{"id":788,"date":"2014-11-03T17:03:00","date_gmt":"2014-11-03T17:03:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/rempub.com\/blog\/2014\/11\/03\/encouraging-grit-perseverance-in-your-students\/"},"modified":"2022-03-01T08:07:45","modified_gmt":"2022-03-01T08:07:45","slug":"encouraging-grit-perseverance-in-your-students","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rempub.com\/blog\/encouraging-grit-perseverance-in-your-students\/","title":{"rendered":"Encouraging Grit & Perseverance in Your Students"},"content":{"rendered":"


\nThere is a lot of buzz about teaching students “grit.” The word is gaining excitement and controversy, and no matter where you stand on the debate, it’s hard to deny that encouraging students to have grit and perseverance can’t be a bad thing. The idea of “grit” is like when if you fall off your bike, you pick yourself up, and get back on the bike. If we can instill this value in students who struggle in math, reading, or any other subject, just think how far they could go.<\/span><\/span>
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\nIf you’re interested in helping your students gain some grit and perseverance, you’re going to have to put in some effort. Sometimes through the pounding over the head method of teaching and sometimes with a bit more subtlety. Because unfortunately, you can’t teach these traits in one single lesson plan with a quiz and letter grade at the end. So we have compiled some suggestions on how to instill some tenacity<\/span> in your students.\u00a0<\/span><\/span>
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\nVerbal Encouragement<\/b><\/span>
\n Instead of general praise (i.e. you’re so smart), recognize a student’s performance based on their effort. Try saying, “Great job on that test! The time you spent after class reviewing really paid off.” Students need to understand how their efforts effect their outcome, whether it be success or failure.<\/span>
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\n<\/span><\/span>Resist the Urge to Offer Hints<\/b><\/span>
\nLetting students struggle a little to answer a question will be a hard task for both you and your students. However doing this not only teaches them that it’s okay to not always know the answer, as it’s an opportunity to learn, but it also lets them become comfortable with the struggle. Just because it’s not easy, isn’t a reason to quit and give up.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n

<\/a> Take these opportunities to teach your students where to find the answer, not what the answer is. Or ask another student to help the struggling student find the answer together as a team. The struggling student can sometimes find more encouragement from their peer rather than their superior (you, the teacher).\u00a0 Encouraging “grit” may often come more from when a student doesn’t know the correct answer, because the long-term lesson is more about bouncing back from failure and perseverance.<\/span>
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Foster Safe Circumstances that Encourage Grit<\/b><\/span>
\n This leads us to finding activities that don’t have huge life altering consequences in case of failure. When students “fail” in these circumstances, they’ll have the chance to pick themselves up and try again so that when they do meet a road-bump in real life they know that they can persevere.<\/span><\/p>\n

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