Originally published at http://www.catapultlearning.com/2013/04/24/the-importance-of-performance-character
The Importance of “Performance Character”
Anyone who
has spent time in a classroom knows that schooling involves far more than
academic lessons. Many things contribute to a student’s learning and
success—and just as many things can detract from it. One can argue to what extent teachers and
school districts should hold themselves responsible for factors such as
adequate sleep, balanced nutrition, and safe places to sleep at night. But
other elements that affect student performance are closely tied to the academic
work of the classroom and can be cultivated and developed by the teacher. In
fact, studies have shown that attention to certain character traits can greatly
affect a student’s ability to succeed in school and in life.
When we
speak of character development in education, we often think of traditional
moral values—issues of ethics and interpersonal behavior. But the high-yield
character traits that researchers are beginning to focus on in school settings
speak more to academic behavior than
interpersonal issues. The focus is less on how a student interacts with other
students, and more on how a student interacts with the work.
Often called
“habits of mind,” and defined and categorized variously by authors and
researchers over the years, these academic performance character values, as
author Paul Tough calls them in How Children Succeed, can be transmitted and learned implicitly and almost
thoughtlessly as part of family culture or economic class; in many families and
communities they are modeled and extolled by adults and expected of children
from very early ages. Some students, however, grow up without these kinds of
expectations, outside of communities or families that embody and demand
performance-oriented values, or in homes where overstressed and overworked
parents have trouble providing sufficient attention to these values. As research is beginning to show us, teachers
can make a profound difference here. Schools that serve low-income or
struggling students are finding that the explicit teaching and cultivation of
these habits of mind can prove to be important keys to student success.
Performance Character Values
There are
many ways to define and categorize the skills and habits of mind that help
students learn and succeed in school and life, and many different skills and
habits that contribute to success. At my company, Catapult Learning, we have selected six
performance-related character values to focus upon and support as we develop
new programs and revise our current offerings. They are:
·
Persisting
towards solutions
·
Working
with precision
·
Asking
questions
·
Working
with others
·
Making
connections
·
Monitoring
progress and embracing learning
Some of
these values will look familiar to those of you who have been working to learn
and implement the Common Core State Standards; several come straight from the Standards for Mathematical Practice. Others are values highlighted by
organizations such as the Partnership for 21st
Century Learning. Values
like “making connections” speak to the need to help students transfer their
discrete learning into a variety of new and unpredictable contexts both in and
beyond school. And others, like “monitoring progress” and “asking questions,”
are things that we’ve always tried to focus on and encourage in our classrooms.
In the next few blog posts over the
next few months, as we work our way towards the new school year, I'll spend some
time talking about each of these performance character values and how I think
teachers can use them to help students engage more successfully in their
academic work.
