Embracing Grit: Teaching Students to More Than Persevere - #SPC23023

Graduate-Level Credit / Non-Credit Hours
3 Semester Credits or 45 Clock Hours

Course Description

Participants in this course will take an in-depth look at the research by Angela Duckworth and how “grit” is clearly correlated to student success in the classroom and beyond.  Participants will learn about grit and how it differs from resilience.  Numerous grit strategies, classroom management practices, and strategic lesson planning development will be explored, discussed, and developed so that the participant will have a working knowledge of how to embed grit into their classroom culture at the conclusion of the course.  Participants will learn how grit strategies can increase achievement and improve wellbeing, thus changing their students’ development trajectory when faced with a problem or difficult task. 

Additional topics include how grit is related to talent.  What is productive struggle? What does a gritty student look like?  How to effectively educate parents on bringing grit elements into their children’s lives at home will be explored. The course will allow participants to dive into grit research and learn about online web resources to support their gritty classroom during the school year and develop grit-infused lessons. It will conclude with participants developing an implementation plan or presentation to demonstrate knowledge and application of how grit frameworks/strategies impact their classroom so students can improve education performance and well-being. 

Throughout the course, students will participate in interactive dialogue through a variety of mediums to receive valuable feedback to reflect on from their instructor.  All formative and summative projects are reviewed, and graded, and feedback from the instructor will be provided allowing the student to enhance their portfolio of educational tools/resources to impact their classroom or school community.

Global Goals of the Course

To deepen and/or apply the content and skills of the teacher’s existing professional knowledge base by meeting the following global goals of the course:

1. To examine current research in the area of best practice of grit development in students.
2. To develop an understanding of the need for effective methodologies to increase grit and how it is different than resilience in today’s classroom, both in traditional in-person and virtual classrooms.
3. To analyze current grit strategies and instructional practices in order to create engaged lifelong practices to better support student learning during difficult tasks.
4. To explore research-proven frameworks and lesson planning that embed grit into daily practices.
5. To collaborate and lead other educational professionals, as well as parents, to improve student learning through the use best practices in grit awareness and methodologies.

• Online Self-Paced