Not for the Timid

Teaching and Learning, Together

Patience and Perseverance

May19

Whew- What a school year! It is amazing how it feels like it started out a little frantic, slowed down to a nice cruising speed, and then went into hyper-drive. I am starting to see the end of the school year is near, but my to-do list is outrageous!

Which is simply the reason that I haven’t blogged, but there are so many topics that I pondered this school year. One of them is touched on in the post below by Daniel Willingham. How do we teach our students to “hang in there” or persevere?

Our school has struggled with this in multiple ways. When students experience the slightest down time, they are off exploring on their computers. Or watching videos. Or playing games. How do we teach them to put the work first? Some faculty want to just ban the computer. I don’t think that is a good option. That just tells them that they have to break the rules, rather than learn to censor themselves.

The other side of this is when we have standardized testing. Students have admitted in the past that if they didn’t know an answer IMMEDIATELY, they skip it, guess, and move on. How do we teach students that if they look a bit longer, think differently, they can do it!?!?

Two of our teachers took matters into their own hands and completed an unscientific test. They worked with the students daily on brain teasers. And, they told the students that they knew they could do it. They didn’t take, “I don’t know,” as an answer.

Did it work? Well, our students initially appear to have scored better than they have. Is it worth exploring some more? You bet!

I am open to other thoughts and opinions. Please share!

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