This is the second of three parts on grit and resilience as outlined by ladders.com as they apply to the world of education. As said before, the need for grit and determination/resilience is part and parcel to success. The SEALS know it and educators know it. Attributes 3-5 according Eric Barker are: be confident – but realistic, prepare prepare prepare, and focus on improvement. These three are really the main crux of what it takes for a student to develop the tools that are needed to find success in the face of challenge. As educators, we really have very little idea or understanding of the daily challenges many of our students face. We try to empathize but most of us can’t really fathom what our students are up against.
Be confident – but realistic. This rings especially true with many of the students who seem to have their lives planned and under control. Most of us know them. They know everything. They are confident that they will graduate college and find a job paying six figures. They know they will get that baseball scholarship that eventually lands them in the majors making millions. They are confident they will have people lined up for their autograph. They are confident they will change the world and see their face on a billboard. What they don’t have is a realistic outlook. Being confident in one’s abilities is wonderful but if realism isn’t applied, all the young person is left with is dreams with no real method or process of reaching those dreams. Young people need us to help them better understand how to make a dream a goal, how to take a step towards that dream in a realistic manner. Instant gratification is everywhere for them so it is natural for them to think that they will be instantly gratified in these much larger pursuits. Nobody ever told them the necessity of patience and a good work ethic. We need to help students see things how they are rather than how they wish they were. Wishes don’t get them very far in reality. Studies of people who have survived horrific situations have shown that survivors are able to be confident in their abilities but also realistic in potential outcomes. When we understand the implications of the potential outcomes and approach our plans with those implications in mind, we are better equipped to overcome obstacles that may arise. Adults have the wisdom to know that things don’t always turn out as planned. Young people are missing that element in their planning. We do them a disservice by not making things real for them. Make it real!
Prepare, prepare, prepare. The Boy Scout motto is Be Prepared. The scouts were really on to something with this. They teach young people to always be prepared for any situation that may arise. Generally, the scouts are referring to preparedness in emergency situations or wilderness survival scenarios. Educators can take a page from the Scout Handbook and apply it to the classroom. Teaching young people to be prepared for situations as they arise is paramount in helping them learn to persevere in the face of difficulty. Unfortunately more often than not, a student is met with a cookie cutter method of instruction that doesn’t require them to adapt in a dynamic way as they meet standards of performance. Students need to understand that life is filled with variables and they need to be prepared to be flexible and innovative in order to adapt and overcome obstacles as they enter the scene. If we don’t force them to critically think for themselves, how can we ever expect them to prepare, prepare, prepare?
Focus on improvement. Failure isn’t real unless they quit! Let me say that again, failure isn’t real unless they quit! This means that students should never be allowed to quit. Will they have unsuccessful attempts? Absolutely. Does this mean they failed? Absolutely not. Educators need to take the time to help students focus on improvement. If they are genuinely trying, then they are being successful. Have they met the standard of proficiency? Maybe not. Have they failed? No way. As long as a student is trying, show them how to focus on improvement. If the current attempt is better than the last, they have improved. In my experience, the current attempt is almost always better than the last and the next attempt will be better than this one. Let young people know that you notice their improvement and are proud of them for that. They will rise, or at least try to rise, to your level of expectation on subsequent attempts. They only fail if they quit and they only quit if you let them. Don’t let them quit!
As we bring this installment to a close, keep these things in mind. Confidence is important and we want to foster that, but we also need to help students see things as they are rather than how they wish them. We need to help students to prepare themselves. No matter how much rhetoric we throw around suggesting we are preparing them for something, it is ineffective. We must show them how to prepare themselves. Finally, failure isn’t real. Show your students through demonstration that improvement is the real measure of a pursuit of success. It’s okay to take multiple attempts just don’t quit. If you quit on your students, they will quit on themselves and that’s on us.
