Johanna Busch
Persisting
According to Costa & Kallick (2000) people show persistence by "stick[ing] to a task until it is completed." When a book or learning target is too difficult for my students, I notice that they often give up or don't finish their work. As a teacher, it is part of my job to give students the skills they need to not give up when they are facing challenges. In this section, I will show how I build the habit of mind of persistence through explicit teaching and reinforcement in my classroom.
My school has five character traits that the whole school discusses daily during morning meeting. One of these traits is perseverance. Because this is the language that is use throughout my school, I use the word "perseverance" with my students. Perseverance and persistence both mean never giving up, so I will use them interchangeably throughout this section.
Explicit Teaching
This is a lesson plan that I wrote about persistence. In this lesson, students watched an engaging video about a llama who exhibits persistence. Students discuss the video. Then, students come up with phrases they can say to help themselves remember to persist when something is difficult. Next, students brainstorm situations that they face that are challenging and require persistence. Finally, students create comic strips depicting situations when they have or will show persistence to overcome challenges and reach a goal. Students then share these comic strips with each other.
This is the lesson plan I wrote to explicitly teach persistence to my students.
I showed students this video from the Caminandes series about a llama who perseveres through a lot of challenges to get the last berry. This video was an engaging way to start a lesson about perseverance.
After watching and discussing the video, students brainstormed that are hard for them and might require perseverance. The brainstorm map that we created on the whiteboard is shown here.
This student wrote about an imaginary experience learning how to surf. He describes falling off his surf board, getting eaten by a shark, and still getting back on the board and figuring out how to surf.
This student drew about learning how to ride a bike. Despite falling off and getting hurt, she keeps getting back on and trying until she can eventually ride.
This student drew about persisting when learning how to swim. Last summer, she was very scared to jump in the pool and swim. She kept trying and eventually figured out how.
This student wrote about an imaginary experience learning how to surf. He describes falling off his surf board, getting eaten by a shark, and still getting back on the board and figuring out how to surf.
After brainstorming situations where students need to demonstrate persistence, students created their own comic strips about real or imaginary situations where persistence was needed. Students came up with incredibly creative and detailed scenarios. The comic strips are shown in this slideshow.
Reinforcement- The Little Engine that Could
Incorporating habits of mind into content lessons is one way that I reinforce these habits of mind. For example, students spent a week practicing identifying the theme in a text. Instead of using the text recommended by my curriculum, I decided to use The Little Engine that Could by Watty Piper to teach a reading comprehension skill while reinforcing the importance of persistence.
After introducing the concept of theme, I read The Little Engine that Could aloud to students. While we read, students chanted "I think I can, I think I can, I think I can."
This student wrote that the them was "the train showed perseverance. He kept trying and didn't quit."
This student wrote that the theme of the story was "He kept trying and trying and he finally got there."
This student wrote that the theme of this story is "never giving up."
This student wrote that the them was "the train showed perseverance. He kept trying and didn't quit."
After hearing and discussing the story, students were asked to identify the theme, problem, and solution of the story. Here is some of their work.
Reinforcement- Super Improvers
The concept of super improvers is another way I reinforce persistence with my students. My whole school using the concept of super improvers, so it is a consistent reinforcement across grade levels. Being a super improver is very similar to having a growth mindset. Students are taught that super improvers focus on getting better. By getting a little better every day, we can reach our goals. This concept is closely tied to persistence.
Our classroom super improvers board is a constant reminder for students to strive for continuous improvement and stick to their goals until they reach them. To track this, each student sets a goal at the beginning of the year. Goals can be academic or personal, such as spelling test grades, homework completion, or being a better listener. Each student has a super improvers card on our class chart. Stars are frequently added to the chart. When students fill up a star card, they move up a level on the super improvers board.
On Friday, we celebrate all the students who have "leveled up" by dancing to Ciara's "Level Up" during morning meeting. This is a way of consistently celebrating students for never giving up in pursuit of their goals.
Each student has a card on our super improvers board. Students earn stars for moving towards meeting their goals.
The super improvers cards correspond to levels on the super improver board. As students get more stars they move from turtle all the way up to peregrine falcon.
While our super improvers board tracks steps towards concrete, attainable goals, it is also important for students to remember the long term goals that they hope to reach by taking these small steps. Super improvers keep improving until they attain these hopes and dreams. One way that I reinforce this concept is by having students write and post their hopes on a "reach for the stars" board. This reminds students that we have to keep leveling up so that we can reach our dreams.
This student hopes to be a truck driver some day.
This student hopes to give homeless people food.
This student hopes to be a mommy.
This student hopes to be a truck driver some day.
This slideshow shows some of the hopes students posted on our "Reach for the Stars" board. These hands are visual reminders of why we need to never give up in reaching our goals.
After students had time to write their hopes and dreams, I interviewed a few students about how they will use persistence to achieve their hopes and dreams. Listen to the recordings below. Student 1 talks about how he wants to be a truck driver because that is what his dad does. He says that even if he gets in a lot of accidents he will keep on trying so that he can be like his dad. Student 2 dreams of feeding all homeless people because she thinks that no one should be hungry. She says that feeding all of the homeless people will be hard because there are a lot of them and she might not have much money. She says that she will persist by getting a job and selling her things to feed homeless people.
The above "Reach for the Stars" pictures and the recordings below show that students have deeply internalized the habit of mind of persisting. They are starting to apply this habit of mind beyond the classroom and thinking about how they can persist to achieve their long term hopes and dreams.
Reinforcement- ClassDojo
I also reinforce this skill through Class Dojo. When I hear a student say "This is hard, but I can do it" or "If I keep working, I'll get it eventually," I give them a Class Dojo point for exhibiting perseverance. When I do this, the application makes a loud notification noise and displays their name on the SmartBoard. This give students public recognition for exhibiting this habit of mind. While students need to be intrinsically motivated to demonstrate habits of mind, it is also important for them to have some extrinsic motivation in the short term. Giving Dojo points for exhibiting this habit of mind reminds all students of its importance.
This Screenshot shows perseverance as a skill that students can earn positive points for exhibiting.
Student Reflections
After learning about and discussing persistence for several months, students reflected on this habit of mind. Students selected something that is challenging for them in or out of school. Students then reflected on how they could use what they have learned about persistence to overcome this challenge. Below are three sample reflections.
This student reflected on how she can show persistence to learn how to ride a bike.
This student wrote that he learned that he can persist to succeed on a math test by trying new strategies and asking for help.
This student wrote that he can persist to get a 12/12 (or 100%) on his spelling test by practicing the words at home and sounding them out.
Conclusion
Persisting is a habit of mind that applies to so many situations both in and outside schools. All of us confront challenges that make us want to give up. It is my responsibility to give students the skills that they need to continue to work to solve problems that are very difficult. I do this by explicitly teaching persistence and reinforcing it through goal setting activities, the super improvers board, and incorporating it into content lessons. By infusing instruction in persistence throughout the day, I aim to educate the whole child.
Reference
Costa, A. L., & Kallick, B. (2000). Describing 16 Habits of Mind. Retrieved from http://www.habitsof