Four Ideas for Building Students’ Persistence

Four Ideas for Building Students’ Persistence

If there’s one skill that will help your students long-term, it is persistence. Students who persevere through challenging work are better equipped for college, and they are able to maintain a positive attitude no matter what life throws their way. Here are a few tips for building this aptitude in your students:

1. Promote problem-solving skills. Give students difficult problems, and then teach them how to tackle those problems in different ways. When one attempt doesn’t work, encourage them to brainstorm another approach. Talk to your students about coming up with multiple ways to solve any given problem.
2. Push students appropriately. Help your students stretch to their limits, and tell them that you believe they’re capable of anything to which they put their minds. Don’t be afraid to make your students a little bit uncomfortable. This is where true growth happens.
3. Bring up examples of people who never gave up. There are many prominent figures to reference – people who persevered in spite of roadblocks and achieved their goals. Share them often. Talk to your students about how their dreams will not come easy, but that doesn’t mean they should set them aside.
4. Teach students to embrace a growth mindset. Share with your students that their abilities can be developed with effort, and teach them to continuously seek out new knowledge. Encourage them to embrace challenges, not to shy away from them. This helps your students stick to things even when they get hard.

Persistence is essential for long-term student success. Make your classroom one where students feel safe to take risks, push themselves, and make mistakes and learn from them. They will grow as students and people as a result.