Got Grit??

I was lucky enough recently to participate in a book study at my school. We met every Wednesday morning before school and discussed How Children Succeed by Paul Tough . Some of our discussion were quite lively and passionate, but my favorite chapter and discussion was on GRIT!

What is grit? Dr. Angela Lee Duckworth gave a recent TED Talk on the subject:

I have begun to introduce this subject of Grit to my students and their families. We have been watching some of the Olympic footage and looking for examples of grit. The best example so far is US Men's Figure Skater, Jeremy Abbott! Before watching the video we talked about how hard it is to get to the Olympics, the sacrifices the athletes and their families make, and the amount of daily practice they put in to be the best. Then we watched Jeremy skate his short program....

Then we talked about how he finished the program.... No it wasn't the skate he was looking for and some people may even say he failed but if you ask my class he won that night. I asked the question to them... Was he successful? Why or why not?   Here were some of their responses...
     *He didn't give up               *He finished what he started       *This was his dream
     *He overcame the fall and didn't fall again  
     *That must have been so hard for him to keep focused but he did

We then used The Grit Scale from Dr. Duckworth as our guide and continued our conversation. Sometimes it is about more than just a medal.... sometimes it is about GRIT !!

Only 1 student thought he failed..... I am working on him.. :-)

Have yourself a gritty day !!

Bridget