HELPING CHILDREN STICK WITH LEARNING

Can you predict academic success or whether a child will graduate? You can, but not how you might think. Fortunately when psychologist Angela Duckworth studied people in various challenging situations, including National Spelling Bee participants, rookie teachers in tough neighborhoods, and West Point cadets, she found:

One characteristic emerged as a significant predictor of success. And it wasn't social intelligence. It wasn't good looks, physical health, and it wasn't IQ. It was grit.

What is Grit?

Grit can be defined as a noncognitive trait based on someone’s ability to persevere despite the presence of many challenges and obstacles to achieve a given goal. It is that personality trait in you that tells you to keep chugging at something when everyone else has given up on you. It is a measure of emotional intelligence and well-being. Essentially gritty people tend to stick to their goals despite numerous setbacks and failures. Another way to look at it is that it is basically an attitude—a personal creed that you can conquer anything if you just put your mind and body to it. It is the unwavering purpose and the resilience to stick to that goal whatever the outcome.

characteristics of grit

The characteristics of grit outlined below include Duckworth’s findings here are a few of the salient characteristics to see .

Courage

Many of us don't take action towards our dreams because we don't have Grit & Courage, while courage is hard to measure, it is directly proportional to your level of grit. The supremely gritty are not afraid to tank, but embrace it as part of the process. They first understand that there are valuable lessons in defeat and that the vulnerability of perseverance is requisite for high achievement. Teddy Roosevelt, a Grand Sire of Grit, spoke about the importance of overcoming fear and managing vulnerability in an address he made at the Sorbonne in 1907. He stated:

It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strived valiantly; who errs, who comes again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly.

Fear of failure, or atychiphobia as the medical-set calls it, can be a debilitating disorder, and is defined by an unhealthy aversion to risk . Common signs and symptoms include anxiety, mental blocks, and perfectionism and scientists ascribe it to genetics, brain chemistry, and life experiences. However, don’t be alarmed…the problem is not insurmountable. The number of results “fear of failure” yields on Amazon are 28,879. And while there are millions of various manifestations and degrees of the affliction, a baseline antidote starts with listening to the words of Eleanor Roosevelt: “do something that scares you everyday.” Look at it another way courage is like a muscle; it has to be exercised daily. If you do, it will grow; ignored, it will atrophy. The good news is courage helps fuel grit; the two are symbiotic, feeding into and off of each other…and you need to manage each and how they are functioning together.

Conscientiousness: Achievement Oriented vs. Dependable

According to Duckworth, of the five personality traits, conscientiousness is the most closely associated with grit. However, it seems that there are two types, and how prosperous you will be depends on what type you are. Conscientiousness in this context means, careful and painstaking; meticulous. But in a 1992 study, the educator L.M. Hough reported that the definition was far more nuanced when applied to tenacity. Hough’s study distinguished achievement from the dependability aspects of conscientiousness.

One thing is that the achievement-oriented individual is one who works tirelessly, tries to do a good job, and completes the task at hand, whereas the dependable person is more notably self-controlled and conventional. Can you see now why a self-controlled person who may never step out of line may fail to reach the same heights as their more mercurial friends.  In other words, in the context of conscientious, grit, and success, it is essential to commit to go for the gold rather than just show up for practice. 

Resilience: Optimism, Confidence, and Creativity

Of course, on your long haul to greatness you’re going to fall, and you will need to get back up on the proverbial horse. But what is it that gives you the strength to get up, wipe the dust off, and remount? Futurist and author Andrew Zolli says it’s resilience.

In Zolli’s important new book, Resilience, Why Things Bounce Back, he defines resilience as “the ability of people, communities, and systems to maintain their core purpose and integrity among unforeseen shocks and surprises.”

For Zolli, resilience is a dynamic combination of optimism, creativity, and confidence, which together empower one to reappraise situations and regulate emotion – a behavior many social scientists refer to as “hardiness” or “grit.” Zolli takes it even further and says that “hardiness” is comprised of three tenents: “ (1) the belief one can find meaningful purpose in life, (2) the belief that one can influence one’s surroundings and the outcome of events, and (3) the belief that positive and negative experiences will lead to learning and growth.”

Excellence vs. Perfection

It was found that gritty people don’t seek perfection, but instead strive for excellence. Perfection is excellence’s somewhat pernicious cousin,excellence is an attitude not an end game. It is pedantic, binary, unforgiving and inflexible. Surely there are times when “perfection” is necessary to establish standards, like in performance athletics such as diving and gymnastics. Our understanding is that perfection is someone else’s perception of an ideal, and pursuing it is like chasing a hallucination. Anxiety, low self-esteem, obsessive compulsive disorder, substance abuse, and clinical depression are only a few of the conditions ascribed to “perfectionism.” To be clear, those are ominous barriers to prosperity.

Help Students Develop a Growth Mindset

Carol Dweck from Stanford University teaches us that students who have a growth mindset are more successful than those who think that intelligence is fixed.

Deepening Self-Awareness

But certainly one significant benefit of teaching these "grit skills" is that students will also gain a better understanding of who they are as human beings. And it is possible that along the way, they will develop more empathy and compassion for those around them who may be struggling to reach a goal -- making everyone a winner in the end.

What can you do to raise a child who knows what grit is, and works on developing grit, so they can deal with life's challenges that will inevitably come their way? Kaplan and Koval have some helpful advice:

#1 -- Make your kids make their beds

Telling others in their book, the co-authors talk about how Adm. William H. McRaven, during a commencement address at his alma mater, the University of Texas at Austin, said the No.1 lesson he learned from his Navy SEAL training was making your bed. The top lesson was making his bed every morning. You will feel that it starts you off in the beginning of the day doing something that you have to learn how to do perfectly.

"We tend to want to create such wonderful environments for our kids and maybe don't push (them) enough" when it comes to chores, Koval added. "It's such simple easy advice to follow ... It's really easy to make them make their beds."

#2 -- Encourage your kids to solve small problems

Some kids, and adults for that matter, see a problem and get overwhelmed by the size and scope of it and then become paralyzed and do nothing about it, said Kaplan Thaler. Rather then trying to solve problems that feel unsolvable, we should find easier problems and solve those first.

"So ... do this with your kids and say, 'OK, you say that you can't do the science project but [what] can do you? What are the three sources that you could look at every day? Let's make a list.'"

#3 -- Praise the effort, not the end result

This one can't be repeated enough, particularly in our ultra-competitive, testing culture that places an extraordinary emphasis on grades from elementary school up through college. During these times when schools are teaching grit and resilience, part of the grade is determined by the effort that went into the activity, said Kaplan Thaler. "And that's the thing that we should be applauding. Not like, 'Gee, this was a breeze and I got a B,' but 'Wow, I worked harder than I've ever worked and I went from a D to a C plus.' Whatever it is ... you want that approval to come from the effort."

#4 -- Everyone can learn grit

From experience we know that if you have more than one child, no doubt one might be naturally grittier than the other, but that doesn't need to be a constant for the rest of their lives. Grit is a trait you can develop, said Koval.

"So for kids who are naturally not as gritty, I think it is finding ways for them to see that success does come from grit," she said. There is no doubt that letting your child occasionally fail also helps them learn grit, she said. So does helping them find the things they really love to do and are successful doing.

All too often when high school and college kids hear this message, it doesn't demoralize them, it empowers them, said Kaplan Thaler. Some students might think they are already at a disadvantage because of their grades, test scores or the schools they attend. "What we tell them is it doesn't matter. What matters is something, we call it humanity's a great equalizer ... It's all about the work ethic and what you put into a job. And I say my money's going to be on the person still standing when your boss tells you do it over, do it over, do it over. That's where the successful people are."

Your job is to teach students about the impact of thoughts and beliefs on their ability to succeed. As with students who have created a habit of negative self-talk will have a hard time exerting grit. But research is clear that thoughts and beliefs can be changed. Carol Dwek's work on mindsets is a well-known example of how our beliefs about our own learning affect our success. Even more if you're already teaching these mindsets to your students, keep doing it!