Brian Nichols's List: Smart is Something You Become

• What do you really believe about how students learn? Many educators firmly believe that students learn from varying intensities of instruction and pedagogical strategies.
• If our belief system drives what we do, why not provide ample opportunities for second-, third-, and even fourth-chance tests? Shouldn't mastery be dependent on knowledge of the material, no matter what time it was gained during the school year?
• Believing that all students can learn is one thing, but putting that belief into practice takes purposefully thinking about, planning, and prioritizing those action plans.

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• many educators have begun to believe that improvements in instruction, curriculum, and school environments are simply not enough to raise the achievement of all learners, especially disadvantaged ones. Also necessary is a quality called grit, loosely defined as persistence over time to overcome challenges and accomplish big goals
• • Goal-directedness (knowing where to go and how to get there).
   
  • Motivation (having a strong will to achieve identified goals).
   
  • Self-control (avoiding distractions and focusing on the task at hand).
   
  • Positive mind-set (embracing challenge and viewing failure as a learning opportunity).
• Twenty-five years of research has shown that giving students challenging goals encourages greater effort and persistence than providing moderate, "do-your-best" goals or no goals at all
• Start early.
• Teach students how to achieve goals.
• Explicitly teach growth mind-sets.
• Use out-of-school activities to help students learn to persevere and succeed.

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