Graduate-Level Credit / Non-Credit Hours
3 Semester Credits or 45 Clock Hours
Course Description
Participants in this course will take an in-depth look at the research by Angela Duckworth and how “grit” is clearly correlated to student success in the classroom and beyond. Participants will learn about grit and how it differs from resilience. Numerous grit strategies, classroom management practices, and strategic lesson planning development will be explored, discussed, and developed so that the participant will have a working knowledge of how to embed grit into their classroom culture at the conclusion of the course. Participants will learn how grit strategies can increase achievement and improve wellbeing, thus changing their students’ development trajectory when faced with a problem or difficult task.
Additional topics include how grit is related to talent. What is productive struggle? What does a gritty student look like? How to effectively educate parents on bringing grit elements into their children’s lives at home will be explored. The course will allow participants to dive into grit research and learn about online web resources to support their gritty classroom during the school year and develop grit-infused lessons. It will conclude with participants developing an implementation plan or presentation to demonstrate knowledge and application of how grit frameworks/strategies impact their classroom so students can improve education performance and well-being.
Throughout the course, students will participate in interactive dialogue through a variety of mediums to receive valuable feedback to reflect on from their instructor. All formative and summative projects are reviewed, and graded, and feedback from the instructor will be provided allowing the student to enhance their portfolio of educational tools/resources to impact their classroom or school community.
Global Goals of the Course
To deepen and/or apply the content and skills of the teacher’s existing professional knowledge base by meeting the following global goals of the course:
The course was great! The information was on point and the instructor was very supportive throughout the class.
I loved the enthusiasm the instructor brought to class every day, the overall course content, and the relevant assignments.
The professor was very knowledgeable and helpful about the content area and had so many great ideas that I plan on using with my class this year and beyond. I was surprised at how many resources there are for outdoor education and how beneficial it is to kids.