Teaching Students Grit and Ownership

Grit can be described as its own acronym: guts, resilience, integrity and tenacity. Ownership is essential for grit to be fostered throughout education as students need to be invested as a learner in their actual learning experience. One characteristic that has emerged as a significant predictor of success is grit; regardless of socioeconomic status, social intelligence and IQ. Grit and ownership are something that can be instinctual; however, will easily be influenced and reinforced if mediocrity is celebrated at an overwhelming rate. Reaching mastery on a task is often overlooked with the over-saturation and exposure to the breadth of curriculum and activities offered to our youth today. Grit and ownership are something that teachers use to compare themselves to today’s youth and their students. Rather than lecturing the “back in my day” approach, educators can find unique and personalized methods to approach this topic with their students through this course. In some cases, students in poverty have to overcome many obstacles just to make it to school which is a demonstration of grit in itself. The purpose of this course is to examine the approaches that educators amongst all grade levels can utilize in taking attention to teaching beyond the classroom. Rather than reciting curriculum, participants of this course will apply these practices within their lessons while developing a more fluid and flexible approach to teaching students with various needs. This course is appropriate for all K-12 educators.