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Bonjour People!
It's Karl from AHT.com! I hope that you have had a restful, enjoyable Easter break despite these strange times!
In this week's blog, I'm going to post an extract from a post I wrote for the prestigious HWRK Magazine, a magazine created for Educators, no matter what their position, to tell the stories that matter. I am very honoured to be invited to write for their platform!
For more info on the publication, check out their details below!
My article appeared in their Spring Edition - full details on how to access it will be below!
Enjoy!
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The word ‘grit’ has almost become a cliché. In these turbulent times, we hear from politicians & leaders that we must be ‘grittier.’
But what does that mean? And for Educators, who can we introduce that to our classrooms?
Let’s dive deeper.
What is ‘Grit?’
Professor Angela Duckworth, psychologist & leading expert in Human Resilience, asked the question of what traits separated the top athletes, musicians, entrepreneurs and other leaders in their fields, from the rest of society.
After extensive research, her studies found that the people who were at the top of their professions were not only uber-talented but possessed a particular character trait which she termed ‘grit.’
These high performers were never satisfied with their performance and were always looking for ways to improve. They were disciplined, focused and learnt to cope with the boredom, frustrations and pain that comes with mastering their craft.
They trained relentlessly, for months, years and even decades before they achieved the results that they were hoping for.
Despite whatever external rewards came with their developing skills, they were motivated for more intrinsic rewards like mastery and self-actualisation.
Duckworth wrote in her book 2017 Grit "it was this combination of passion and perseverance that made high achievers special1.”
Duckworth’s book became a New York Times bestseller & her TED talks have been watched over 8 million times launching her to literary stardom.
Duckworth discusses many ideas in her book, but I will discuss two that you can implement into your classrooms.
(1) Embrace Failure – As part of her research, Duckworth studied recruits that entered the United States Military Academy better known as ‘West Point,’ which is America’s most prestigious & notoriously difficult military facilities to train in.
Many recruits struggle with the physical & academic rigour imposed by the facility & dropouts are not uncommon.
When she interviewed the recruits, she found the biggest factor of graduation success was not their GPA results or superior physical attributes but their ability to learn from their failures & bounce back from hardships.
As classroom teachers, you can make your classes “failure-friendly.” Emphasise to your students that failure is an essential component to academic success & this is proof that they are learning.
Celebrate effort as much as successful results, especially for students who may not be as strong in your subject which will help them cultivate a Growth Mindset. This is about making your students more resilient and willing to keep on going...
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That's the end of this excerpt! If you want to read the rest of the article, click the link below! (It's on Page 15!)
Did you like that article? Do you still want to read more? Well, I have just the ticket...
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Karl from actionheroteacher.com