G.R.I.T What is it and how do we foster it in our children?

Stay Out of My Path! The idea of this puzzle is to connect the four pairs of similar squares: the gray with the gray, the X mark with the X mark, and so on. But can you connect the four pairs so that none of the four pathways crosses any of the others? Give it a try!

Session Outcomes: ▪Understand the definition of “GRIT”. ▪Analyze the importance and need for “GRIT” ▪Identify characteristics of students with “GRIT” ▪Discuss strategies that we can use as parents/teachers to foster these characteristics in our own students.

The Definition of GRIT: Angela Duckworth Ted Talk

Analyze the importance and need for “GRIT” Public Institutions 58% Private Nonprofit Institutions 65% Private For-profit Institutions 32% ▪ Among first-time, full-time undergraduate students who began seeking a bachelor's degree at a 4-year degree- granting institution in fall 2007, the 6-year graduation rate was SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics. (2015). The Condition of Education 2015 (NCES ),Institutional Retention and Graduation Rates for Undergraduate Students.Institutional Retention and Graduation Rates for Undergraduate Students

5 out of 24 students were willing to dig deep and persevere!

How is 7DE being responsive? Teacher Professional Development – Grit scale Grade level lessons Showcase how we are using “GRIT” to persevere Praising “GRIT” characteristics

People with “GRIT” demonstrate… Courage Conscientiousness: Achievement Oriented vs. Dependable Long-Term Goals and Endurance: Follow Through Resilience: Optimism, Confidence, and Creativity Excellence vs. Perfection

“Kids are not able to just spontaneously grow up to be gritty people without being supported in that.” - Duckworth 1. Find a passion (or at least an engaging activity ) “One of the characteristics of “gritty” people is that they are “especially motivated to seek happiness through focused engagement and a sense of meaning or purpose,” (Duckworth Lab Research Statement), so letting a child find his or her own passion is necessary in the long term.”Duckworth Lab Research Statement

2. Recognize That Frustration, Confusion and Practice Are Par for the Course The Duckworth lab’s recent research, undertaken in partnership with classroom teachers, shows that students become less frustrated with the learning process and put forth more effort when they understand that even experts struggle to learn their craft.recent research

3. Take Risks (and Tell Your Kids About It) “ Paul Tough, author of How Children Succeed says, “Lots of parents don’t want to talk about their failures in front of their kids, but that’s denying kids the potentially powerful experience of seeing their parents bounce back.”

4. Teach that Failure Is Not the End “In order to teach children to be resilient, we need to show them real examples of how failures and setbacks can lead to success—by talking about them regularly, sharing our own experiences, and most importantly allowing them to fail.” “As parents, we all want to see our kids succeed, but as they search to find their footing on the pathway to success, it is important to show them that failure is part of the process, not an endpoint, but a necessary crossing on the road to achievement.”as they search to find their footing on the pathway to successshow them that failure is part of the process

In his New York Times article “The Secret to Success is Failure,” Paul Tough says,The Secret to Success is Failure

2 Minute Action Plan: What is something you can take away from tonight and begin doing with your child at home? Please share on a sticky note and place on the Mindset Moments Poster. Feel free to take additional resources available on the sign-in table. Thank you for joining us tonight!

characteristics-of-grit-what-it-is-why-you-need-it-and-do- you-have-it/ Resources