ADVENTURE INTO GRIT
In today’s adventure, we challenge your grit. Grit is one of the most important character traits we need to be successful at math, Mario Kart, basketball, or pretty much anything. Grit is not giving up when we struggle. Grit is learning from our mistakes. Grit is effort, persistence, perseverance.
Grit can be hard. But we all have the ability to grow our grit by challenging ourselves to do hard things because it is in the struggle that you become great. If you want to be awesome at anything, you will need grit. Enjoy getting gritty!
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BIG QUESTION OF THE DAY
Why is perseverance an important quality? How could you apply grit to your life today?
MOMENT OF JOY
Watch the cutest version of grit ever! 😍
Determined Baby Bear Climbs Steep Mountain to Reunite With Mama
FOR FAMILIES
Watch + Learn
Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance (6:01) Leaving a high-flying job in consulting, Angela Lee Duckworth took a job teaching math to seventh graders in a New York public school. She quickly realized that IQ wasn’t the only thing separating the successful students from those who struggled. Here, she explains her theory of “grit” as a predictor of success.
Family Adventure-tivity
Learn all about grit. Here are 9 activities to “Practice Grit” with your middle schooler. Our favorite practice is the Family Grit Interview:
- Have your middle schooler interview a family member about times they have failed and struggled but still persevered. The key is to honestly model taking risk and showing grit. When you struggle, tell your kids about it. Taking risks may end in failure, but we can show our middle schoolers that successful people don’t give up.
FOR STUDENTS
Design Challenge
Design Challenge: Design your very own Rube Goldberg Machine! If you can make one longer than Zane’s, we could feature you in a future email!
Explore More
See the Rube Goldberg Machines and grit of other middle schoolers. Which is your favorite? Email us with the link to which one and tell us why!
FOR EDUCATORS
Watch & Learn
Will students learn with just a computer and their curiosity? When a group of kids from a Delhi slum figured out how to navigate the Internet in English simply by playing with a computer for a few days, it was the beginning of a movement to harness the power of self-organized learning. “Seeing them take charge has really showed us that maybe we are being a little too rigid and structured, and not trusting our students enough.” Learn more about the classroom in the sky.
Online Learning Toolkit
Tool of the Week: Self Organized Learning Environments (SOLE) – A SOLE is easy to plan, educationally rigorous, and works with every subject. This is a powerful and simple way to add project-based learning to your online classroom. Empower your students to learn, collaborate, and think critically. Caretakers: SOLEs are also great for self-guided learning at home! Here’s how: TomTod’s guide to online SOLE
Launch a SOLE with your students. Use the Big Question of the Day with TomTod’s online SOLE Template. Just ask your students: “Why is perseverance an important quality? How could you apply grit to your life today?”
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Thank you and Adventure on!
– The TomTod Team