From Education Week,
Perhaps most interesting for educators, the book asserts that grit can be developed both by individuals within themselves and by outside forces who help them feel challenged and supported. For schools, that means giving students opportunities for deliberate practice so they can learn what it’s like to face a challenge and persist through it, developing the skill like a muscle, Duckworth said.
Teachers should ask themselves: “Is there a clear learning goal that’s very specific and do my students really know it? Do they have a clear strategy to remove distractions so they can focus 100 percent?” Duckworth said.
And they should offer frequent feedback, she said.
“They should ask themselves, ‘Am I encouraging repetition and refinement, or, as when I hand back your term paper or your test, is it over?’ ”
That advice is similar to advice researchers have given to promote a “growth mindset,” an idea popularized by Stanford University researcher Carol Dweck. If students learn that they can persist through challenges and eventually succeed, they will begin to define themselves by that persistence and not by momentary failures or challenges, Duckworth said.
Read the full story at Angela Duckworth: To Grow Students’ Grit, Balance Challenges With Support and buy her book at Grit, The Power of Passion and Perseverance
