Should Grit be taught?

I recently read a column written by Jill Barshay entitled 'Grit under Attack.' Grit in the title is a  psychological term originally defined by Angela Duckworth and used to describe the perseverance and tenacity that must be shown if people are to be successful in life. Angela Duckworth suggests that Grit is not fixed and can be taught, developed and encouraged. Some schools have shaped their curriculums to support the development of grit and some even measure this characteristic through standardised tests.
I have been considering the notion of Grit for some time and although it is undoubtedly a desirable quality, I have often wondered if it might be an elitist concept. The column suggests that US researchers have been unable to confirm that Grit is measurable or that the teaching of Grit has any impact on academic outcomes. I cannot claim to have conducted scientific tests on this subject, therefore although my experiences are real, my opinions are purely theoretical.
As a pastoral leader of a comprehensive school I work with pupils from a range of backgrounds and abilities. Some of my students came into year seven fully loaded with Grit. They are almost effortlessly able to self regulate and seem determined to improve and progress. Their school life is simply another step on the ladder to success and these learners seem to take advantage of every opportunity that our school provides. They perform well in examinations, complete homework, bring equipment and are polite and cooperative members of our school community. Other pupils are less conscientious and appear to care a lot less about their school reputation and their future. I have interviewed many of them about their attitude to learning and one issue in particular seems to divide them. Simply, our 'grittier' pupils are able to imagine their future and feel that they are working towards it and the less gritty pupils cannot seem to think beyond the present day.
It is possible that the parents of pupils with Grit often have high expectations of their children and promote aspiration and often the parents of those who demonstrate a lack of grit do not seem to expect their children to succeed academically. This does not mean that they do not care about their children or that they are neglectful. They might have underachieved in life themselves and they might be prepared to excuse their children for doing the same.
Angela Duckworth believes that Grit can be built and I am beginning to believe that this might be true. In recent mentoring sessions with some of the year group's underachieving pupils I asked them what they would like to be in the future. All of the pupils were unable to answer the question. I asked them to tell me about hobbies or school subjects that they enjoy and this question resulted in a more positive response. It was almost as if they had never considered how their hobbies and skills could be used in a future career. They had never been asked to make that connection before and they seemed to be excited by the idea that the things that they enjoy could eventually pay their bills. I listened to their ideas and made informal career suggestions for them. I then told them how school could help them to achieve their proposed career and we worked out a 'flight path' for them. Interestingly, the behaviour for learning of some of the pupils has already improved and (again anecdotally) teachers have noticed a difference. It seems clear to me that for Grit to be developed our students need to have dreams and aspirations.
When I ask my more motivated students to tell me what drives them to work hard and be resilient they give me a variety of responses. Many are driven by the fact that they do not want to let their parents down. They want them to feel proud and they say that their success is payback for all of the love and time that has been invested in them. Some pupils say that their friends encourage them to keep going and to show Grit. They see their friends working hard and making progress and they believe that they can do it too. Some pupils tell me that their parents do not make demands on them, but they are still driven to succeed because they themselves want a good job and a happy future. These responses come from pupils with a variety of backgrounds and circumstances.
One pupil told me that he works hard to improve in one particular subject simply because he loves it. He tells me that he doesn't even notice the time passing when he is working in that lesson and he is always sad when that lesson is over. He takes risks and is not afraid to be wrong because he knows that he will learn. In his book 'How Finding your Passion Changes Everything' Ken Robinson suggests that pupils should be encouraged to discover and pursue their passions. Grit is effortless when your mind is engaged in an activity which brings you joy. "If you love doing something, you'll be constantly drawn to get better at it" (Finding your Element - Ken Robinson)
It would seem that grit is difficult to pinpoint and develop in our students because motivation is personal. Perhaps the answer lies in a more creative and innovative curriculum and a learning environment which promotes risk, wrong turns and collaboration. We also cannot ignore the fact that Grit is also about our attitudes when we do not want to do something. We could perhaps consider the benefits of reviewing our PSE, careers education and mentoring programmes at key stage three.
In answer to my original question, I do not believe that Grit should or could be taught in a prescriptive way. If our students are engaged in their learning and surrounded by positive role models, then Grit and self regulation will come naturally, regardless of background and circumstances. Evidence of this character trait should be celebrated with our students and personal motivation journeys should be shared.
Thank you for reading BexK06

The Easyjet philosopher - why some pupils do not succeed

On a recent trip abroad I had the pleasure of being seated next to a total stranger. My first impression of my fellow passenger was that he was an average middle aged man travelling alone. He helped me to stow my hand luggage and teased me about the weight of my bag. He told me that he would not be needing luggage where he was going and he had not even felt it necessary to bring a coat. This intrigued me and I asked him why. He told me that he was going to a garage in Barcelona to pick up a van which he needed to drive to deliver to another garage in Paris. He would be flying home from Paris that evening and he didn't foresee any difficulties. A coat would not be needed. If anything happened he would simply 'sort himself out.' He wasn't a planner and in his opinion, this was his weakness and his strength.
In the departure lounge I had been reading Matthew Syed's 'Black Box Thinking' and had just finished the chapter entitled 'Marginal Gains.' The chapter discusses the importance of breaking a big project down into smaller steps and narrowly focussing on improving each step. At that exact moment, I understood this to mean that if you fail to prepare, you should prepare to fail and I started to challenge him about his clear failure to plan for his journey.
He laughed and told me that I had misunderstood him and possibly the book that I was reading. This was not the first time that he had completed a job like this. He had undertaken the same journey several times and had learnt many valuable lessons along the way:
"The first time I went to a garage, I was too confident and I thought that I would be able to find the garage myself. I got on the tube in Barcelona and I missed my stop. I ended up losing the job because I couldn't get to the garage in time to pick the van up. I have never made that mistake again and today there will be a taxi driver waiting for me at the airport. I just give him the name of the garage and he takes me there. It costs me extra, but it's worth it!"
He told me that he chooses to make savings in other ways and prioritises the things that are going to improve his service for his customers:
"I never take luggage and I never eat food on the plane. It's too expensive and I have found out that my Spanish clients really like to give me a restaurant recommendation. When I see them next time they remember me and ask what I thought about the food. They book me again then and I get to try lots of different food."
Clearly he had indeed broken the big picture into several stages and through trial and error had improved each stage to create a more successful delivery service.
At this point he revealed that the delivery company belonged to him and he told me his story. He had been an unhappy factory worker with a boss he didn't like. He wanted to work outside and meet people from a variety of backgrounds and cultures:
"I love people. I collect them and the people that I have met in my life have been my best teachers. I knew that being stuck in a factory meant that I was missing out."
He told me that he bought a van and advertised himself as a 'man with a van.' At that point he was prepared to do anything that his clients needed. He said yes to everything at the beginning, took risks and took on a variety of contracts from emptying houses after life failures to transporting kitchen parts abroad;
"I saw everything in those first few years. I saw people at their most heartbroken, I helped people to make a fresh start and some of my jobs disgusted me but I carried on. There was so much dirt and everything was soiled. I don't understand why people would choose to live so unhappily. Life is a choice and you don't have to be dirty or unhappy. If things aren't good and you are unhappy or you can imagine something better, you have to make changes."
He told me that he used these early experiences to help him to spot gaps in the transportation market. He began to specialise and bought an extra van and employed another driver to continue to do the jobs that he did not enjoy. He passes some of the jobs that he doesn't want to do on to a friend of his and the friend returns the favour. He strongly believes that to be successful you have to be patient and flexible, work with others and build a local reputation first:
"People think that it is cheaper and safer to choose someone local and I use that belief to my advantage. I help local companies to deliver their products. They rely on me and we grow together. That's why I bought another van to deliver a local kitchen company's products internationally. Our businesses are now international and we are very proud of that. It takes longer but life isn't always about getting there quickly. You have to enjoy the scenery"
He explained that failure has helped him to learn:
" In the early days I called people to advertise my services and was often told 'no.' Instead of putting the phone down, I asked them to tell me about the companies that they were already using and asked them how much they were paying. I then made sure that my business undercut them, called them back and I got the contracts."
I asked him about his plans for the future and he said that he had no intention of expanding his business. He smiled and said that he could be a millionaire, but he knows that his family life and happiness would suffer:
"I want to have just enough to make my family happy and I want to be around every day to see them enjoying what I have provided. If they need more, I will work harder. For me, that is what success is."
I realised at this point in our conversation that I had met a rare person. He was possibly one of only two percent of people that manage to achieve Abraham Maslow's state of self-actualisation (Maslow - 1970) According to Maslow, success does not equate with perfection but with achievement of one's potential. Maslow describes a hierarchy of motivational needs from the most basic (food, shelter etc.) to the higher needs of personal fulfilment, social acceptance and self-esteem. We are motivated to move through the hierarchy of needs until we achieve our potential in our own unique ways. If our most basic needs are not met, we fail to make progress. Maslow's triangle is a useful tool to help us to understand why some of our students fail to make progress in their academic and personal lives. Our under-achieving pupils will focus on securing their most basic needs before they can progress to the next level. They are unable to imagine their future and are not motivated to work towards it because the present day is a battle to survive. Success for some of our pupils is simply being able to get through the day with appropriate food, sleep, shelter, safety, love and the acceptance of their peers.

As he helped me to collect my luggage on the way out I asked him if he was worried about driving in the notoriously challenging Paris traffic. He paused and replied:
"I'll be alright. We haven't always got time to read the signs. You just need to find the centre and it's easy from there."

Thanks for reading, Becky   @BexK06

I

R.I.P Smokey - how the sad death of a cat helped me to understand the Chimp Paradox

Last night I became a local hero. It came as something of a shock to me and interestingly it was not  as a direct result of my actions. It also led me to think that I might just have seen Prof Steve Peters' Chimp Paradox at work.
In his book, 'The Chimp Paradox' (The Mind Management Programme for Confidence, Success and Happiness) he explains that our brain is made up of two smaller brains the frontal or Human brain as he calls it and the limbic or Chimp brain. The chimp brain interprets information with feelings and reacts emotionally and the human brain searches for facts, applies logical thinking and tries to establish truth. Our chimp brain is much stronger than our human brain which explains why we so often act on impulse and later regret the things that we did or said.
At the top of my street a little black cat had sadly been knocked down and was lying in the road. I didn't really like to think of it being hit again so I picked it up and moved it to a grass verge with the help of a passing motorist. Thinking quickly, I decided that if it were my little black cat I would like to know. We have a local news and gossip Facebook page so I posted a comment about the cat's sad demise in the hope of reuniting it with its owner. My human brain told me that this would be a quick and effective way of spreading the message. My post looked like this:
Sorry but a black cat has been knocked down at the top of  Donald Road. It is dead sadly. If it is yours, we have put it on the grass verge opposite the junction with the post box. Sorry again.
I have never been in a situation like this before and upon reflection (another human brain characteristic) I possibly was a bit frank with my use of the phrase 'it is dead.' Given my lack of experience, I did what I thought was right, but within two minutes of submitting the post I received the following reply.

My chimp brain reacted quite strongly to this message. I felt quite angry that this lady had not recognised my good deed and my quick thinking. In my head I formulated a strongly worded reply, but as I was thinking I started to doubt myself. Had I been inconsiderate or even dismissive of the significance of this cat's death? Was there something more that I should have done? Her message actually gave me some advice. Maybe I should call the council. My angry reply started to fade from my mind and self doubt invaded my thoughts. My chimp brain was starting to howl again. Just in time another message popped up.

Taking lessons from The Chimp Paradox and with the reassurance of another person's support, I replied to the first lady calmly explaining my choices. By doing this I was hoping to calm both of our chimps. I wanted her to know that I knew that her chimp had written that first message and most importantly I wanted to acknowledge that she had actually helped me to find a solution to the dilemma. 

After that 49 people wrote messages thanking me for my kindness, offering advice and even sharing stories about the sad passing of their pets. So far, hers has been the only negative message that I have received. 

The group reaction to the situation and the confidence that I took from it reminds me of the Chimp's need for a troop. According to Prof Steve Peters, we all need a troop to stand by us and protect us. Our troop will also help us, nurture us and develop us. My troop seemed to agree that I had done my best and even the writer of the original message eventually chose to join the troop by publicly 'liking' my explanation rather than standing by her original beliefs. She did not want to be outside the troop because it was a very hostile place. Imagine if the same 49 people had united against me? It could very easily have happened. I have to live here and I wonder how a united display of unkindness towards me might have impacted upon my daily habits in my local community. Would I have stopped going to my local Spar this week or even looked to move away from the area?

Interestingly despite the strong show of support and solidarity for which I was very grateful, I only received two offers of help and a kind private message of emotional support. I did end up picking the cat up and taking it to the vet myself this morning. Did I actually expect someone to take care of it for me? Would that expectation have been realistic given the apparent care and empathy of my troop. They might have had jobs to do, children to care for or they might just be squeamish about that sort of thing. Prof Peters tells us that we should try not to make assumptions or have preconceived expectations of others. We should not judge until we know the full facts and have taken the time to find the truth. If someone that we care about lets us down, it is probably because our expectations of them were unrealistic in the first place. 

As adolescents, our chimp brain dominates the human brain which explains why our pupils care so much about what others think. Their fear of being rejected by their troop at a time when they are facing some of life's biggest challenges is very real and completely understandable. Our role as advisers in their troops should not be underestimated. 

Understanding the chimp paradox can help us and our learners to become happier and more successful. The book offers simple and effective ways to understand and tame our reactions and ultimately improve our lives and our relationships. 

Thanks for reading. Becky @BexK06

Is there anybody out there? - first impressions of blogging and tweeting

After reading 'The Revolution will be Livestreamed by @tombennett71  I thought that I might share my first impressions of blogging and tweeting. My thoughts might be of interest to someone or maybe not. That's the problem with this way of communicating you never really seem to know. One man's like is another man's twitter litter.
I have owned/managed/been in possession of a twitter account for some time. I have followed some of the biggest hitters in education, borrowed some ideas and used my knowledge to develop lessons. I have been a magpie and a hoarder, but I haven't really given much in return. I hadn't even thought to retweet the ideas that have inspired me to improve.
This week I have challenged myself to start a blog and to engage with twitter and it has been a steep learning curve. As a mid-career teacher I thought that I might have some ideas that are worth sharing and if I am honest, I was hoping to achieve cyber meltdown by the end of the week!
Twitter is a tempting sweetshop of ideas and people worth following. The apparent proximity of some of the best minds in the business is both inspiring and intimidating. This week I have plucked up the courage to try to join in with some conversations. Most people have been welcoming and accepting and some people have simply ignored me. This is not their fault, it's mine. I have joined the swarm of people all following the crowd for fear of missing out on the next excellent idea. Their monopolistic twitter presence is perhaps too big to notice and respond to all comments and questions. I don't really know why I expected to be noticed at all. As in all hierarchical structures, you must earn your stripes and my ideas may not be good enough. I have been surprised by some who despite their hoards of followers have acknowledged me and have even offered advice, retweets and likes.
I am still working out the rules of twitter etiquette, do I thank people for follows, retweets and comments or is that a bit desperate? Should I wait to respond to comments to give the impression of actually having a life or will I miss the boat if I don't? Should I tell people that they have inspired me or is that too sycophantic and frankly a bit creepy? Why do I even care about what people think?Luckily I can turn to more experienced twitter using colleagues for guidance. This is quite important I think, and this week I have relied on a few trusted proof readers to check my blog posts before I risk making a cyber fool of myself.
Twitter fascinates me. I wonder why after a week I am still so excited to get a retweet, to know that someone has read my blog or chosen to follow me. The instant gratification that we get from this is certainly addictive, but why am I hoping for acknowledgement and even praise? Where has this need for validation of my teaching ideas come from? Am I knowingly creating a new and potentially destructive habit for myself? Only time will tell...one thing is for certain, I am enjoying this new challenge. It is very reassuring to know that in my (limited) experience most teachers are on twitter simply to learn more and to celebrate and learn from the small successes of others.
Thanks for reading Becky  BexK06