” to share examples of grit and resilience.
I think the idea of "Telling your grit story" is something that could be implemented at every level in every subject area. When we work with students, I do believe that it is crucial to first define what Grit is. A team of Seward teachers came up with the following definition: The ability to sustain focus and effort over the long term in the face of challenges.
During College Week, it was very natural for us to share our college story and it is much easier for us to share our successes than it is our failures. Our students, however, could learn just as much, if not more from hearing stories of our failures and examples of determination to sustain focus and effort while facing those challenges.
We all have a grit story, and our students need to hear these stories from us, there are also countless grit stories in our country today. Once you have modeled what a grit story looks like. I could see elementary teachers making this part of their writing assignment after highlighting a character in a book that modeled grit. Middle school teachers could implement this in any subject by thinking about their content and highlighting grit. Students could use ipads record their own Grit story. This also fits every high school content area and I recently saw students telling their own Grit story using the 6 word strategy that you are all familiar with.
I would love to share with the school board and our community, anything that you decide to do regarding telling your Grit story. If you would be willing to share docs, video, links with me, I would be happy to share these examples with our community. Below you can find a video explaining what a grit story is.
Grit Can be Learned
Some people are naturally grittier than others. Some of that grit comes from genetics, and some comes from the way a person is raised. Duckworth assures readers that those who score low on the Grit Scale today needn't be too worried. Grit is a skill, which means it can be taught and learned. Like a muscle, it grows stronger the more it is used.
Duckworth gives the example of a little girl taking ballet lessons. The little girl doesn't want to go to class on this particular day, but she manages to get dressed and get there on time. She makes a "breakthrough" during her lessons—maybe something small, such as figuring out where to place her arms—which causes a feeling of pride. She goes back to class the next week and tries a little harder and feels proud again. This creates a virtuous cycle where the child is emotionally rewarded for working hard, which makes her want to work even harder in the future, even during unrelated tasks. The little bit of grit she showed at the first lesson manifests itself into something bigger.
Duckworth says the key to fostering grit in children is to be both demanding and supportive. By demanding, she means parents, teachers, and coaches should have high (but not unreasonable) expectations for what a child can accomplish. The goal is to get them to stretch themselves to achieve just a little bit more than the time before. At the same time, adults need to support children in their endeavors. The right kind of support depends on the child. Some children need adults who push them to stick with challenging things and offer reassurance as needed. Others need freedom to achieve their goals in their own way. This type of "wise parenting" doesn't work on just children—it can also be used by mentors, supervisors, and other leaders to instill grit in adults.