Two  of my strongest middle school male students lost their rough draft to a project they had been working on for days where they painstakingly plotted out their plans.  Tears began to well up in their eyes and they completely shut down refusing to do any work.

We know from the research of  Angela Duckworth how important it is for students to develop grit by pushing  past their discomfort and continue to do work that is hard. But how was I going to push them through this hurdle? They had completely shut down and refused to work.

So I devised a strategy that would enable them to feel like they had a “safety net.”  Their only obligation was to put in effort every day. Here was the plan we agreed upon:

I told the students  that they could take a standard test at the end of the unit  if they preferred but on one  condition-   they had to  work on their project every day.  They really just wanted to take the test “and be done” with this whole project.  But I knew that if I gave them a test they wouldn’t really be stretched to be “gritty” and  work past their frustration of losing their rough draft.

Each day I promised them they could take the test, and each day they worked diligently and  incredibly hard without any anxiety about achieving completion or perfection.  They knew they had the choice of taking a test and they only had to show daily genuine effort in order to be able to take a test.   Needless to say, they completed their project and it was absolutely beautiful and they didn’t want to take the test. .

This project took a lot more effort for them than memorizing the information for a test. When we reward our students for their effort and grit, they can feel safe enough to push through their anxiety about getting perfect scores and engage in much more meaningful work.