Jon’s Reviews > Teaching Kids to Thrive: Essential Skills for Success > Status Update

“Until students believe they have some measure of influence over their future, they see no need to continue striving.”

“The good news is research indicates that perseverance is a malleable quality and certainly worth the effort to help develop in students despite their academic success or risk factors. Every one of our students - affluent, middle class, and poverty stricken - will encounter adversity in his or her lifetime.”

“Questions like ‘How did you reach that conclusion?’ ‘What is another possible answer?’ and ‘Walk me through your process’ help to deepen student learning and build growth mindset.”

“Having self-efficacy, planning and taking action, reflecting on learning, and having a growth mindset are all instrumental to student success. Researchers refer to this composite set of essential skills as agency.”

“It has proven beneficial for teachers to talk with students about the parts of their brains and how they work.”

“Current research points out that environmental factors such as poverty, trauma, violence, abnormal stress, drugs, alcohol, and parental neglect can greatly impede the brain’s maturation and normal growth of executive function.”