Rank-Talk-Write, Unit 3

“Teachers and administrators need grit too—today more than ever.” (Hoerr, 2017, P2) This article is meaningful to me as it serves as a reminder that no matter how hard we work as educators, we are constantly being faced with new and possibly more challenging problems in our everyday work. “It’s important to note that using grit doesn’t simply mean working harder. Teachers and principals already work hard. But regardless of how talented we are or how hard we work, some parts of our job will always require added determination. Despite the effort and progress we’ve made, we’ll always face new challenges that will require us to try and try again while maintaining our focus and energy.” (Hoerr, 2017, P4) The article is a good reminder that grit – or perseverance and passion – will help us as educators experience success with even our most difficult situations.

Some key ideas that I picked from this article include:

1. We learn more from our failures than our successes. (Hoerr, 2017, P5)
2. Character traits like grit, self-control, conscientiousness and self-confidence are as important as cognitive talent in determining whether students succeed. (Hoerr, 2017, P2)
3. When we face failure and seemingly overwhelming obstacles, our success will stem from how we respond. (Hoerr, 2017, P3)
4. The realization that we’ll need to persist through setbacks is particularly important. (Hoerr, 2017, P3)
5. We all have frustrations and problems that can’t be solved quickly or easily. It can be oddly comforting to learn that others also have frustrations—even those colleagues who never seem to sweat. (Hoerr, 2017, P3)
6. Grit can become a habit when we approach failure or frustration as an opportunity to learn. (Hoerr, 2017, P3)
7. We need grit to meet instructional challenges as well as to navigate the interactions and tasks that are part of every school day. (Hoerr, 2017, P2)
8. When your school tackles improvement efforts, do it with the understanding that things will not always go smoothly. When your school tackles improvement efforts, do it with the understanding that things will not always go smoothly. (Hoerr, 2017, P3)

This article serves as a valuable lesson for educators. Anything that we may be teaching our students, may have a stronger impact if it is something that we practice and value in our own lives. For example, it may be hard to instil values of faith and religion, if you are not practicing it yourself. It would be similar to trying to teach a language that you can barely speak. Teachers need to make an effort to live by the values and skills that they are trying to teach in order to provide meaningful examples and modelling for students.  By giving students real examples of how these skills are used in life, they are more susceptible to try and use the skills in their own lives. Grit is something that we need to work on in our own lives too.

I picked this article because I feel that the message behind it is valuable to me. Sometimes I struggle in my own career with trying to be perfect and it is healthy to be reminded that perfection is not necessarily something I should strive for but rather making progress and accomplishing smaller goals. “If you’re not making any mistakes, it suggests that you’re simply doing the same thing over and over; “Making new mistakes, on the other hand, means that you’re trying new strategies and not repeating your errors, so you’re learning.” (Hoerr, 2017, P5) Making mistakes and learning from them is the progress that I would like to strive for. Hoerr also discusses the dynamic environment that educators work in. It is a job that changes with each group of students that come through. The problems we are faced with are not the same each year and we  “They find it hard to accept that the job can still be difficult and exasperating for them at times. The reality is that each year brings new students, and the world continues to spin; no matter how good we are, new challenges—and, yes, new frustrations and failures—await us.” (Hoerr, 2017, P3)

Hoerr, Thomas R. (2017). Educators Need Grit Too! Education Leadership, Summer 2017. Pp. 60 – pp. 64