No Excuses - Perseverance With Arianne Jones

A river cuts through rock, not because of its power, but because of its persistence. Jim Watkins

Perseverance is definitely my favourite topic in the Classroom Champions curriculum. I truly believe perseverance separates achievers from the not so successful.  I have taught for 35+ years and in each and every year I have met at least one obstacle that required persistence and determination to master.  

Perseverance is one of the most valuable life lessons students can learn.  It fits in well with all the pedagogy surrounding mindset lessons. Without perseverance and positive mindset, students are slated to experience negativity, failure and lack of self esteem. When I hear students give up on difficult tasks I am reminded of my responsibility to encourage them to try and try again.

Arianne Jones challenged students to ask their parents to tell their stories about perseverance. A homework sheet was promptly sent out and students brought these back to school with some amazing stories of perseverance.  From overcoming shyness, competing in athletic endeavors, finishing post secondary education, and starting their own companies, parents provided the class with amazing stories of hard work and accomplishment.  As a teacher, I have met these individuals, so I shed a few tears when I read about their struggles, their determination and grit.  

Students shared their parents’ stories with each other and talked about times when they have struggled to reach a goal.  Then we watched some youtube clips to reinforce what perseverance looks like and how individuals met their goals through perseverance.  Two years ago +Arin Kress shared the “Ducklings Verses Stairs” video and I have used it for for the past three years.  

Showing this video was a great way to bring empathy to the forefront.  Students verbally encouraged the little ducklings to keep going, as they watched their struggle to get up the stairs.  Even the most self involved students understood how critical it was for the ducklings to reunite with their mother.  Students asked to watch this clip many times.  It was a great jumping off point for discussing feelings related to perseverance: determination, frustration, failure and success. We loved the way Momma Duck kept encouraging the stragglers. She never, for a moment, acted like they wouldn’t achieve success.

We internalized precious lessons about gratitude by watching Nick Vujicic: No arms, No Legs No Worries and Never Give Up by Nick Vujicic

This class could not speak for a few moments after viewing Nick’s capacity to live life with enthusiasm.  The students who daily recited their litany of “why they can’t do an activity” recognized that Nick would have practiced each skill for hours or days before mastering it.  They decided that if “he could do it then they could meet their goals, too.”

Next we watched Kyle Maynard’s Video - No Excuses

The students were awestruck by his determination and grit. We had several discussions about his journey up Mount Kilimanjaro and its significance in his personal life journey. We really thought about the anonymous quote - “When the going gets tough, the tough get going”.

Then students were challenged to write, “No Excuses” without using their hands. Here is a video that shows our experience:

We had a lot of fun working on this activity.  It was challenging but students with good attitudes enjoyed every second.  Some students did express their frustrations with negative self talk but when we debriefed we learned that the frustration was often due to setting expectations for self that did not really match what was happening in the activity. How could you expect perfection on your first attempt? 

We really had a great month examining the value of perseverance.   Thank you +Arianne Jones for your mentorship.  It was a great month!

Perseverance is the hard work you do after you get tired of doing the hard work you already did. Newt Gingrich

Curriculum Links:

Science

• perseverance in the search for understandings and for solutions to problems

Math

• engage and persevere in mathematical tasks and projects