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Education Dive
Is productive struggle the secret sauce in learning?
Shawna De La Rosa
Nov. 20, 2019
Dive Brief:
When the struggle gets real, students are learning, instructional coach
Shannon McGrath writes for Edutopia, detailing how teachers often try
to help during these moments of student confusion by continuing to
explain when the best response is to remain silent as the student works
through the problem.
Struggle is a critical component to learning a skill or concept, but
when embracing it, McGrath suggests first explaining to students what
you are doing and why in order to prepare them so they won’t be
discouraged.
McGrath urges teachers to reduce their talk time, observe students'
learning to determine what skills the students are using and where they
may need help, and eliminate teacher dependence by encouraging students
to seek help from others before asking the teacher.
Dive Insight:
Allowing students to struggle develops social-emotional traits like
grit and perseverance. Students who show they can persevere through
setbacks and are eager to start new projects are likely on the path to
developing grit, according a study by Claremont Graduate University
doctoral candidate Dana Wanzer. Wanzer found those predictors of grit
can be correlated to a students’ school experiences and level of
engagement at school.
Thanks to feedback from employers, educators now realize
social-emotional learning and skills may be as important to future
success as core subjects like reading, writing and arithmetic.
Employers say the most sought-after qualities are treating others well,
sustaining effort, getting along with colleagues and maintaining
composure.
Grit may be a valuable asset to have in the workforce, but some argue
it is not the magic answer in the classroom.
Teacher-turned-psychologist Angela Duckworth, a grit advocate, defines
it as passion and perseverance for achieving longterm goals. Author
Linda F. Nathan, however, argues grit favors the wealthy, with ideas
like “money is not an obstacle” and “just work harder” not working when
applied to low-income students.
Martin Credé, a social psychologist at Iowa State University, also
dismisses grit, saying schools should not be focusing in that area
because he doesn’t think it’s related to academic success. He believes
perseverance is important, but one doesn't necessarily need to be
passionate about something in order to be good at it.
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