Adapt and Persist

The learning objective for this challenge is to value persistence, adaptability, and flexibility. You will have the opportunity to reflect on two behaviors, adapting and persisting, that are closely intertwined with your emotions (the affective domain of the metaliterate learner model below). Most often, adapting to something different, or persisting with an activity that you might have otherwise decided to stop, brings your feelings into play. It is usually easier to stick with known, tried-and-true behaviors, than to do something different. Even if the familiar isn’t ideal, it is, at least, familiar. Change can cause anxiety or resistance. But it can also produce pleasure in doing something new. Persisting with a difficult task can also generate negative feelings. If something is really pleasant, we usually don’t think of doing more of it as “persisting.”

To begin, watch this digital story that intertwines two situations in which the author of this challenge had to learn to adapt, and had to keep working on something in order to succeed. One of the two situations was her vision for the creation of this challenge, and what she had to do to bring it to fruition. The second, intertwined story involves something more personal.

You will notice that the learning objective for this challenge is labeled as being in the metacognitive domain. Yet, the opening paragraph states that adapting and persisting are behaviors that often tap into emotions—two totally different domains.

Your response to this challenge is in two parts. Include responses to these points in your answer:

• 1. Write one robust paragraph in response to this material in which you explain why the learning objective for this challenge is metacognitive, while adapting and persisting are behavioral and affective.

  2. Identify two times in your life in which adaptation or persistence were critical: one in which you succeeded, and one where you did not. Include responses to these points in your answer.

• • What was different about the two situations that allowed you to succeed (adapting or persisting) in one and not in the other?

  • How much did you reflect upon what you valued in these two situations?