Friday, October 4, 2013

6B


"The Key To Success"

This week in Inquiry, we talked about the Grit and how shame and vulnerability effects us.

In the “Angela Duckworth and the Research on ‘Grit’ by Emily Hanford” article (http://americanradioworks.publicradio.org/features/tomorrows-college/grit/angela-duckworth-grit.html) Angela Duckworth is a psychology professor who was a middle school and high school math teacher.  Duckworth wanted to know how the role of effort affects a person’s success.

She is now an assistant professor at University of Pennsylvania.  Duckworth talks about a personality trait called, “grit” which she defines as, “sticking with things in over the very long term until you master them.”  Right after I read that in the article, I connected myself to the theory because I was a swimmer and we practice strokes until we master them perfectly.  I also could relate this ‘grit’ term to the vocabulary word this week, persistence because I am very consistent in my schoolwork as well as swimming. 
“The students who tried hardest did best, and the students who didn’t try very hard didn’t do very well.”  I thought this quote was accurate because I know as a student it is very important to try on all homework, assignments, and projects to get the best grades.

Grit may be as essential as intelligence, which is the key to success.  Duckworth developed a test called the “Grit Scale” which rates a person one to five on how “gritty” a person is.  One is the least gritty and five was most.  After taking the “Grit Scale” test, my score was a five and I thought that was accurate.  It told me that I was in the 90th-99th percentile of other users who have also taken this test.  In order to have grit, you have to work hard and have a hardworking mindset. (http://mindsetonline.com/whatisit/about/index.html)

Carl Dweck’s concept of “mindset” relates to the above topic on grit.  This website said, “in a growth mindset, people believe that their most basic abilities can be developed through dedication and hard work.” However, a fixed mindset is a belief that people have a fixed intelligence and are born with it.

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