In the Ted Talk "The Key to Success? Grit," Angela Lee Duckworth discusses understanding student learning from a motivational and psychological perspective (Duckworth, 2013). As a former 7th grade teacher she was convinced that all of her students could learn, regardless of skill or IQ. She went to graduate school to study Psychology and her research led her to find, over many domains, that one critical trait that was present in all subjects who were overall successful was "grit." She defined this term as passion and perseverance for very long-term goals (Duckworth, 2013).
The difficulty she found was how to actually teach grit, and assist someone in developing their work ethic. It’s not easy and the closest thing she found related to developing this skill was research done at Stanford by Carol Dweck, known as “Growth Mindset.” This is the idea that your ability to learn is not fixed, but can change over time.
I strongly agree with this concept and would like to work on integrating it into the curriculum I teach. One thing I have noticed in my class is that some students have an immediate need for help with an assignment, or quiz, before they even look at it. They haven’t given themselves an opportunity to sit with it, struggle with it, and think about it. These are the skills that transcend academia, that are applicable to “real-world” problems.
Growth mindset goes beyond just having students put forth effort. They need to get used to trying new strategies and asking their peers for their input, if they are getting stuck. I am still learning about this theory, and really want to pursue it more. One important thing that Duckworth mentions is that one’s innate skill doesn’t solely contribute to being successful. I want to emphasize that point to students, and give them an assignment to research one of their heroes. The main point of the assignment is to have students see that their hero had to overcome certain challenges on their road to success.
Duckworth, A.L. (2013, May, 9). The Key to Success? Grit. TED TALKS. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H14bBuluwB8