In Pursuit of Perseverance

In Pursuit of Perseverance
Children are asked as part of our Common Core standards to ….persevere through difficult tasks.  Our students are expected to perform well in many areas-- tests, classwork, character, and collaborative conversations.  We all know students who seem to give up quickly and ask for our help. These behaviors can halt progress and are frustrating to both the student and teacher. Students do not come to school knowing how to move from “This is too hard” to “This may take some effort but I can do it.”    So the big question is: How do we teach perseverance in our classrooms?
How often do we see anxiety skyrocket in our students within the first few minutes of struggling?  Whether it’s a new concept, partner talk, or friendship trouble. I’ve come to the conclusion: kids need more practice with perseverance. They need to learn that mistakes are opportunities to learn.
	Perseverance is one of the important traits developed by experience.  Struggling with a new concept, working out playground issues, writing a story or having an engaging conversation develop perseverance.  When you hear the life stories of famous visionaries, they always have one trait in common: perseverance.  Most people fail repeatedly before they experience success.  It is up to us as educators to unleash the internal drive for success in our students and a “never give up” attitude.  Part of my job as a teacher is to push, nudge, and challenge...then wait, step back, and not interfere to quickly.  That’s hard to do, but it’s in that struggle that growth happens.
“The greatest mistake you can make in life is to be continually fearing you will make a mistake.”  – Elbert Hubbard
In order to help students build stamina and perseverance, it’s important to incorporate it into your classroom culture.
	So I am in the midst of building my “Dream Team” and we are using and enjoying our Kagan structures to have collaborative conversations.  But, we’ve come to a halt when it comes to next steps.  I pose a question, they have think time, and then they share with their A/B shoulder partner.  When I stopped and listened to their responses they were becoming too structured. Where are the conversations?  Ok, so I asked them to start asking their partner questions.  Questions? They looked at me like I was crazy!  It’s  tough and they wanted to revert back to their sentence frames for help.  Which I am totally fine with as long as that frame gets them to a real conversation. My kids were getting frustrated because they didn’t know how to get to where I was asking them to go.  I had to teach perseverance!  I started with : Modeling- Kids love to hear personal stories from their teachers.  Telling them about a time I failed, but persevered through it was a great way to help them see that everyone feels like giving up sometimes. Several times, I modeled what a conversation looks like with another student.  I showed them that even though we struggled we persevered through it.  It’s key to ask them “What did you notice about our conversation?”  Have them brainstorm- “What are some ideas you have for what to do if you get stuck?” Then have them practice, practice, practice. Practice makes progress!   As they practice, provide feedback and positive praise. Model what positive self/partner talk looks like- “I know I/you can do this if I/you keep trying.” Or just simply telling their partner “You got this!” Remember don’t rush to fix problems for them,  teach them how to fix problems for themselves and watch their confidence soar.  You Got This! Positively Teaching, Randi Muehlen