2017 Grit Initiatives @ LSC-Tomball

My name is Latoya Hardman Lewis, and many of you may know me as the Lead Faculty member for our Associate of Arts in Teaching Program. This year, I am in a new role. I am the Interim Director for a new department at LSC-Tomball: Academic Initiatives and Partnerships. All of the college’s grit initiatives will fall under this department. This newsletter is a way for me to share with you ways that you can begin to infuse grit into your classes this semester.

I have created a video lesson that explains the grit framework that we are using at LSC-Tomball. Our grit framework has application in all disciplines, and it will help create experiences for students that lead to academic success.

The video lesson provides hands-on activities for both faculty and students. During the video, students will take the mindset quiz (Carol Dweck) and complete the Grit Scale (Angela Duckworth). There are also built-in “checks for understanding.” Instructors can show this video during class in its entirety, in sections, or they can assign the video (in its entirety or in sections) to students for homework.

I am including an instructor packet that includes a video table of contents, all handouts mentioned in the video lesson, a follow-up grit quiz, and the answer key for the quiz. The video lesson can be found at: https://mix.office.com/watch/8hsqqu13el2y

This year we are asking that three groups of students take the Dr. Paul G. Stoltz’s GRIT GaugeTM: First time in College (FTIC) students, First-time to Tomball students (FTT), and the Tomball Star Academy students. We will not be sending the student GRIT GaugeTM link out to instructors this year. Here is how our students will receive the link this year:

• FTIC Students - These students will get the GRIT gauge link directly from their EDUC 1300 instructor
  
• FTT Students - We will send an email to all of our first time to Tomball students. If you believe you have first-time to Tomball students in your classes, please encourage them to check their email and take the GRIT gauge.
  
• Tomball Star Academy Students - We are working with Tomball Star Academy administration to determine the best way to have students take the GRIT GaugeTM

Once students take the GRIT Gauge TM, they will be able to access their scores and share with you if you wish to use the gauge as an assignment (even if you are not providing the students with the link).

Students who do not fall in one of these groups will not get the link to the gauge; however, many of our students have already taken the GRIT Gauge TM, and those students should still be able to access their scores.

If you want to include a grit assignment for a grade, but you cannot get all of your students’ GRIT GaugeTM scores, you can use the Mindset Quiz (Dweck) and Grit Scale (Duckworth) as assignments for your class. You can even have your students tell a grit story.

We would like to invite faculty and students to tell their grit stories using the video story-telling tool, Adobe Spark Video. As an instructor, you can assign grit stories for a grade or use it as a way for students to introduce themselves to the class. Here is the lesson on how to create a grit story: https://mix.office.com/watch/17luwzz24allg.

We would also like to collect these stories for the college. I will send out a flyer this week that you can share with your students. We will collect these stories throughout the semester. Students can submit as many grit stories as they wish.

Here are some of the grit stories from the 2016-2017 academic year.

In the Grit Certification Program, faculty will learn how to create a classroom experience grounded in grit and growth mindset. During this semester-long program, faculty will demonstrate their understanding of creating a gritty classroom experience through various assignments and a capstone project. If you are interested in participating in this program, complete this brief survey so that you can receive more information.

As we have learned through the LSC 20|20 cultural beliefs training, experiences drive our beliefs, beliefs lead to actions, and our actions determine results. Likewise, the EBAR cycle is applicable to our GRIT efforts. We want to create experiences that enable students to form beliefs that will lead to them taking actions that will result in them successfully completing course assignments, your class, the semester, and ultimately a degree or certificate.

Please take this short 3 – 4 minute survey to help validate a few of the beliefs we have identified through our work with grit and growth mindset: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/RZMN36V.

As you read each item, begin thinking about what kind of experiences you are creating for your students to help develop these beliefs.

Academic Initiatives and Partnerships is a new department at LSC-Tomball. This department oversees and coordinates efforts for our Early College High Schools, Dual Credit and Home School programs, Pathways, Grit initiatives, Community U, Summer Bridge, The LSC-T Experience, and more

Email: latoya.h.lewis@lonestar.edu
Website: www.lonestar.edu/tomball-aip
Phone: 281-401-1860