Persisting
According to Describing 16 Habits of Mind, people who embody the Habit of Persisting, "stick to a task until it is completed. They don't give up easily. They are able to analyze a problem, to develop a system, structure, or strategy to attack a problem" (Costa & Kallick, 2000, p. 2).
Introduction
In both my science classroom in Los Angeles and my English classroom in Jakarta, the Habit of Persisting has been a cornerstone of my instruction. Frequently, in life, things do not go perfectly the first time you do them. Furthermore, sometimes our first attempt at approaching any given situation may not work. Persisting is a crucial mindset that is necessary no matter what path our students chose to take after graduation. In my classroom, I regularly encourage students not to give up if and when they find a topic or activity difficult. I encourage them to take a step back and think about multiple approaches to each problem. If their first approach does not work, they should reevaluate and try another. Students are capable of accomplishing any task in my classroom, and I encourage them to make this point clear. Developing persistence can make a positive impact on a students' organization, study habits, personal system of values and their development of character traits. In each of my classes, I conduct a mini-lesson to teach this Habit explicitly and then frequently reinforce the concept through classroom activities such as the ones shown in the sections below.
Explicit Instruction
Many of my students, when they first enter my classroom, are unfamiliar with the word persistence. They do not know what it means. Before building this skill, it is essential to take the time to explicitly teach students about what persisting means and show them that developing a healthy level of persisting is a valuable use of time and effort. To explicitly teach this Habit of Mind, I began by implementing the following lesson plan.
In this lesson—shown in the plan on the left—we began with a discussion about different times in students' recent lives where they have encountered a difficult task that made them want to give up. I started the lesson with this discussion to show students that everyone has difficulties and struggling is nothing to be embarrassed about. There is no shame in making multiple attempts to solve a problem.
Following this initial discussion about students' lives, we created a definition for "persisting" in student-friendly language. Students were then separated into groups to discuss what they thought persisting looks like, feels like and sounds like. Once each group had the opportunity to talk through their thoughts, we came back together and had a full class discussion about the same topic. This process gave students the opportunity to develop their ideas with a smaller group before sharing them with the entire class.
Persisting explicit instruction lesson plan
For the guided practice portion of the lesson, students participated in an activity I called "Line of Coins." Students were assigned a partner, and each partner pair received ten coins—in Los Angeles I used pennies, and in Indonesia, I used 1000 rupiah coins because they are the thinnest. Students are given the task of lining up all ten coins on edge. If any of their coins fall over—at any point—they have to knock down their entire line and start over. This task was particularly difficult for students in Indonesia because some Rupiah coins are not entirely flat on their edges. In this lesson, one student ended up running into the hallway—to avoid shaking the floor close to his coin line—and pounding one of his coins on the ground to try to flatten the edge to make it stand easier. When he returned to the classroom, he was able to make the coin stand on edge immediately, and he ended up being the first to complete the challenge. The pictures below show several students participating in the "Line of Coins" activity.
Student persisting through the "Line of Coins" Activity
Students moments after their line feel down and they had to start over
Student moment after he was the first to complete the activity
Following the “Line of Coins” activity, I wanted to give students the opportunity to reference my guidance in the development of this habit and mindset through a written reflection to show that they were beginning to internalize the trait beyond just talking about it. Students cannot experience personal growth, in regards to habits and mindsets, without this type of reflection. Several student samples of reflections for this activity can be found in the document on the left.
We closed this explicit instruction lesson by allowing students to read their written reflections aloud. This activity gave students the opportunity to practice their reading and active listening skills, which further aligns this lesson to the Big Goal of my classroom.
Student samples of "Line of Coins" reflection
Reinforcement—Growth Mindset
Shortly after the lesson described above, I introduced students to the concept of Growth Mindset versus Fixed Mindset. This concept was particularly impactful in my chemistry classroom. Students approached chemistry with preconceived ideas that it would be a challenging class that they were not capable of doing well in because they "were not good at math or science." Students in my English classroom showed a similar fixed mindset with comments such as "I can't" or "I don't know how to do that." In each of these classes, I went through the PowerPoint presentation—in the document on the left—to show the importance of having a Growth Mindset in school and life. This presentation has several areas for discussion embedded such as the "think, pair, share" on slide ten.
Growth Mindset lesson PowerPoint presentation
During the lesson on Growth Mindset, students completed the packet shown in the document on the left. This packet begins with a survey about different Growth/Fixed mindset questions. We discussed each of these questions. Students were then asked to type a professional email. This activity was included in the lesson based on items students said they wished to improve on. If a student needs additional help or assistance, they know they can always email me to ask. Students then completed a table—shown on p. 5—to determine if they currently have more of a "Growth Mindset" or "Fixed Mindset." Finally, we wrapped up the packet by converting various “Fixed Mindset” statements to “Growth Mindset” statements.
Growth Mindset lesson packet student sample
At the end of this reinforcement lesson, students watched the YouTube video on the left. This video defines both "Fixed Mindset" and "Growth Mindset." I thought it was important to start and end the lesson with these definitions. We then had a brief discussion where students were asked how they think the concept of "Growth Mindset" is related to the focus Habit of Persisting.
Video shown to wrap-up the lesson on Growth Mindset
Reinforcement—Smile Game
This activity was designed to reinforce the Habit of Persisting while also incorporating the additional Habit of Finding Humor. I attempt to layer as many of the 16 Habits of Mind into my lessons—even if they are not the primary focus for the activity. This activity requires students to work in pairs. One student attempts to keep a straight face. The second student tries to make the first students smile or laugh using only words or facial expressions. The first time I implemented this activity, students paired up and each pair played the game at the same time. Students enjoyed the activity, but they became easily distracted by the other groups around them. Every subsequent time I implemented this activity, we made a classroom bracket, which was drawn on the board. Two students would come up to the front of the classroom. Each student then has the opportunity to try to keep a straight face and to try to make his or her partner laugh. We then take a class-vote to see which of the two students is the “winner” based on both rounds. That student advances to the next round until there are only two students left standing. We then have a “Battle of the Champions.” There was a significant increase in investment when I switched to the bracket style of implementation for this activity. Below there are several audio recordings of students playing the “Smile Game.”
Audio sample one
Audio sample two
Audio sample three
After the activity, I asked students to reflect on the experience—specifically how it relates to the Habit of Persisting. Several student reflections are shown in the documents on the left.
Smile game reflection student samples
Reinforcement—Hidden Squares
For this activity, students were given a handout with a grid—four squares by four squares—on it and instructed to count the number of squares they could trace on the grid. The goal was to determine the correct amount as quickly as possible. I intentionally gave no further instructions—the goal was to present an ambiguous situation because to people who fully embody this Habit of Mind are able to sustain a problem-solving process over time, they are comfortable with ambiguous situations” (Costa & Kallick, 2000, p. 2). Students were told to write down the number of squares on a piece of paper and show it to me when they thought they had the correct answer. Almost every student immediately wrote down sixteen and tried to show me the answer. When I told them they were incorrect, I received many looks of confusion. However, I reminded them that this was a "persistence activity" and told them to keep trying. Students had to keep working until they eventually figured out the solution. The pictures below show several students trying to solve the activity. The correct answer was thirty squares, which all students were ultimately able to get after several attempts each.
Students at the start of the activity trying to solve the challenge
Student working individually at the start of the activity
Students when they began marking up the paper and persisting to an answer
Students seconds before they figured out the correct solution
Following the activity, students were asked to reflect on how this activity required the Habit of Persisting. Several samples of these reflections are shown in the document on the left.
Hidden squares reflection student samples
Persisting in Life Outside of School
Explicit instruction and reinforcement of the Habits of Mind are not done for the sake of just talking about them in relation to classroom activities. Instead, they are designed to be internalized by students in a way that leads to personal growth. I asked students to think about their lives outside of my class and outside of school entirely to identify a time in the last few weeks where they showed the Habit of Persisting. Several student responses are shown in the document on the left.
Persisting outside of school student writing samples
Teacher Reflection
Persistence is a crucially important trait to possess no matter what path our students take in their lives beyond our classroom walls. While the process of developing the Habits of Mind is continuous with no end point—we all can continue to grow and improve—I am proud of the development I have seen in my students in regards to the Habit of Persisting in my classroom. Many students enter my class at the beginning of a term with Fixed Mindsets, and they do not like to push themselves when presented with challenged with difficult problems. Many of these same students are transformed in this regard by the time they leave my class. I consistently push students to find varied and new ways to approach new problems to succeed. I also encourage students to take the skills, habits, and mindsets we are developing in class and apply them to their lives outside of school to promote their personal growth as individuals as well as their academic growth as students.
References
Costa, A. L., & Kallick, B. (2000). Describing 16 Habits of Mind. Retrieved from http://www.habitsofmind.org/sites/default/files/16HOM2.pdf