Grit

In her book "Grit", Dr. Angela Lee Duckworth discusses how, through her research, she found the best predictor of success in students is not IQ, income or test scores, but grit, which is the perseverance to reach long-term goals. She describes grit as like "living life as a marathon and not a sprint." It is about sticking with the future and working hard to get there. To build grit in students, teachers have to practice growth mindset and instill this into their students. Growth mindset is the belief that the ability to learn is not fixed and can change with effort. Failure is not a permanent condition and students can learn from their mistakes. Teachers also need to practice growth mindset for themselves and learn from their mistakes to grow as teachers. The biggest take-away from this book is the importance of practicing growth mindset and instilling the growth mindset into my students. By doing this, I can help to motivate them by reminding them that they can grow their brains by doing difficult things and that they can learn from their mistakes. This can help them build grit to be able to reach those long-term goals and be successful.