Bailie- Teacher's Toolbox

Teacher’s Toolbox

Summary

For this assignment I chose to read “How Children Succeed: Grit, Curiosity and the Hidden Power of Character” by Paul Tough.  This book looks at many different students across the United States all of whom have different lives and outlooks, but who all come from disrupted or difficult home lives.  This book, and subsequent study determine that intelligence ultimately has little to do with the future successes or failures of students, and that characteristics such as determination and optimism can make all the difference, particularly in students whose home life leaves them at a disadvantage from an early age.

The book was split into five sections, and for summative purposes I will provide a short overview of each section.

Part 1: How to Fail (and how not to)

In this chapter the reader is introduced to many of the students that the book will follow.  And, in particular, the reader is introduced to the concept of an ACE (Adverse Childhood Experiences).  Researchers followed a group of students to whom they had given an ACE score based on their childhood experiences and found overwhelmingly that those who had experienced one or many ACE’s were far more likely to experience obesity, depression, early sexual activity, smoking, drug addiction, suicidal tendencies, low educational levels and even chronic health problems such as heart disease and cancer than those who did not.  The study also found that the long-term effects of ACE’s could be offset by early attachment and a strong relationship to a parents and emphasizes the importance of early parenting intervention for at risk youth.

Part 2: How to Build Character

In this section the author shows through two example high schools  (“KIPP” and Riverdale) the effect that a strong character can have on a student’s outcomes, and also on how to “teach” optimism. The book states “Optimism is a learnable skill, not an inborn trait.  Pessimistic adults and children can train themselves to be more hopeful, and if they do, they will likely become happier, healthier and more successful” (p. 53).  This section exhibits the importance of inspiring students, even those who come from the most disadvantaged backgrounds, to remember that hard work and perseverance can pay off for anyone.

Part 3: How to Think

This section focuses on students from middle school chess team from a low-income New York middle school and their coach that go on to beat Chess teams from some of New York’s most prestigious private schools.  This chapter shows that by finding something students are interested in, encouraging them to work hard and then giving them opportunities to reap the rewards of their hard work can develop motivation and optimism that will last them throughout their academic endeavors and throughout their lives.

Part 4: How to Succeed

This section focuses on the decreasing number of students who are entering college or University, and the even fewer that are actually completing a degree once enrolled.  The author pins this partially on the methods of standardized testing, but also on the lack of focus on development of important character traits in public and private schools across the United States.

Part 5: A Better Path

In the final section of this book the author suggests a number of things that should be focused on helping at-risk students get onto a better path;

-Parenting

-Challenging the student academically

-Setting High expectations

-Reform in how teachers are hired/fired in under privileged schools

-Reviewing the “Politics of disadvantage” (ie. Government policies that enable or inhibit student success)

Critique

My first critique of this book would be that it takes a concept that is universal to all teachers and focuses it on the American middle school system.  I would have enjoyed the book more and felt it to be more relevant to my future classroom if there had been examples from other countries or grades included in the text.

My second critique is that although it offered many Ideals and philosophies to base teaching off of, it failed to provide the reader with any concrete, tangible resources, which they could use in their own classroom or teaching practice.

However, regardless of these faults, this book offers an inspiring look at how important and effective instilling motivation, determination and optimism into students at any age from any background can be.  Confirming that one of the most important parts of being an educator is teaching students these values and reassuring them that they can achieve great things even from very young ages.