Grit in Elementary School? We’re not Talking Breakfast
Grit can and should be taught in elementary school. It is the context and understanding of Grit that causes people to question whether it should be and whether it is possible to teach Grit to elementary aged kids. Grit is a thing of character. It is true, some kids already possess significant levels of Grit, still many have yet to develop it. Still, Grit ought to be taught in elementary school because its anatomy is composed of invaluable character traits, such as stick-to-it-ive-ness, diligence and going the extra mile, which will help to shape a child's character and boost their morale.
Whether or not Grit should be taught in
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They thought to achieve this by placing them in difficult circumstances where the we’re forced to confront hardships. The children had no choice but to meet their quandary head on. Through the process they began to develop those character qualities we hear so much about when the topic of Grit comes up; perseverance, determination, diligence, patience, etc. and even some others such as responsibility and self-discipline! Mission accomplished!
Here we refer to where Ethan Ris quoted NBC News Anchor, Brian Williams, to have said as he interviewed low-income students about Grit at KIPP charter school: “The kids here at KIPP already get it.” (Ethan Ris., - Brian Williams…) Yes, being low-income students it is likely they have already been enduring hardship as a way of life. The Grit traits are in them because from the beginning they have had to ‘make do’ with minimum. As Melissa Dahl quoted Duckworth to have said, “Kids need to develop character, and they need our support in doing so.” (Melissa Dahl. – Duckworth.) This not only reinstates the fact that Grit is indeed an object of character, but it also points back to the earlier statement that Grit should
higher levels of grit are associated with higher levels of subjective and objective success, reliable means of increasing individual grit could positively impact long-term personal and academic trajectories.
Duckworth explains people with grit are those who confront failure and don’t give up easily. She did research on the U.S Army to determine their grit. She realize, if the soldiers had a though of mind of grit they showed good results in their military performance on summer camp. Also, there was a fascinating research she had with taxi drivers relating to grit. Commonly, one would think that taxi drivers make more money in a rainy day. But what she found out was that taxi drivers work less hours in rainy days because they would make the sufficient money they needed for the day. In similarity, she compare this research to talent and grit. One with talent will spent less time on something so they stop immediately once they have proficient. In the other hand, someone with grit will spend longer time and get more out of it.
Grit, what is this? Is it success, is it failure, or is it talent? As Angela Duckworth said “Grit is passion and perseverance for very long-term goals. Grit is having stamina. Grit is sticking with your future, day-in and day-out. Not just for the week, not just for the month, but for years. And working really hard to make that future a reality. Grit is living life like it’s a marathon, not a sprint.” Grit is a combination of strength, persistence, focus, and dedication that helps a person to maintain the optimism and discipline needed to persevere in their goals even if they are head to head with failure. Grit does not depend on talent, IQ, or success. Grit is the ability to fail and learn from your mistake, in order to come back next
There are a lot of different ways people could think of grit. My concept of grit would be having the passion and perseverance to accomplish something. My goal is to one day be a travel nurse. There are alot things that come with nursing, becoming a travel nurse will be challenging but with courage, follow through and excellence rather than perfection you can achieve that goal.
In the article of The Limits Of “Grit” by David Denby there are plenty of interesting ideas that are brought up. One of the ideas that Denby brings up is teaching grit in schools. Denby thinks the idea of teaching grit should be taught it all schools. One point that Denby brings up is when he says the following “ If we suffer from a grit deficiency in this country, it shows up in our unwillingness to face what is obviously true—that poverty is the real cause of failing schools.” ( Denby,4) Denby explains that poverty is the real reason why some
Duckworth proposes that there are two ways of developing grit: from the inside-out (alone) and from the outside-in (with help). For developing grit from the inside-out, she addresses the subjects of interest, practice, purpose, and hope (91-2). For interest, she stresses that passion isn’t developed quickly, but over a long period of time through the processes of discovery, development, and a lifetime of deepening (102-4, 153). For practice, she emphasizes the importance of consistent deliberate practice, emphasizing quality of time spent practicing over quantity of time, which includes setting “stretch goals” slightly beyond current abilities (118, 121-3, 126). For purpose, Duckworth again defines and stresses the importance of purposeful top-level goals (143-4, 147-8, 160). She defines hope as a combination of relentless perseverance and optimism -- always continuing after failure and believing in oneself (169, 173, 175, 178, 180, 193-5). For developing grit from the outside-in, she stresses the importance of parenting, extracurriculars and culture. For parenting, she notes that all grit paragons have someone in their lives who challenged them to achieve beyond their limits while providing support (212, 220). For extracurriculars, she noted a direct relationship between perseverance in an activity and grittiness later in life, arguing that these activities both require and build grit (223-6, 228-241). For culture, she noted that people conform culture, so joining a gritty culture makes it easy to develop grit (244, 247, 263). The concept of culture in Grit connects to the concepts of social capital, and the multiplier effect because the relationships made between individuals within a gritty culture can mutually spur development of grit. The perseverance and hard work required by daily deliberate practice connects to the long, arduous hours worked by managers every day. Deliberate
Grit is sticking with your future, day in, day out, not just for the week, not just for the month, but for years, and working really hard to make that future a reality. Grit is living life like it's a marathon, not a sprint.” (TED
Grit is a predictor of academic, professional, and personal success. Grit can be defined as strength of character or the ability to overcome failure and continue to work toward success. People with grit are not always the people with the most natural ability, but their work ethic and ability to overcome obstacles allows them to achieve success. Grit is a very valuable characteristic in almost any venture, as it gives someone an advantage in overcoming the inevitable obstacles they will face. However, grit is much easier adopted when an individual has a growth mindset.
Angela developed a short questionnaire called the “Grit Test”. One must answer the short questions and the results show where you stand on the scale of Grit. She found that the Grit score of someone predicts the level of the achievement they can have under difficult or challenging circumstances. She tried this test at the United States Military Academy, where she had the cadets take the short test and found that the ones who had the highest Grit were the ones who were most likely to go the through with the stringent training program they went through called the “Beast Barracks”. Not the ones with the highest IQ’s, the most talent, or even the most athletic. She tried again in the Scripp’s Spelling Bee, and saw that those who were most intelligent but had a low Grit score were most likely to not make it as far as those who had a higher score. She declared that those who had higher Grit were more likely to pass because they studied harder and with determination. In all of those, it seemed that Grit was the factor that made the students stand out when it came to success, once again proving high IQ’s always being better wrong. Logos is a bit short, as many times in other articles, Grit is simply a glossed over idea that has been thought of up before. In other places, such as a physics teacher and his students in a school in Australia, he saw that Grit had little to do with
Most people subscribe to the belief that Paul Tough refers to the cognitive hypothesis that suggests that success depends primarily on cognitive skills. They argue that intelligence is measured based on IQ tests which include the ability to recognize letters, words, detect patterns, and calculate. They say that the simplest way to acquire and develop skills is through practicing them continuously. Children should also begin practicing as early as possible to nurture skills. However, in the book titled “How Children Succeed,” Tough introduces the character hypothesis which explains that non–cognitive skills such as self-control, curiosity, self-confidence, conscientiousness, and grit are crucial to achieving success than sheer brainpower or cognitive skills (Tough 49). To justify his argument, he uses research findings from psychologists and neuroscientists. They say that character is developed by encountering with failure and overcoming it. The hidden power of character explains why some children perform well while others fail. However, I say that linking grit and character is pervasive and unfair to kids from poor backgrounds; particularly when the author states that academic proficiency is not a determinant of future success. The big point on Tough’s main arguments is that children succeed with character and not test scores.
For example, Angela Lee Duckworth from the University of Pennsylvania, who had been conducting innovative studies (for the past 11 years) on "Grit," the quality that allows people to work uncompromisingly and stick to their passions and long-term goals. We learn that in her interview with "Educational Leadership," [ Duckworth describes what her research has shown about the relationship between "Grit" and achievement. on the importance of helping students develop grit and other non-cognitive traits.(1)] I believe that when we incorporate teaching students how to develop traits like having “grit” in our public schools, eventually our citizens as a whole will become more prosperous in all areas of life.
Crede is not assumed with Duckworth’s statement about grit it is irrelevant to him. He doesn’t agree with her side of grit because he doesn’t believe that it should change they way you think or should be taught. “ My overall assessment is that grit is far less important has commonly been amused and claimed ,’’ explains the lead author , Crede. He exposes grit to be something more than just a study he claims for it to change your set of mind to think of it as a mandatory learning skill. The assistant Professor also emphasizes it to be far less important to studies that are now being proven. Crede classifies and argues about how it's not a new study and shouldn’t need to be excelled in learning. Grit has been around so it’s not like it is
How do you build grit in your students? Well, there is not an exact answer to that question. There is, however, ways being tested to see if children will develop grit. Angela Duckworth states, “The best idea is an idea called growth mindset and it is the belief that the ability to learn is not fixed and that it can change with your effort”. When students make an effort to change the way they learn and set long-term goals, they are developing grit. These students will stick to their goals no matter the obstacles they may have to overcome.
The idea of grit is to be used to help students improve on goals they’ve made, but in the The Downside of Grit by Alfie Kohn he would argue that somethings are better left alone instead of trying to pursue them and achieving them with little success. Kohn claims that grit can be counterproductive because anyone could be continuing something that doesn’t make them content with the outcome. He also discusses about how people with grit could experience issues with psychological health when you try over and over again and end up with continuous failure. It would be better to find an alternative pathway that would cause less stress, and end with success. Another argument that Kohn has is against the reliability of the research done on grit doesn’t rely on evidence. It
Growing up, children are often told the common phrase, “If at first, you don't succeed try, try, again…” (W.C. Fields). This is used to teach children to never give up, a way to ensure that they can triumph over adversity and grow upon their grit. Although, people usually forget the second part of that quote, “…Then quit. No use being a damn fool about it.” (W.C. Fields). The second half of the quote is a full contrast to the first half, this is telling children to give up and just stop trying. Those who give up are often thought of having no grit. Some wonder if grit is necessary for society, to be more specific if grit is something that should be taught in school, I feel that it should not. Students switch interests so often that it is hard for them to stick with the same interests as time passes. When a student is enthused about a subject, I see grit as a way for one to express their interests. When one’s passion is put to the test and it feels like there is no progress or no more enjoyment left in that passion is when true grit is shown. Those who support the idea of grit, like Angela Duckworth, believe that grit is a big factor in how one succeeds.