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BEING GRITTY ABOUT GETTING STUDENTS GRITTIERNADE Conference

February 25-28, 2015

By Ann Palmer, MA, Med, CALT (Certified Academic Language Therapist)

apalmer@austincc.edu

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OBJECTIVES

Discuss reasons for talking about grit Evaluate definitions of grit Explore the term grit as used by Angela Lee Duckworth.

Discuss information on growth mindset as described by Carol Dweck

Learn about Janet Zadina’s strategies for increasing achievement

Review Geneva Gay’s suggestions for using culturally responsive teaching to support student success

Investigate techniques to encourage grit, growth mindset and achievement

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REASONS FOR DISCUSSING GRIT

Explore why many students drop out of my development reading classes and other college courses.

Determine if there is something I can do to increase my grit and the students’ grit

Determine if there is something students can do to increase their grit

Understand grit=  indomitable spirit (informal use) (American Heritage Dictionary)

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GRIT

backbone =strength of character confidence =belief in oneself decision =strength of mind or will determination = perseverance endurance = bearing hardship; staying power fortitude = strength of mind; guts

(Roget's 21st Century Thesaurus)

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GRIT

patience= capacity, willingness to endure perseverance = diligence, hard work stamina = strength, vigor tenacity = diligence, stubbornness willpower = personal determination persistence=steadfastness

(Roget's 21st Century Thesaurus)

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DUCKWORTH’S TED TALKS APRIL 2013

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GRIT - DUCKWORTH

having passion and perseverance for long-term goals

sticking with your future for years working hard to make the future a reality

living life like it’s a marathon, not a sprint

(Duckworth, TED Talks, 2013)

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SOME RESULTS OF DUCKWORTH’S STUDIES

Talent is no guarantee of grit. Grit can increase throughout adulthood. Grit and life satisfaction predicted teacher effectiveness.

Deliberate practice linked grit to achievement. The hardest, least pleasurable practice paid off, and gittier kids were able to do more practice.

(Duckworth, True Grit, 2013,)

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GRIT AND SELF-CONTROL

Two determinants of success

Grit = tenacious pursuit of a goal despite setbacks

Self-control =capacity to regulate temptation, emotion and behavior in the presence of temptation

Self-control and grit are strongly correlated but not perfectly so.

(Robertson- Kraft & Duckworth, 2014)

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CAROL DWECK

“Did I win? Did I lose? Those are the wrong questions. The correct question is: Did I make my best effort?” If so, he says, “You may be outscored but you will never lose.” ― Carol S. Dweck, Mindset: The New Psychology of Success

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FIXED MINDSET – CAROL DWECK

Two types of mindsets – fixed and growth Fixed mindset, basic qualities, like intelligence or talent, are simply fixed traits.

Time is spent documenting intelligence or talent instead of developing them.

Talent alone creates success—without effort.

tinyurl.com/mindset-test(Dweck, 2006)

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GROWTH MINDSET

Most basic abilities can be developed through dedication and hard work.

Brains and talent are just the starting point.

Growth mindset creates a love of learning and a resilience that is essential for great accomplishment.

Virtually all great people have had these qualities.”( Dweck, 2006)

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GROWTH MINDSET

Teaching a growth mindset creates motivation and productivity in business, education, and sports.

It enhances relationships.

Those with growth mindset believe that a person’s true potential is unknown (and unknowable).

It’s impossible to foresee what can be accomplished with years of passion, toil, and training.

( Dweck,2006)

(2006, Mindset online)

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CHANGING MINDSET

How you can change your mindset

“Step1. Learn to hear your fixed mindset “voice.”

“Step 2. Recognize that you have a choice.”

“Step 3. Talk back to it with a growth mindset voice.”

“Step 4. Take the growth mindset action.”( Dweck, 2006)

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TALKING WITH FIXED/GROWTH MINDSETS:

Approaching a challenge : FIXED:“Are you sure you can do it? Maybe you don’t have the talent.”

GROWTH: “I’m not sure I can do it now, but I think I can learn to with time and effort.”

FIXED “What if you fail—you’ll be a failure” GROWTH : “Most successful people had failures along the way.”

FIXED : “If you don’t try, you can protect yourself and keep your dignity.”

GROWTH: “If I don’t try, I automatically fail. Where’s the dignity in that?”

(Dweck, 2006)

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TALKING WITH FIXED/GROWTH MINDSETS:

As you hit a setback: FIXED : “This would have been a snap if you really had talent.”

GROWTH : “That is so wrong. Basketball wasn’t easy for Michael Jordan and science wasn’t easy for Thomas Edison. They had a passion and put in tons of effort.

As you face criticism: FIXED: “It’s not my fault. It was something or someone else’s fault.”

GROWTH : “If I don’t take responsibility, I can’t fix it. Let me listen—however painful it is– and learn whatever I can.”

( Dweck, 2006)

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DEVELOPING A GROWTH MINDSET OR MOTIVATION? Focus on students’ efforts and not their abilities.

Give feedback about effort or strategies. Help students value effort and not just grades. Teach students to enjoy a challenge and value learning.

Help them to cope with disappointing performance and plan for new strategies.

Provide students with study skills to put them in charge of their learning.

(Hopkins, 2015)

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JANET ZADINA“Did you know that intending to do something affects the brain? How can this help you? Research has shown that when students are given an assignment in class, if they write down when and where they intend to do it, they are more successful in completing it. Take advantage of this power. Every tine you are given an assignment, write down when and where you intend to do it.

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ESSENTIAL TEACHING STRATEGIES TO RAISE

ACHIEVEMENT – JANET ZADINA1. “Give practice tests and daily quizzes.”

Why ?

To activate their neural network and recreate, reassemble and retrieve the information

To fire and wire the material and tell the brain the information needs to be encoded into long term memory

(Zadina,2014)

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ESSENTIAL TEACHING STRATEGIES TO RAISE

ACHIEVEMENT2. “Teach executive function.”What? It includes self-regulation, planning, organization, budgeting time, using judgment and metacognition.How? Teach one at a time such as planning for deadlines Remind student to plan when and where to study. Why? They are critical to academic and life success.

(Zadina, 2014)

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ESSENTIAL TEACHING STRATEGIES TO RAISE

ACHIEVEMENT 3. “Create a positive emotional climate.”How? For example, learn and use the students’ names as soon as possible.

Have students learn each others’ names and then have them analyze how they did this eg. repetition, association, write on paper or the board.

(Sept.2014, Zadina)

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ESSENTIAL TEACHING STRATEGIES TO RAISE

ACHIEVEMENT 4. “Teach them how the brain learns and that they can change their brain.”

Why?

IQ is not fixed.

As students can change their brain, they increase their achievement.

Give the students a growth mindset and not a fixed mindset.

(Zadina, 2014)

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CULTURALLY RESPONSIVE TEACHING

-GENEVA GAY

Faculty and students need to learn about their cultural experience and identity.

Faculty can help students by using their personal and cultural strengths, their intellectual capabilities, and their prior accomplishments.

(Gay, 2014)

WHY USE CULTURALLY RESPONSIVE TEACHING?

improves student performance and retention female student retention in STEM

the overall retention of male students of color

critical thinking by getting students to reflect on their own cultures, backgrounds, biases, and how that pertains to their own learning.

reading and writing skills in ESL or Developmental Students 22

(Gay, 2014)

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HOW TO INTEGRATE CULTURALLY RESPONSIVE

TEACHING?• Understand where your students come from culturally mannerisms ways of communicating need for more human contact cultural background, e.g.

A female student from a male dominant society may be afraid to speak or ask questions.

Certain students may think it disrespectful to question their professor.

(Gay, 2014)

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HOW TO INTEGRATE CULTURALLY RESPONSIVE

TEACHING? Use cooperation such as students helping to design their own assignments.

Encourage collaboration by having students of different genders, abilities and ethnic backgrounds work together.

Develop community of shared convictions, commitment and camaraderie.

(Gay,  2010)

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WORKS CITED American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language,

Fifth Edition,Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company, Web. 2014. (https://www.ahdictionary.com/word/search.html?q=grit&submit.x=45&submit.y=15)

Duckworth, A. L The Key to Success? Grit. TED Talks Education, Web. 2013. (http://www.ted.com/talks/angela_lee_duckworth_the_key_to_success_grit?language=en)

Duckworth, A. L. True grit. The Observer, 26(4), 1- 3, Web. 2013. http://www.psychologicalscience.org/index.php/publications/observer/2013/april-13/true-grit.html 

Duckworth, A.L., & Gross, J.J. Self-control and grit: Related but separable determinants of success. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 23(5), 319-325, Web. 2014. https://upenn.app.box.com/s/67xypfb2zqtuacd1jrbh

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PLAN OF ACTION

Duckworth – Teach students about grit and how it affects their learning.

Dweck- Explain how growth mindset can help students’ efforts and achievement.

Zadina- Develop strategies to help students understand their brains and improve their academic performance.

Gay- Help students to use cooperation, collaboration and community to persist and succeed in college.

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WORKS CITED (CON’T) Duckworth, A.L., Peterson, C., Matthews, M.D., & Kelly,

D.R. “Grit: Perseverance and passion for long-term goals.“ Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 9, 1087-1101, Web, 2007.

Dweck, Carol, Mindset, Web, http://mindsetonline.com/whatisit/about/index.html

Gay, G. Culturally Responsive Teaching. Teachers College Press: New York, 2010.

Gay, G. Teaching and Learning Diversity”. Presentation, Faculty Institute – July 28- 29. Austin: Austin Community College, 2014.

Hopkins, Gary, “How Can Teachers Develop Students’ Motivation -- and Success?”Education World,Web, 2005 http://www.educationworld.com/a_issues/chat/chat010.shtml

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WORKS CITED (CON’T)

Roget's 21st Century Thesaurus, Third Edition. Philip Lief Group 2009. 07.Web. Jan. 2015. http://www.thesaurus.com

Zadina, Janet. “Four Essential Teaching Strategies to Raise Achievement.” Brain Research and Instruction. Sept. 2014. Web. 9 Sept. 2014. http://www.brainresearch.us/

Zadina, Janet and Rita Smilkstein, College Reading: the Science of Expert Readers. 2013. (pgs.16,21,22,30,33,57,83,101,102,103,162,163)

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ADDITIONAL RESOURCES The Duckworth Lab, University of Pennsylvania https://sites.sas.upenn.edu/duckworth

Duckworth’s 12-Item Grit Scale

https://upenn.app.box.com/12itemgrit Dweck, Carol S (2006) Mindset: the new psychology of success, New York : Ballantine Books   

Dweck, Carol, Mindset, Web, http://mindsetonline.com/whatisit/about/index.html

Zadina, Janet. Six Weeks to A Brain Compatible Classroom(for teachers).2008.

Zadina, Janet. Six Weeks to a Brain Upgrade and Deborah Christie(for students). 2014.

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GET AND GIVE GRIT!

From John Wayne in the movie True Grit