Can Grit Be Addressed in #Physed?

There are amazing differences between our students in regards to the  mindset that they bring with them  into the classroom and other learning spaces within our schools.  Carol Dweck, a well-known Stanford professor,  and her team of researchers have taken an in-depth look at  the differences between  a growth and fixed mindset over the years and have determined that  one of the biggest factors related to success in school is the ability of our students to demonstrate grit.  

Students who lean more toward having a growth mindset, without question, show greater levels of grit in their day-to-day learning. And  it's this grit that can reveal itself in multiple ways as they learn in school.  Although we understand the importance of grit, how often do we actually address it  in the lessons and the units that we teach?  In regards to physical education,  grit and perseverance are big concepts that must be addressed whenever possible. Bearing this in mind, I wanted to put together a grit  self-assessment and reflective tool that I hope other teachers can try out with their students.  

If you decide to use this grit self-assessment and reflection tool, it is imperative that you have a discussion with your students about what grit means.  It would be best to roll this out at the beginning of a unit and let your students know that you are interested in addressing their levels of grit throughout the unit in an effort to understand more about the way that they learn in PE.  As well, it would be highly beneficial to have the students set some type of goal to work on in the unit itself as one of the areas being self-assessed is the ability to stick with a goal. 

As you can see below,  there are 6 different areas that the students must self-assess themselves in,  as well there is room for a written reflection for each area. You may want to print this off on  A3 sized paper to give the students more room to write their reflections.

I have designed this grit self-assessment and reflection tool in  a way that allows it to be used in any unit being taught in physical education. In fact, it can be used in any subject area  as it's quite generic.  If you'd like to use this assessment tool, I have included a PDF at the bottom of this blog post for you to download. They only thing that I ask is that you share the results with me including some examples of student work after the unit.  I'd like your honest feedback on whether or not this was an effective tool in helping to address  levels of grit shown with your students. Please stress with them that all you are looking for is complete honesty in regards to how they feel about their learning, so it is imperative that they self-assess themselves honestly and write reflections that are genuinely true. 

Hope you get some use out of this grit self-assessment and reflection tool.  

grit.pdf
File Size:	112 kb
File Type:	pdf

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