Grit

We know that certain character traits lead to success in school and in life.  Our new character focus this week and next is Grit. Grit is a little word that has a big meaning.  It makes a huge difference in our lives.

• The Definition of Grit: Unyielding courage in the face of hardship or danger.  
• Other words that are similar to grit are Toughness, Guts, Determination, 

Some examples of Grit:

• The American pioneers had grit when they chose to cross mountains, rivers, plains and all kinds of weather to get where they wanted to go.
• Sacajawea must have had grit when she led Lewis and Clark on their brutal adventure through the mountains, and all of that with a baby on her back.
• An athlete has grit when they dive to catch a loose ball or when they slide into home plate.
• A student has grit when they work their very hardest at something, even when it is not easy for them.  You can almost see the brain sweat when they are determined to figure something out.  
• I can see grit in our students when they work out hard math problems on scratch paper, making it visual and then breaking it down into an equation or math sentence.
• I can see grit in our students when they plan out their writing to make it great, even though it would be easier just to throw together a short response.

For both adults and kids, we are guaranteed to have some hard times on our way to success.  Grit mean we stubbornly refuse to quit and we keep pushing towards success. Grit means we do our very best, even though that may mean we risk some scrapes and bruises along the way. It makes me so proud of our students when they show grit.