Persistence: Make it the Goal
What is your go-to gadget or tool that makes your life easier or saves the day? My husband used to say that he could fix anything with a paper clip or duct tape! I don’t know how that’s borne out, but we do find unusual and handy uses for bulldog clips (we have a lot of those around the house from years of legal briefs and curriculum guides).
When you solve everyday problems in new, unusual, yet effective ways, you are innovating. And, you are applying the aptitudes of innovators, such as persistence. That’s essential for innovators, and persistence is something we can teach in the innovation-literate classroom.
In last week’s blog, Persistence: Teach it With Stories, we looked at what I called the “Swiss Army Knife” of instructional strategies: Reading and discussing "Persistence Stories." In this variation of bibliotherapy, reading and discussing stories, especially biographies, deepens reading comprehension, personalizes instruction, practices metacognition and other social/emotional competencies!
Once you have introduced and explicitly defined persistence for students (use the student-directed goal on the Persistence Aptitudes of Innovators poster), and you have applied its attributes in regular instruction with a strategy like discussing Persistence Stories, you are ready for the ultimate multi-tasking strategy, the Talent Aptitude Goal. I’ll call it duct tape for learning because everything sticks to it!
Let’s say you are teaching a lesson on writing an argument or conducting research. Both take persistence, and we need to record over any of those old mindsets learners have about being helpless, unsure, weak, disconnected, quitting!
Transform your content standards into Talent Aptitude Goals and you can teach persistence (or any of the aptitudes of innovators.) These easy-to-write goals transform your teaching and students’ learning with a simple but profound shift: the aptitude goal “drives” the content acquisition.
Aptitude goals begin with aptitude action statements such as: Use your persistence to…This shift in emphasis from impersonal content acquisition to personal talent development instantly creates a student-centered approach that is motivating, engaging, and achievement-oriented. Below is one example of a transformed Talent Goal.
Make learning stick! The complete process for creating and assessing talent aptitude goals is developed in my book Teach to Develop Talent. And remember, we can work through these concepts and strategies together in either of my interactive, self-paced online courses! Learn at your pace in your place and earn 30 hours of certified continuing professional development (CPD) credit! Join me in the journey!