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National Center on Safe Supportive Learning Environments

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National Center on Safe Supportive Learning Environments

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National Center on Safe Supportive Learning Environments

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The contents of the National Center on Safe Supportive Learning Environments Web site were assembled under contracts from the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Safe and Supportive Schools to the American Institutes for Research (AIR), Contract Number 91990021A0020.

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The Evidence Base for How We Learn: Supporting Students’ Social, Emotional, and Academic Development - The Aspen Institute

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The Evidence Base for How We Learn: Supporting Students’ Social, Emotional, and Academic Development - The Aspen Institute

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The Evidence Base for How We Learn: Supporting Students' Social, Emotional, and Academic Development articulates the scientific consensus regarding how people learn. The research brief presents a set of consensus statements-developed and unanimously signed onto by the Commission's Council of Distinguished Scientists-that affirm the interconnectedness of social, emotional, and academic development as central to the learning process.

The brief draws from brain science, medicine, economics, psychology, and education research to describe why it is essential to address the social, emotional, and cognitive dimensions of learning; how these dimensions together shape students' academic and life outcomes; and how these competencies can be taught throughout childhood, adolescence, and beyond. The evidence outlined in this brief moves the nation beyond the debate as to whether schools should attend to students' social and emotional development, to how schools can integrate social, emotional, and academic development into their daily work.

For a synopsis of the Research Brief, click here

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The Evidence Base for How We Learn: Supporting Students' Social, Emotional, and Academic Development - The Aspen Institute

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The Evidence Base for How We Learn: Supporting Students' Social, Emotional, and Academic Development articulates the scientific consensus regarding how people learn. The research brief presents a set of consensus statements-developed and unanimously signed onto by the Commission's Council of Distinguished Scientists-that affirm the interconnectedness of social, emotional, and academic development as central to the learning process.

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Diana Laufenberg: How to learn? From mistakes | TED Talk | TED.com

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Diana Laufenberg: How to learn? From mistakes | TED Talk | TED.com

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Diana Laufenberg: How to learn? From mistakes

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Diana Laufenberg shares three surprising things she has learned about teaching -- including a key insight about learning from mistakes.

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What makes a hero? - Matthew Winkler - YouTube

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What makes a hero? - Matthew Winkler - YouTube

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Brené Brown: The power of vulnerability | TED Talk | TED.com

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Brené Brown: The power of vulnerability | TED Talk | TED.com

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Brené Brown studies human connection -- our ability to empathize, belong, love. In a poignant, funny talk, she shares a deep insight from her research, one that sent her on a personal quest to know herself as well as to understand humanity. A talk to share.

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Discover great apps, games, extensions and themes for Google Chrome.

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Metacognition: Nurturing Self-Awareness in the Classroom | Edutopia

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Metacognition: Nurturing Self-Awareness in the Classroom | Edutopia

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How do children gain a deeper understanding of how they think, feel, and act so that they can improve their learning and develop meaningful relationships? Since antiquity, philosophers have been intrigued with how human beings develop self-awareness -- the ability to examine and understand who we are relative to the world around us. Today, research not only shows that self-awareness evolves during childhood, but also that its development is linked to metacognitive processes of the brain.

Making Sense of Life Experiences

Most teachers know that if students reflect on how they learn, they become better learners. For example, some students may think and process information best in a quiet library, while others may focus better surrounded by familiar noise or music. Learning strategies that work for math may be different from those applied in the study of a foreign language. For some, it takes more time to understand biology than chemistry. With greater awareness of how they acquire knowledge, students learn to regulate their behavior to optimize learning. They begin to see how their strengths and weaknesses affect how they perform. The ability to think about one's thinking is what neuroscientists call metacognition. As students' metacognitive abilities increase, research suggests they also achieve at higher levels.

Metacognition plays an important role in all learning and life experiences. Beyond academic learning, when students gain awareness of their own mental states, they begin to answer important questions:

How do I live a happy life?

How do I become a respected human being?

How do I feel good about myself?

Through these reflections, they also begin to understand other people's perspectives.

At a recent international workshop, philosophers and neuroscientists gathered to discuss self-awareness and how it is linked to metacognition. Scientists believe that self-awareness, associated with the paralimbic network of the brain, serves as a "tool for monitoring and controlling our behavior and adjusting our beliefs of the world, not only within ourselves, but, importantly, between individuals." This higher-order thinking strategy actually changes the structure of the brain, making it more flexible and open to even greater learning.

Self-awareness is part of The Compass Advantage™ (a model designed for engaging families, schools, and communities in the principles of positive youth development) because it plays a critical role in how students make sense of life experiences. Linked by research to each of the other Compass abilities, particularly empathy, curiosity, and sociability, self-awareness is one of the 8 Pathways to Every Student's Success.

Self-awareness plays a critical role in improved learning because it helps students become more efficient at focusing on what they still need to learn. The ability to think about one's thinking increases with age. Research shows that most growth of metacognitive ability happens between ages 12 and 15 (PDF, 199KB). When teachers cultivate students' abilities to reflect on, monitor, and evaluate their learning strategies, young people become more self-reliant, flexible, and productive. Students improve their capacity to weigh choices and evaluate options, particularly when answers are not obvious. When students have difficulty understanding, they rely on reflective strategies to recognize their difficulties and attempt to rectify them. Improving metacognitive strategies related to students' schoolwork also provides young people with tools to reflect and grow in their emotional and social lives.

7 Strategies That Improve Metacognition

1. Teach students how their brains are wired for growth.

The beliefs that students adopt about learning and their own brains will affect their performance. Research shows that when students develop a growth mindset vs. a fixed mindset, they are more likely to engage in reflective thinking about how they learn and grow. Teaching kids about the science of metacognition can be an empowering tool, helping students to understand how they can literally grow their own brains.

2. Give students practice recognizing what they don't understand.

The act of being confused and identifying one's lack of understanding is an important part of developing self-awareness. Take time at the end of a challenging class to ask, "What was most confusing about the material we explored today?" This not only jumpstarts metacognitive processing, but also creates a classroom culture that acknowledges confusion as an integral part of learning.

3. Provide opportunities to reflect on coursework.

Higher-order thinking skills are fostered as students learn to recognize their own cognitive growth. Questions that help this process might include:

Before this course, I thought earthquakes were caused by _______. Now I understand them to be the result of _______.

How has my thinking about greenhouse gases changed since taking this course?

4. Have students keep learning journals.

One way to help students monitor their own thinking is through the use of personal learning journals. Assign weekly questions that help students reflect on how rather than what they learned. Questions might include:

What was easiest for me to learn this week? Why?

What was most challenging for me to learn? Why?

What study strategies worked well as I prepared for my exam?

What strategies for exam preparation didn't work well? What will I do differently next time?

What study habits worked best for me? How?

What study habit will I try or improve upon next week?

Encourage creative expression through whatever journal formats work best for learners, including mind maps, blogs, wikis, diaries, lists, e-tools, etc.

5. Use a "wrapper" to increase students' monitoring skills.

A "wrapper" is a short intervention that surrounds an existing activity and integrates a metacognitive practice. Before a lecture, for example, give a few tips about active listening. Following the lecture, ask students to write down three key ideas from the lecture. Afterward, share what you believe to be the three key ideas and ask students to self-check how closely theirs matched your intended goals. When used often, this activity not only increases learning, but also improves metacognitive monitoring skills.

6. Consider essay vs. multiple-choice exams.

Research shows that students use lower-level thinking skills to prepare for multiple-choice exams, and higher-level metacognitive skills to prepare for essay exams. While it is less time consuming to grade multiple-choice questions, even the addition of several short essay questions can improve the way students reflect on their learning to prepare for test taking.

7. Facilitate reflexive thinking.

Reflexivity is the metacognitive process of becoming aware of our biases -- prejudices that get in the way of healthy development. Teachers can create a classroom culture for deeper learning and reflexivity by encouraging dialogue that challenges human and societal biases. When students engage in conversations or write essays on biases and moral dilemmas related to politics, wealth, racism, poverty, justice, liberty, etc., they learn to "think about their own thinking." They begin to challenge their own biases and become more flexible and adaptive thinkers.

What other ways do you help students reflect on their thinking in your classroom?

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Metacognition: Nurturing Self-Awareness in the Classroom | Edutopia

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How do children gain a deeper understanding of how they think, feel, and act so that they can improve their learning and develop meaningful relationships? Since antiquity, philosophers have been intrigued with how human beings develop self-awareness -- the ability to examine and understand who we are relative to the world around us.

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Resilience: The Other 21st Century Skills | User Generated Education

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Resilience: The Other 21st Century Skills | User Generated Education

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Resilience: The Other 21st Century Skills

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Due to the interest of my post The Other 21st Skills, I decided to individually discuss each of the skills or dispositions I proposed that are in addition to the seven survival skills as identified by Tony Wagner. This post focuses on resiliency. The first post focused on Grit: The Other 21st Century Skills.

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Strategies for Strengthening the Brain’s Executive Functions | Edutopia

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Strategies for Strengthening the Brain’s Executive Functions | Edutopia

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Editor's note: This post is co-authored by Marcus Conyers who, with Donna Wilson, is co-developer of the M.S. and Ed.S. Brain-Based Teaching degree programs at Nova Southeastern University.
Earlier in Donna's career as a teacher and school psychologist, she assessed, diagnosed, and helped to create interventions for children and youth who had difficulty with their executive functioning. Today as teacher educators, we are pleased that our graduates are increasing students' cognitive, metacognitive, and executive functioning in classrooms around the world (as just one example, Texas teacher Diane Dahl blogs on teaching metacognition).

What Are Executive Functions?

Through explicit instruction and modeling, students can come to recognize the importance of taking charge of their executive functioning in their academic endeavors and later in their careers.

Executive functions can be defined as the awareness and directive capacities of the mind. By wielding these skills and abilities, students decide where to focus their attention and which tasks to undertake. As a general rule of thumb, when students of any age have difficulty completing developmentally appropriate academic tasks on their own, executive functioning may be at the root of the problem.

In the human brain, executive functions are primarily regulated by the prefrontal regions (just behind the forehead) of the frontal lobes. Neuroscientists and psychologists have made significant gains in understanding the brain's executive functioning over the past several decades.

An appropriate metaphor that often helps students and educators alike understand the role of executive functioning in thinking and behavior is to imagine an orchestra conductor. The conductor chooses what work the orchestra will perform, decides how to interpret that work, sets the tempo for the performance, and directs each section of musicians to contribute at the appropriate time. In the same way, executive functioning allows us to:

1. Activate awareness

2. Self-regulate by cueing, directing, and coordinating the various cognitive skills necessary for moment-to-moment functioning

3. Establish goals and make long-term plans

4. Maintain a self-image of being in charge of our learning and actions

Students can and should be taught to develop their executive functioning as a path to self-directed learning and self-determined living.

Making Connections

We have found that educators today are more interested than ever in teaching students to wield powerful learning and thinking tools. In other blog posts and articles we have written with Edutopia and elsewhere, we have shared popular, practical strategies for increasing students' executive functioning by teaching them how and when to employ cognitive assets, metacognition, working memory, and selective attention. All of these learning tools come together under the umbrella of executive functioning.

Incorporating instruction on executive functions into content lessons emphasizes that:

1. Students are in charge of their learning.

2. Honing their use of these skills and abilities will improve their performance in school and beyond.

Teaching students that they are the "conductors of their own brains" conveys the need to master a wide range of thinking and learning tools for use across core academic subjects, in their personal lives, and later in their college years and careers. Success in the 21st century demands self-directed learners and independent, creative thinkers.

Classroom Strategies to Support Executive Functioning

From elementary through high school and into adulthood, students will benefit from these opportunities to understand and develop their executive functioning:

1. Introduce the concept of executive functions and refer to these learning tools explicitly and often.

Define executive functioning, and lead discussions on how being aware of their thinking and taking control of their learning can help students achieve success in school and other aspects of their lives. A key message is that using executive functions often and effectively doesn't just happen -- we all have to work toward developing these abilities. Apply metaphors of executive functioning (the brain's conductor or air traffic controller, for example), and invite students to share examples of how they can use executive functioning in their lessons and activities outside of school. How do adults use executive functioning in their jobs? How do the actions of characters in stories demonstrate executive functioning?

2. Provide student-centered opportunities to put executive functioning to work.

Include students in setting learning goals for lessons, and let them choose their own books for independent reading and subjects for classroom projects. Giving students choices enhances motivation by giving them a chance to think about subjects that interest them, and also underscores that they are in charge of their learning.

3. Be the "prefrontal cortex" for your class.

Articulate and model effective thinking practices. For example, clearly state your intent for a learning activity and demonstrate the steps of planning, carrying out, and assessing the outcomes of the activity. Identify up front any thorny problems and tough spots in new lesson content, and talk through possible strategies for identifying and overcoming any learning difficulties that arise. Use cues to remind students when activating their executive functions might be useful.

4. Catch students using executive functions effectively.

Congratulate students who recognize and correct mistakes to emphasize that mistakes are prime learning opportunities. Recognize not just the finished product, but also the hard work and the steps of planning and execution that students accomplished in completing a big project. Especially celebrate the successes of students who've struggled with taking charge of their learning in the past.

5. Clearly state classroom rules that support positive and productive learning interactions.

A well-organized environment with predictable rules allows students to more easily focus on the learning tasks at hand.

How do you approach teaching and encouraging students to develop their executive functioning in your classroom?

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Strategies for Strengthening the Brain's Executive Functions | Edutopia

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Editor's note: This post is co-authored by Marcus Conyers who, with Donna Wilson, is co-developer of the M.S. and Ed.S. Brain-Based Teaching degree programs at Nova Southeastern University. Earlier in Donna's career as a teacher and school psychologist, she assessed, diagnosed, and helped to create interventions for children and youth who had difficulty with their executive functioning.

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Angela Lee Duckworth: The key to success? Grit | Talk Video | TED.com

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Angela Lee Duckworth: The key to success? Grit | Talk Video | TED.com

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Angela Lee Duckworth: Grit: The power of passion and perseverance

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Leaving a high-flying job in consulting, Angela Lee Duckworth took a job teaching math to seventh graders in a New York public school. She quickly realized that IQ wasn't the only thing separating the successful students from those who struggled. Here, she explains her theory of "grit" as a predictor of success.

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Character & Academics - KIPP Public Charter Schools | Knowledge Is Power Program

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Character & Academics - KIPP Public Charter Schools | Knowledge Is Power Program

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Success in life depends on both academics and character. We help students foster character strengths that are essential for their own success and well-being. And we empower them to express their voice to improve the world around them.

Work hard. Be nice.

A focus on character has been the cornerstone of KIPP since we began and is still the essence of what we believe: to succeed in college and the world beyond, KIPPsters need both a strong academic foundation and well-developed character strengths. They're deeply interconnected and we never compromise one for the other.

KIPP's character work focuses on the seven strengths that are critical for an engaged, happy, and successful life. Our character framework was developed by educators at KIPP NYC in collaboration with Dr. Angela Duckworth, Dr. Martin Seligman, and the late Dr. Chris Peterson, and in partnership with Riverdale Country School.

Every adult in this building models the kind of character we hope to build and grow in our students.

Allison Willis Holley, School Leader, KIPP NYC

Students see how my journey might be similar to theirs. I try to lead by example. I try to show them what grit and optimism look like in real life.

Leyla Bravo-Willey, Fisher Fellow

What Else Makes KIPP Different?

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Character strengths | Learn why KIPP focuses on character development

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Success in life depends on both academics and character. We help students foster character strengths that are essential for their own success and well-being. And we empower them to express their voice to improve the world around them. Work hard. Be nice.

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Resilience and Grit: Resource Roundup | Edutopia

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Resilience and Grit: Resource Roundup | Edutopia

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Resources on Developing Resilience, Grit, and Growth Mindset | Edutopia

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Resources related to building the skills young people need to confront adversity, cope with challenges, and persevere to attain goals.

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True Grit: The Best Measure of Success and How to Teach It | Edutopia

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True Grit: The Best Measure of Success and How to Teach It | Edutopia

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Can you predict academic success or whether a child will graduate? You can, but not how you might think.

When psychologist Angela Duckworth studied people in various challenging situations, including National Spelling Bee participants, rookie teachers in tough neighborhoods, and West Point cadets, she found:

One characteristic emerged as a significant predictor of success. And it wasn't social intelligence. It wasn't good looks, physical health, and it wasn't IQ. It was grit.

Why is Grit So Important?

Using the Grit Scale that Duckworth developed with Chris Peterson, they found that grit is a better indicator of GPA and graduation rates. (IQ, however, is very predictive of standardized test scores.)

Add to this the findings (from Bowen, Chingos and McPherson's Crossing the Finish Line) that high school grades have a more predictive value of college success than standardized tests, and you may just see a shift from standardized test scores to high school GPA by some college admissions officers. As GPA becomes more important, grit will become more recognized as a vital part of 21st century student success -- as well it should be.

What is Grit?

Some would argue that grit is inherent in Albert Bandura's research on self-efficacy, and that resilience is also part of it. But you can't just implement "character education" and think you're teaching grit. In 2008, the Character Education Partnership divided character into two categories: core ethical values and performance values. In my opinion, grit would be categorized as a performance value.

Can Grit be Taught?

Here are 11 ways that I'm tackling grit in my classroom and school.
1. Read Books About Grit
Read books, hold book studies and discuss trends. Measuring noncognitive factors like grit will be controversial, but just because we struggle to measure it doesn't mean that we can stop trying.
Book Reading List: Trend Reading: 2. Talk About Grit
First, I give my students the grit scale test and let them score it. Then we watch Angela Duckworth's TED video together and talk about the decisions we make that impact grit. Empower students to educate themselves -- they can't wait for educators to figure this out.
3. Share Examples
In my ninth grade classroom, January starts with a video about John Foppe, born with no arms, who excelled as an honor student, drove his own car, and became a successful psychologist and speaker while creatively using his feet. We also talk to Westwood alum Scott Rigsby, the first double amputee to complete an Ironman competition. These are gritty people. Life is hard, and luck is an illusion.
4. Help Students Develop a Growth Mindset
Carol Dweck from Stanford University teaches us that students who have a growth mindset are more successful than those who think that intelligence is fixed. (See David Hochheiser's post Growth Mindset: A Driving Philosophy, Not Just a Tool.)
5. Reframe Problems
Using stories and examples from Malcom Gladwell's book David and Goliath, we talk about "desirable difficulties." Students need perspective about problems to prevent them from giving up, quitting or losing hope.
6. Find a Framework
I use Angela Maiers' Classroom Habitudes as my framework. The KIPP framework specifically includes grit as one of its seven traits. Find one that works for your school and includes clear performance values.
7. Live Grittily
You teach with your life. Perhaps that is why Randy Pausch's Last Lecture and David Menasche's Priority List resonate. These teachers used their own battle with death itself as a way to teach. But you don't have to die to be an effective teacher. Our own work ethic yells so loudly that kids know exactly what we think about grit.
8. Foster Safe Circumstances That Encourage Grit
Never mistake engaging, fun or even interesting for easy. We don't jump up and down when we tear off a piece of tape because "I did it." No one celebrates easy, but everyone celebrates championships and winners because those take grit (and more). We need more circumstances to help kids to develop grit before they can "have it."

Tough academic requirements, sports and outdoor opportunities are all ways to provide opportunities for developing grit. Verena Roberts, Chief Innovation Officer of CANeLearn says:

One of the best ways to learn about grit is to focus on outdoor education and go out into the wild. Grit is about not freaking out, taking a deep breath, and moving on.

9. Help Students Develop Intentional Habits
Read about best practices for creating habits, because habits and self-control require grit.
10. Acknowledge the Sacrifice Grit Requires
Grit takes time, and many students aren't giving it. In their 2010 paper " The Falling Time Cost of College", Babcock and Marks demonstrate that, in 1961, U.S. undergraduates studied 24 hours a week outside of class. In 1981, that fell to 20 hours, and in 2003, it was 14 hours per week. This is not to create a blame or generation gap discussion, but rather to point out the cost of being well educated. We are what we do, and if we study less and work less, then we will learn less.
11. Discuss When You Need Grit and When You Need to Quit
Grit is not without controversy. Alfie Kohn has some valid points in his criticism of grit. So read and discuss the opponents of grit in class.

In particular, I agree with the point that there is a time for grit and a time to quit. There are times when it's OK to quit something that just isn't within your range of talents, or when trying something different may enrich your life. Worthy tasks deserve persistence. But there are tasks that would be worthier in a different season of your life. There are jobs that should be left. Sometimes you have to let go of something good to grasp something great. Students need discernment to know when they need grit and when it may be a time to quit.
Educators Need Grit

Now we as teachers just need the grit to do whatever it takes to turn education around, and that starts with hard work and our own modern version of true grit. Teaching it and living it is now front and center in the education conversation.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
True Grit: The Best Measure of Success and How to Teach It | Edutopia

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Can you predict academic success or whether a child will graduate? You can, but not how you might think. When psychologist Angela Duckworth studied people in various challenging situations, including National Spelling Bee participants, rookie teachers in tough neighborhoods, and West Point cadets, she found: One characteristic emerged as a significant predictor of success.

# data[].attributes.headline
True Grit: The Best Measure of Success and How to Teach It | Edutopia

# data[].attributes.subject
True Grit: The Best Measure of Success and How to Teach It | Edutopia

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Can you predict academic success or whether a child will graduate? You can, but not how you might think.

When psychologist Angela Duckworth studied people in various challenging situations, including National Spelling Bee participants, rookie teachers in tough neighborhoods, and West Point cadets, she found:

One characteristic emerged as a significant predictor of success. And it wasn't social intelligence. It wasn't good looks, physical health, and it wasn't IQ. It was grit.

Why is Grit So Important?

Using the Grit Scale that Duckworth developed with Chris Peterson, they found that grit is a better indicator of GPA and graduation rates. (IQ, however, is very predictive of standardized test scores.)

Add to this the findings (from Bowen, Chingos and McPherson's Crossing the Finish Line) that high school grades have a more predictive value of college success than standardized tests, and you may just see a shift from standardized test scores to high school GPA by some college admissions officers. As GPA becomes more important, grit will become more recognized as a vital part of 21st century student success -- as well it should be.

What is Grit?

Some would argue that grit is inherent in Albert Bandura's research on self-efficacy, and that resilience is also part of it. But you can't just implement "character education" and think you're teaching grit. In 2008, the Character Education Partnership divided character into two categories: core ethical values and performance values. In my opinion, grit would be categorized as a performance value.

Can Grit be Taught?

Here are 11 ways that I'm tackling grit in my classroom and school.
1. Read Books About Grit
Read books, hold book studies and discuss trends. Measuring noncognitive factors like grit will be controversial, but just because we struggle to measure it doesn't mean that we can stop trying.
Book Reading List: Trend Reading: 2. Talk About Grit
First, I give my students the grit scale test and let them score it. Then we watch Angela Duckworth's TED video together and talk about the decisions we make that impact grit. Empower students to educate themselves -- they can't wait for educators to figure this out.
3. Share Examples
In my ninth grade classroom, January starts with a video about John Foppe, born with no arms, who excelled as an honor student, drove his own car, and became a successful psychologist and speaker while creatively using his feet. We also talk to Westwood alum Scott Rigsby, the first double amputee to complete an Ironman competition. These are gritty people. Life is hard, and luck is an illusion.
4. Help Students Develop a Growth Mindset
Carol Dweck from Stanford University teaches us that students who have a growth mindset are more successful than those who think that intelligence is fixed. (See David Hochheiser's post Growth Mindset: A Driving Philosophy, Not Just a Tool.)
5. Reframe Problems
Using stories and examples from Malcom Gladwell's book David and Goliath, we talk about "desirable difficulties." Students need perspective about problems to prevent them from giving up, quitting or losing hope.
6. Find a Framework
I use Angela Maiers' Classroom Habitudes as my framework. The KIPP framework specifically includes grit as one of its seven traits. Find one that works for your school and includes clear performance values.
7. Live Grittily
You teach with your life. Perhaps that is why Randy Pausch's Last Lecture and David Menasche's Priority List resonate. These teachers used their own battle with death itself as a way to teach. But you don't have to die to be an effective teacher. Our own work ethic yells so loudly that kids know exactly what we think about grit.
8. Foster Safe Circumstances That Encourage Grit
Never mistake engaging, fun or even interesting for easy. We don't jump up and down when we tear off a piece of tape because "I did it." No one celebrates easy, but everyone celebrates championships and winners because those take grit (and more). We need more circumstances to help kids to develop grit before they can "have it."

Tough academic requirements, sports and outdoor opportunities are all ways to provide opportunities for developing grit. Verena Roberts, Chief Innovation Officer of CANeLearn says:

One of the best ways to learn about grit is to focus on outdoor education and go out into the wild. Grit is about not freaking out, taking a deep breath, and moving on.

9. Help Students Develop Intentional Habits
Read about best practices for creating habits, because habits and self-control require grit.
10. Acknowledge the Sacrifice Grit Requires
Grit takes time, and many students aren't giving it. In their 2010 paper " The Falling Time Cost of College", Babcock and Marks demonstrate that, in 1961, U.S. undergraduates studied 24 hours a week outside of class. In 1981, that fell to 20 hours, and in 2003, it was 14 hours per week. This is not to create a blame or generation gap discussion, but rather to point out the cost of being well educated. We are what we do, and if we study less and work less, then we will learn less.
11. Discuss When You Need Grit and When You Need to Quit
Grit is not without controversy. Alfie Kohn has some valid points in his criticism of grit. So read and discuss the opponents of grit in class.

In particular, I agree with the point that there is a time for grit and a time to quit. There are times when it's OK to quit something that just isn't within your range of talents, or when trying something different may enrich your life. Worthy tasks deserve persistence. But there are tasks that would be worthier in a different season of your life. There are jobs that should be left. Sometimes you have to let go of something good to grasp something great. Students need discernment to know when they need grit and when it may be a time to quit.
Educators Need Grit

Now we as teachers just need the grit to do whatever it takes to turn education around, and that starts with hard work and our own modern version of true grit. Teaching it and living it is now front and center in the education conversation.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
True Grit: The Best Measure of Success and How to Teach It | Edutopia

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Can you predict academic success or whether a child will graduate? You can, but not how you might think. When psychologist Angela Duckworth studied people in various challenging situations, including National Spelling Bee participants, rookie teachers in tough neighborhoods, and West Point cadets, she found: One characteristic emerged as a significant predictor of success.

# data[].attributes.headline
Strategies for Strengthening the Brain’s Executive Functions | Edutopia

# data[].attributes.subject
Strategies for Strengthening the Brain’s Executive Functions | Edutopia

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Editor's note: This post is co-authored by Marcus Conyers who, with Donna Wilson, is co-developer of the M.S. and Ed.S. Brain-Based Teaching degree programs at Nova Southeastern University.
Earlier in Donna's career as a teacher and school psychologist, she assessed, diagnosed, and helped to create interventions for children and youth who had difficulty with their executive functioning. Today as teacher educators, we are pleased that our graduates are increasing students' cognitive, metacognitive, and executive functioning in classrooms around the world (as just one example, Texas teacher Diane Dahl blogs on teaching metacognition).

What Are Executive Functions?

Through explicit instruction and modeling, students can come to recognize the importance of taking charge of their executive functioning in their academic endeavors and later in their careers.

Executive functions can be defined as the awareness and directive capacities of the mind. By wielding these skills and abilities, students decide where to focus their attention and which tasks to undertake. As a general rule of thumb, when students of any age have difficulty completing developmentally appropriate academic tasks on their own, executive functioning may be at the root of the problem.

In the human brain, executive functions are primarily regulated by the prefrontal regions (just behind the forehead) of the frontal lobes. Neuroscientists and psychologists have made significant gains in understanding the brain's executive functioning over the past several decades.

An appropriate metaphor that often helps students and educators alike understand the role of executive functioning in thinking and behavior is to imagine an orchestra conductor. The conductor chooses what work the orchestra will perform, decides how to interpret that work, sets the tempo for the performance, and directs each section of musicians to contribute at the appropriate time. In the same way, executive functioning allows us to:

1. Activate awareness

2. Self-regulate by cueing, directing, and coordinating the various cognitive skills necessary for moment-to-moment functioning

3. Establish goals and make long-term plans

4. Maintain a self-image of being in charge of our learning and actions

Students can and should be taught to develop their executive functioning as a path to self-directed learning and self-determined living.

Making Connections

We have found that educators today are more interested than ever in teaching students to wield powerful learning and thinking tools. In other blog posts and articles we have written with Edutopia and elsewhere, we have shared popular, practical strategies for increasing students' executive functioning by teaching them how and when to employ cognitive assets, metacognition, working memory, and selective attention. All of these learning tools come together under the umbrella of executive functioning.

Incorporating instruction on executive functions into content lessons emphasizes that:

1. Students are in charge of their learning.

2. Honing their use of these skills and abilities will improve their performance in school and beyond.

Teaching students that they are the "conductors of their own brains" conveys the need to master a wide range of thinking and learning tools for use across core academic subjects, in their personal lives, and later in their college years and careers. Success in the 21st century demands self-directed learners and independent, creative thinkers.

Classroom Strategies to Support Executive Functioning

From elementary through high school and into adulthood, students will benefit from these opportunities to understand and develop their executive functioning:

1. Introduce the concept of executive functions and refer to these learning tools explicitly and often.

Define executive functioning, and lead discussions on how being aware of their thinking and taking control of their learning can help students achieve success in school and other aspects of their lives. A key message is that using executive functions often and effectively doesn't just happen -- we all have to work toward developing these abilities. Apply metaphors of executive functioning (the brain's conductor or air traffic controller, for example), and invite students to share examples of how they can use executive functioning in their lessons and activities outside of school. How do adults use executive functioning in their jobs? How do the actions of characters in stories demonstrate executive functioning?

2. Provide student-centered opportunities to put executive functioning to work.

Include students in setting learning goals for lessons, and let them choose their own books for independent reading and subjects for classroom projects. Giving students choices enhances motivation by giving them a chance to think about subjects that interest them, and also underscores that they are in charge of their learning.

3. Be the "prefrontal cortex" for your class.

Articulate and model effective thinking practices. For example, clearly state your intent for a learning activity and demonstrate the steps of planning, carrying out, and assessing the outcomes of the activity. Identify up front any thorny problems and tough spots in new lesson content, and talk through possible strategies for identifying and overcoming any learning difficulties that arise. Use cues to remind students when activating their executive functions might be useful.

4. Catch students using executive functions effectively.

Congratulate students who recognize and correct mistakes to emphasize that mistakes are prime learning opportunities. Recognize not just the finished product, but also the hard work and the steps of planning and execution that students accomplished in completing a big project. Especially celebrate the successes of students who've struggled with taking charge of their learning in the past.

5. Clearly state classroom rules that support positive and productive learning interactions.

A well-organized environment with predictable rules allows students to more easily focus on the learning tasks at hand.

How do you approach teaching and encouraging students to develop their executive functioning in your classroom?

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Strategies for Strengthening the Brain's Executive Functions | Edutopia

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Editor's note: This post is co-authored by Marcus Conyers who, with Donna Wilson, is co-developer of the M.S. and Ed.S. Brain-Based Teaching degree programs at Nova Southeastern University. Earlier in Donna's career as a teacher and school psychologist, she assessed, diagnosed, and helped to create interventions for children and youth who had difficulty with their executive functioning.

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Resilience and Grit: Resource Roundup | Edutopia

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Resilience and Grit: Resource Roundup | Edutopia

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Resources on Developing Resilience, Grit, and Growth Mindset | Edutopia

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Resources related to building the skills young people need to confront adversity, cope with challenges, and persevere to attain goals.

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Developing a Growth Mindset in Teachers and Staff | Edutopia

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Developing a Growth Mindset in Teachers and Staff | Edutopia

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An idea that is beginning to gain a lot of favour in educational circles at the moment is the notion of fixed versus growth mindsets, and how they might relate to students and learning. Based on the work of Stanford University psychologist, Carol Dweck, the idea of mindset is related to our understanding of where ability comes from. It has recently been seized upon by educators as a tool to explore our knowledge of student achievement, and ways that such achievement might be improved.

However, in my work, I have found that the notion of developing a growth mindset is as equally applicable to staff and teacher performance as it is to students. This article begins with a brief discussion about the difference between the two mindsets, what that means for education, and concludes with some ideas for how school leaders might seek to develop a growth mindset amongst their staff.

The New Psychology of Success (2000), Dweck developed a continuum upon which people can be placed, based upon their understandings about where ability comes from. For some people (at one end of said continuum), success (and failure) is based on innate ability (or the lack of it). Deck describes this as a fixed theory of intelligence, and argues that this gives rise to a 'fixed mindset'. At the other end of the continuum are those people who believe success is based on a growth mindset. These individuals argue that success is based on learning, persistence and hard work.

According to Dweck:

In a fixed mindset students believe their basic abilities, their intelligence, their talents, are just fixed traits. They have a certain amount and that's that, and then their goal becomes to look smart all the time and never look dumb. In a growth mindset students understand that their talents and abilities can be developed through effort, good teaching and persistence. They don't necessarily think everyone's the same or anyone can be Einstein, but they believe everyone can get smarter if they work at it (Morehead 2012).

The crucial point for individuals is that these mindsets have a large impact upon our understanding of success and failure. Fixed mindset people dread failure, feeling that it reflects badly upon themselves as individuals, while growth mindset people instead embrace failure as an opportunity to learn and improve their abilities.

Needless to say, this idea of mindsets has significant implications for education. One of the most important aspects relates to feedback. According to Dweck, when we give praise to students (which we, as teachers often do, in order to build self-esteem and encourage students) for how clever they are, we might actually be encouraging them to develop a fixed mindset - which might limit their learning potential. On the other hand, if we praise students for the hard work and the process that they've engaged in, then that helps to develop a growth potential.

We have to really send the right messages, that taking on a challenging task is what I admire. Sticking to something and trying many strategies, that's what I admire. That struggling means you're committed to something and are willing to work hard. Parents around the dinner table and teachers in the classroom should ask, 'Who had a fabulous struggle today? (Morehead 2012)

This praise can have significant effects upon students: citing longtitudinal studies with Year 7 maths students, Dweck has shown how students with a growth mindset are far more likely to take on more challenging work and succeed at it than students with a fixed mindset - even if all other factors remain the same.

Dweck (and others) put this down to the development of self that takes place as different mindsets develop. With a fixed mindset, there are feelings of powerlessness and learned helplessness. This can lead to the development of a self-defeating identity, accompanied by toxic personal statements like 'I can't do this' or 'I'm not clever enough.'

On the other hand, a growth mindset amongst students is likely to encourage them to develop feelings of empowerment - students begin to see how they might take action to positively influence their community and their own learning.

Mindsets predict motivation and achievement amongst students according to some research, too:

Students with a growth mindset were more motivated to learn and exert effort, and outperformed those with a fixed mindset in math-a gap that continued to increase over the two-year period. Those with the two mindsets had entered 7th grade with similar past achievement, but because of their mindsets their math grades pulled apart during this challenging time. (Blackwell, Trzesniewski and Dweck, 2007).

Crucially, Dweck's research is applicable to all people, not just students. Therefore, school leaders could ask themselves what effect might developing a growth mindset amongst staff have upon learning in a school? Fortunately, a number of educators and teachers have already begun to explore what this might look like for teachers.
Modelling
According to Jackie Gerstein, teachers, like the students they teach, can learn to develop a growth mindset, but this requires careful planning by school management. The most obvious way of applying a growth mindset to teacher professional development is through modelling. Gerstein has run a number of professional development courses that seek to instruct teachers in how to model a growth mindset amongst students and one of her key principles is encouraging teachers to see themselves as learners, and, just like students are all capable of learning and improving, so too are teachers (Gerstein 2014)
Create space for new ideas
A second principle requires that schools provide opportunities for teachers to try new things and make mistakes. This can seem daunting for teachers, but it is essential for developing a growth mindset - after all, one of the key principles of such a mindset is the willingness to try new approaches. As part of creating this space, it is important to begin with the learning in mind; that is, what will teachers and the school learn as part of the process, rather than whether the new idea is going to be a success or a failure.
Build time for self-reflection
While creating space for new ideas is important, it is only part of the process of developing a growth mindset. Linked to it, and equally vital, is providing a chance for teachers to reflect upon their new ideas and consider what they learned from the process. Ideally, this reflection should focus less on whether the idea was a success or a failure, but rather on what the teacher learnt from the process.
Formative Feedback
Teacher performance management processes can often be quite awkward and distressing experiences; however, by viewing the process as part of a growth mindset - that is, making it formative, rather than summative, and inviting participation of the teacher in the process, the feedback can be more meaningful and applicable to the teacher's daily practice.

Developing a Growth Mindset amongst students is not an immediate process; rather, it will take a concerted effort on behalf of teachers and the rest of the schooling community. Equally, encouraging teachers to see themselves in the same way will equally take a lengthy period of time; however, there are significant benefits to be had form leveraging these ideas.
References:
Blackwell, L.S., Trzesniewski, K.H., & Dweck, C.S. (2007). Implicit theories of intelligence predict achievement across an adolescent transition: A longitudinal study and an intervention. Child Development, 78. 246-263.

Dweck, Carol S. Mindset: The New Psychology of Success. New York: Random House, 2006.

Gerstein, Jackie. " The Educator with a Growth Mindset: A Staff Workshop." User Generated Education. August 28, 2014. Accessed January 30, 2015.

Morehead, James. " Stanford University's Carol Dweck on the Growth Mindset and Education." OneDublinorg. June 19, 2012. Accessed January 30, 2015.

" The Science: Growth Mindset." Mindset Works. January 1, 2014. Accessed January 30, 2015.

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Developing a Growth Mindset in Teachers and Staff | Edutopia

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An idea that is beginning to gain a lot of favour in educational circles at the moment is the notion of fixed versus growth mindsets, and how they might relate to students and learning. Based on the work of Stanford University psychologist, Carol Dweck, the idea of mindset is related to our understanding of where ability comes from.

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Strategies for Reaching Apathetic Students | Edutopia

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Strategies for Reaching Apathetic Students | Edutopia

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"I don't care." Those three words can cause the most experienced of teachers to grow frustrated: how do we reach students who give off the vibe that nothing matters? Use these questions to better understand and reach apathetic students.
Is it really apathy?
If your student has his head down, is nonresponsive, or won't complete schoolwork, apathy is only one of many possibilities.

Is the student having a hard time at home? Struggling with mental or physical health? Do they have an undiagnosed learning disability, making it feel impossible to complete any task at hand? Have they recently experienced a trauma, or might be experiencing impacts of a past trauma?

Often, what looks like a lack of motivation can be a way to hide the underlying story. It's easier to say "I don't care," than "I need help." Spend time getting to know your student, reaching out to his/her family and guidance counselor, and assessing whether a lack of motivation is truly the issue at hand.
Is the behavior localized to your class or across the board?
Touch base with the student's other teachers. Is the seeming apathy something that's just happening in your class, or is this the student's presentation across all of tbeir classes? Be sure to check in with extracurricular instructors as well: does your apathetic student come alive during basketball practice or chess club? Once you get a fuller picture of your student, you can then begin to refine your interventions.
What's the big picture, and can the student connect it to the daily details?
It's difficult to stay motivated when we can't see the connection between what's in front of us and what we want out of life. What does your student want for themself in the long term? Is it a high school diploma? A college education? A career? A family?

When we know what students are working toward, we can help contextualize the daily work for them. If I know my student wants to become a chef, I can help them see how working on grammar skills will help them with menu-writing, or how chemistry will lay the foundations for expert baking. If my student wants a high school diploma, I can help them understand how each block of time in class or each completed project adds up toward their graduation requirements. When the little stuff clearly adds up to the big stuff, the little stuff becomes more important.
Where can you build bridges?
If an apathetic student is excited or passionate about even one thing, you have somewhere to start.

Challenge yourself to build bridges between a student's interests and the skills or content you wish to teach. Can a passion for video games turn into an exploration of the scientific method? Can a talent for BMX biking lead to a skillfully written narrative?

Use problem-based learning, inquiry-driven methods, and real-world context to help your students create bridges, rather than feeling like they're jumping off a cliff every time you ask them to do an impossible task in class.
Does your student know you care?
At the end of the day, you ultimately aren't in control of whether your student succeeds or not. You can't make them do work, you can't make them learn, and you definitely can't make them start to care. You can, however, influence all of those things through a caring relationship with your students.

Let your students know you care about them, and then give them the safe space to take risks rather than shutting down.

Finally, sometimes when a student says, "nothing matters," what they really mean is "I don't matter." Be sure that your student knows they matter, no matter what.

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Strategies for Reaching Apathetic Students | Edutopia

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"I don't care." Those three words can cause the most experienced of teachers to grow frustrated: how do we reach students who give off the vibe that nothing matters? Use these questions to better understand and reach apathetic students. Is it really apathy?

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Metacognition: Nurturing Self-Awareness in the Classroom | Edutopia

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Metacognition: Nurturing Self-Awareness in the Classroom | Edutopia

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How do children gain a deeper understanding of how they think, feel, and act so that they can improve their learning and develop meaningful relationships? Since antiquity, philosophers have been intrigued with how human beings develop self-awareness -- the ability to examine and understand who we are relative to the world around us. Today, research not only shows that self-awareness evolves during childhood, but also that its development is linked to metacognitive processes of the brain.

Making Sense of Life Experiences

Most teachers know that if students reflect on how they learn, they become better learners. For example, some students may think and process information best in a quiet library, while others may focus better surrounded by familiar noise or music. Learning strategies that work for math may be different from those applied in the study of a foreign language. For some, it takes more time to understand biology than chemistry. With greater awareness of how they acquire knowledge, students learn to regulate their behavior to optimize learning. They begin to see how their strengths and weaknesses affect how they perform. The ability to think about one's thinking is what neuroscientists call metacognition. As students' metacognitive abilities increase, research suggests they also achieve at higher levels.

Metacognition plays an important role in all learning and life experiences. Beyond academic learning, when students gain awareness of their own mental states, they begin to answer important questions:

How do I live a happy life?

How do I become a respected human being?

How do I feel good about myself?

Through these reflections, they also begin to understand other people's perspectives.

At a recent international workshop, philosophers and neuroscientists gathered to discuss self-awareness and how it is linked to metacognition. Scientists believe that self-awareness, associated with the paralimbic network of the brain, serves as a "tool for monitoring and controlling our behavior and adjusting our beliefs of the world, not only within ourselves, but, importantly, between individuals." This higher-order thinking strategy actually changes the structure of the brain, making it more flexible and open to even greater learning.

Self-awareness is part of The Compass Advantage™ (a model designed for engaging families, schools, and communities in the principles of positive youth development) because it plays a critical role in how students make sense of life experiences. Linked by research to each of the other Compass abilities, particularly empathy, curiosity, and sociability, self-awareness is one of the 8 Pathways to Every Student's Success.

Self-awareness plays a critical role in improved learning because it helps students become more efficient at focusing on what they still need to learn. The ability to think about one's thinking increases with age. Research shows that most growth of metacognitive ability happens between ages 12 and 15 (PDF, 199KB). When teachers cultivate students' abilities to reflect on, monitor, and evaluate their learning strategies, young people become more self-reliant, flexible, and productive. Students improve their capacity to weigh choices and evaluate options, particularly when answers are not obvious. When students have difficulty understanding, they rely on reflective strategies to recognize their difficulties and attempt to rectify them. Improving metacognitive strategies related to students' schoolwork also provides young people with tools to reflect and grow in their emotional and social lives.

7 Strategies That Improve Metacognition

1. Teach students how their brains are wired for growth.

The beliefs that students adopt about learning and their own brains will affect their performance. Research shows that when students develop a growth mindset vs. a fixed mindset, they are more likely to engage in reflective thinking about how they learn and grow. Teaching kids about the science of metacognition can be an empowering tool, helping students to understand how they can literally grow their own brains.

2. Give students practice recognizing what they don't understand.

The act of being confused and identifying one's lack of understanding is an important part of developing self-awareness. Take time at the end of a challenging class to ask, "What was most confusing about the material we explored today?" This not only jumpstarts metacognitive processing, but also creates a classroom culture that acknowledges confusion as an integral part of learning.

3. Provide opportunities to reflect on coursework.

Higher-order thinking skills are fostered as students learn to recognize their own cognitive growth. Questions that help this process might include:

Before this course, I thought earthquakes were caused by _______. Now I understand them to be the result of _______.

How has my thinking about greenhouse gases changed since taking this course?

4. Have students keep learning journals.

One way to help students monitor their own thinking is through the use of personal learning journals. Assign weekly questions that help students reflect on how rather than what they learned. Questions might include:

What was easiest for me to learn this week? Why?

What was most challenging for me to learn? Why?

What study strategies worked well as I prepared for my exam?

What strategies for exam preparation didn't work well? What will I do differently next time?

What study habits worked best for me? How?

What study habit will I try or improve upon next week?

Encourage creative expression through whatever journal formats work best for learners, including mind maps, blogs, wikis, diaries, lists, e-tools, etc.

5. Use a "wrapper" to increase students' monitoring skills.

A "wrapper" is a short intervention that surrounds an existing activity and integrates a metacognitive practice. Before a lecture, for example, give a few tips about active listening. Following the lecture, ask students to write down three key ideas from the lecture. Afterward, share what you believe to be the three key ideas and ask students to self-check how closely theirs matched your intended goals. When used often, this activity not only increases learning, but also improves metacognitive monitoring skills.

6. Consider essay vs. multiple-choice exams.

Research shows that students use lower-level thinking skills to prepare for multiple-choice exams, and higher-level metacognitive skills to prepare for essay exams. While it is less time consuming to grade multiple-choice questions, even the addition of several short essay questions can improve the way students reflect on their learning to prepare for test taking.

7. Facilitate reflexive thinking.

Reflexivity is the metacognitive process of becoming aware of our biases -- prejudices that get in the way of healthy development. Teachers can create a classroom culture for deeper learning and reflexivity by encouraging dialogue that challenges human and societal biases. When students engage in conversations or write essays on biases and moral dilemmas related to politics, wealth, racism, poverty, justice, liberty, etc., they learn to "think about their own thinking." They begin to challenge their own biases and become more flexible and adaptive thinkers.

What other ways do you help students reflect on their thinking in your classroom?

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Metacognition: Nurturing Self-Awareness in the Classroom | Edutopia

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How do children gain a deeper understanding of how they think, feel, and act so that they can improve their learning and develop meaningful relationships? Since antiquity, philosophers have been intrigued with how human beings develop self-awareness -- the ability to examine and understand who we are relative to the world around us.

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Teaching Grit Cultivates Resilience and Perseverance (Research Made Relevant Series) | Edutopia

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Teaching Grit Cultivates Resilience and Perseverance (Research Made Relevant Series) | Edutopia

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Teaching Grit Cultivates Resilience and Perseverance (Research Made Relevant Series) | Edutopia

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In rural New Hampshire, fifth-grade teacher Amy Lyon has created a curriculum based on researcher Angela Duckworth's ideas about grit. Students set and work toward their own long-term goals, learning valuable lessons about dealing with frustration and distractions along the way.