What does it take to be a successful person? Why is it important to set high expectations
for ourselves? How can we influence each other to do our best in a positive,
caring manner? These were our focus questions in my classroom this past week as
we began the New Year.
Over Winter Break, Coach B (Whole Brain Teaching) announced
four new sub-categories for Rule #4: Make Smart Choices! They are: Kindness, Leadership, Courage, and
Invincible GRIT. On Monday, during
Morning Meeting, I introduced these virtues, along with their accompanying gestures,
to my students. We discussed each virtue
in detail, but I really honed in on Invincible GRIT this week. “Invincible” became our amazing word of the
week and we completed our Lexicon anchor chart whole group.
After filling out our Lexicon, we took this virtue to the
next level and broke down the word GRIT, focusing on an acronym. (There are a plethora of acronyms for the
word “grit” online, but I felt this one was the most age-appropriate and the
easiest for students to visualize and understand.)
We discussed each of the GRIT components and how they relate
to us in the classroom and in our personal lives. Students were able to partner share their ideas
on what the statements meant to them, write about how they will be able to
effectively embrace these action steps, and finally, they had the opportunity
to showcase what having Invincible GRIT actually looks like through
role-playing.
Throughout the week, it was amazing to listen to my students
as they engaged in conversations during lessons, saying to each other “Wow! You just ignored giving up” or “Great job on
erasing and starting over with your best handwriting.” (Side note: Make sure to model genuine and
specific compliments in the classroom setting so that your students are able to
provide each other with positive peer encouragement that has more depth than
just a quick high-five!)
By the end of the week, I had a great sense of accomplishment for how
much my students had been able to grasp and take ownership of GRIT and how to
immediately apply each element, not only in their school work, but also in
casual conversations with each other.
This teacher was on Cloud 9!
But, as we all know, there are always going to be one or two
(or 47) hiccups during the day in any given classroom. On Friday, I had a guest visitor come to my
class. You know the type: “A Very Important
Person with a Checklist” who is there to make sure you are implementing
specific classroom practices. Knowing how diligently my students had
practiced these classroom expectations since the first day of school, I had no
fear. And then the hiccups started…a few
of my sweet students slipped up on some of the key aspects they had been so
successful at all year. A couple of my
other students saw they had an audience and decided to show off their “special
talents”. One of my most engaged
students, who I can count on to be a true leader, chose this time to forget
Every. Single. Thing I had ever taught for the past 4 ½ months. I just stood there, at the front of my room,
and prayed that my visitor wouldn’t doc me for all these minor details. I looked at my students (with those big
teacher eyes...you know exactly what I’m talking about) and pleaded for them to
read my mind as I silently begged them to show off how amazing they really are.
And then it dawned on me…if I was hoping for this visitor to
show me a little bit of margin in that moment, then I needed to do the same for
my students. Was it really the end of
the world if they weren’t being perfect?
Hadn’t I just spent all week teaching them about GRIT…that while it is
so important to give it our all, we will also make mistakes along the way? And when we make those mistakes, we just have
to brush ourselves off and redo if necessary.
So, as my visitor continued to sit at my desk and jot down
comments on her “Very Important Checklist”, I looked to my students with GRACE.
I changed my focus from what they weren’t doing right, to what they were
doing right. I saw that the students who
were showing off their “special talents” were still fully engaged in the lesson
topic. I noticed that other students
were kindly reminding their partners how to address the class with our “College
Talk” gesture. I listened as students
took time to restate their comments and questions while addressing the whole
group. Soaking it all in, I realized
that every single one of my students was applying their own Invincible
GRIT. I stood tall and continued on with
my lesson, showing my students the grace
that they deserved…that we all deserve…while beaming with pride that I had 23 students
among me who were influencing each other to be the best that they could be in
an environment with very high expectations.
THIS was what success in a school was all about!
*As you begin another week in your classroom, take time to focus
on GRIT. Be a role model and talk to
your students about how YOU display GRIT as a teacher. Continue to set high expectations for yourself
and your students. Celebrate all student
and teacher successes, no matter how big or small. And at
the same time, make sure to embed positivity in the classroom by showing grace to not only your students, but to yourself
as well!
P.S. Thank you to my friend for letting me bombard her phone
this week as I sent her a ridiculous amount of pictures and videos of what my class was learning about for feedback. Warning: there’s plenty more media
to come as I'm planning to teach in-depth lessons on Leadership, Courage, and Kindness during
the weeks to come!
