Developing Grit in Reading

“Grit” has become a common term used by students and staff across our district.  Anyone who has watched a youtube video on growth mindset or grit understands that developing grit in our students is vital in preparing them for the future regardless of where life takes them.  Thomas Hoerr, author of The Formative Five states it well: “Grit gives us the courage to take risks and to fail because we know that failure is a necessary ingredient in ultimate success.” (119)

As I work with students across K-5 in reading, it is fairly easy to observe grit in students as they tackle complex texts.  There are also countless opportunities to support students with their development of grit as they read things that are challenging for them in that moment.  I started to ask myself, what specifically are teachers doing to help develop grit in their students.  What concrete things can teachers do to foster this growth?  I uncovered some ideas in talking with a kindergarten teacher and in reading chapter 6 entitled, “Grit” of The Formative Five.

Jen Koziolek, kindergarten teacher, talked about how important it was to establish a classroom of trust in each other before focusing on developing grit with students.  They celebrate mistakes so that they will feel comfortable trying something even if it ends up being a mistake.  Once this culture is created, Jen introduces reading strategies that students use when tackling words they don’t know.  Students learn how to “get their lips ready like Lips the fish” and to “use their eagle eye for picture clues.”  As they learn these strategies, she purposefully chooses books for groups that will stretch them just enough to need to use these strategies.  They know that they will have to work hard each day when they come to the table for guided group, and they are praised when they use their strategies (not when they effortlessly read words correctly).  These kindergarteners even encourage each other to “have grit” when things are tricky. 

The work that this kindergarten classroom has done, aligns with Hoerr’s six steps to developing grit (Hoerr p. 123):

1.       Establishing the environment (physical and psychological)

2.       Setting the expectations (everyone, including teachers, needs to step outside your comfort zone and work through difficulty)

3.       Teaching the vocabulary (words like tenacity, guts, courage, reliance and perseverance help students to identify and understand grit)

4.       Creating frustration (facilitate experiences that will push them)

5.       Monitoring the experience (teach about grit at the moment of frustration)

6.       Reflecting and learning (after an experience, reflect on feelings and reactions)

There are many staff and students that are perpetuating the spread of grit across education.  It’s exciting to think about what these students will accomplish throughout their education and life because of the grit that they have developed at a young age.  Behind the solutions in society’s future will be the faces of these gritty kids powering through failure to solve the most challenging problems.