Reflection Paper On Perseverance

How many times in life have you struggled but got through a difficult time? That is called perseverance. The definition of perseverance is “Steadfastness in doing something despite difficulty or delay in achieving success.” Synonyms are persistence and determination. It originated from the latin word perseverare. Right now the world has been filled with natural disasters, from hurricanes to wildfires. Everyone that this affected has been forced to persevere through it because there is not much that they have the ability to do besides staying strong. In all of the nonfiction literature we have read there were many different examples of perseverance from many different people. I decided to choose three. For my first example Melba Pattillo Beals from “Warriors Don’t Cry”. There is numerous examples of the Little Rock 9 and her doing something despite difficulty. For the second example of perseverance I chose Maya Angelou. Through her life there were countless times that she was faced adversity and still achieved success. My third example is Earl Simmons (DMX) from the book “E.A.R.L”. He went through a tough time at almost all time growing up and he never gave up and achieved success. Perseverance creates success; therefore, when you stick through something you can accomplish what you want.

In life people face challenges, but they have to fight through it and overcome them. That is called perseverance. The definition of perseverance is “Steadfastness in doing something despite difficulty or delay in achieving success.” Synonyms are persistence and determination. It originated from the Latin word perseverare, which means “Keeping constant in an attitude” Right now the world has been filled with natural disasters, from hurricanes to wildfires. Everyone that this has affected has been forced to persevere through it because there is not much that they have the ability to do besides staying strong. In all of the nonfiction literature there are many different examples of perseverance from many different people. For the first example is Melba Pattillo Beals from “Warriors Don’t Cry”. There is numerous examples of the Little Rock 9 and her doing something despite difficulty. The second example is Temple Grandin. She was born in a time where people didn’t know how to handle her differences. She still tried as hard as she could even though not many people believed in her. The third example is Earl Simmons (DMX) from the book “E.A.R.L”. He went through a tough time almost all time growing up and he never gave up and achieved success. Perseverance creates success; therefore, sticking through something accomplishments can be made.

I believe that when you persevere you can accomplish countless things. When someone says perseverance, I believe that people automatically think about working hard and getting rewards after. While working hard is a big part in it, there is more to it. I am going to share a couple of stories that will hopefully change your mind about perseverance.

In one of the most watched Ted talk videos, “The Key To Success- Grit,” recorded in May 9 2013, the speaker Angela Lee Duckworth explains how the strongest performers in their fields were typically not the ones with the highest IQ’s, but the ones with the most amount of Grit. What is that? Angela defines Grit to be the passion and perseverance for a long-term goal and to go through with it with no quitting. She then goes on and talks about the studies and their results relating to pure Grit being the answer. Although her her speech is moving and brings hope to those who don’t think they can do much with a low IQ, her reasoning seems to not carry enough evidence.

For example, Angela Lee Duckworth from the University of Pennsylvania, who had been conducting innovative studies (for the past 11 years) on "Grit," the quality that allows people to work uncompromisingly and stick to their passions and long-term goals. We learn that in her interview with "Educational Leadership," [ Duckworth describes what her research has shown about the relationship between "Grit" and achievement. on the importance of helping students develop grit and other non-cognitive traits.(1)] I believe that when we incorporate teaching students how to develop traits like having “grit” in our public schools, eventually our citizens as a whole will become more prosperous in all areas of life.

As a child, we watch many Disney movies and read about different stories. However, many, if not all of us have, at some point, watched or read the story of Cinderella. It’s a story of a young girl who is thrown into adversity, but perseveres through these challenges with a positive outlook and the assistance of some “magical” entity, and lives “happily ever after.” There have been many deviations of Cinderella in order to diversify the story and make it applicable to all of the today’s youth. Despite the differences in character names or story titles, the original theme of perseverance is maintained throughout the numerous tales.

Elijah Turner thought this as he walked into this familiar place, a second home, the place where his dreams came true. The basketball court.

Homer’s The Odyssey, an epic poem about the trials of Odysseus on his return journey, demonstrates that perseverance is at the heart of every hero. The ability to endure hardships is not a quality that is attributed to many characters, and in The Odyssey, a character’s lack of perseverance will bring him his demise. Similar to Odysseus, Penelope, his wife, perseveres by staying faithful and unmarried for twenty years, while waiting for his return. Through The Odyssey, Homer suggests that those who are loyal to and homesick for their homeland are willing to persevere for their homecoming, and thereby they complete the journey that proves them a hero.

Many people suffer problems in the world today. This includes terrorism and tyranny. It includes kidnapping and hate crime. It can also be cancer and starvation. Many have lived through problems like these and told the tale because they persevered. Through Hillenbrand’s Unbroken, Wiesel’s Night, and Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, perseverance is emphasized the readers by writing about characters, whether they are survivors of the Holocaust, a prisoner of war, or family, that have to suffer obstacles that can potentially kill them if they don’t overcome it. Even though each author has a different way to show perseverance, they all agree on what perseverance can do. Persevering through unfortunate situations

He continues to struggle with the concept that his success in math is not entirely rooted in his natural ability, but has a strong correlation with the effort he puts forth. Furthermore, Dweck appeals to teachers to engage students in attribute retraining to develop an understanding that academic success is acquired through hard work and perseverance. (Seider, 2012, pp. 111-112) Duckworth and Seligman have also found that performance character strengths are “stronger predictors than IQ of middle school students’ academic grades, school attendance, hours spent doing homework, and acceptance into highly competitive schools. (as cited in Seider, 2012, p.3) Therefore, I have discerned an urgent need to cultivate perseverance in my son’s

Moreover, Carol S Dweck and her team set out to determine the implications of growth mindset vs fixed mindset individuals. After typifying each student and determining their role in the group, her article “The Secret to Raising Smart Kids” had proposed, “How can the education system implement and teach growth-mindset tactics to teachers, parents and students as a means of increasing student success?” Teaching students that intelligence is malleable is the next step in helping children understand their full potential. To address this point, David Paunesku, Stanford behavioral scientist, created an online method of conducting controlled, randomized experiments. His team enlisted 1,594 students from 13 US high schools, 2% of which were under-performing. The students were divided into two groups, one of which watched a video on

On one of my first days of senior year, my physics teacher dimmed the lights and tiptoed around the classroom to close the blinds. He beamed with enthusiasm and excitement. His jittery demeanor spread from student to student until the entire class hummed, quietly whispering to each other, trying to figure out just what was going to happen. He advised us not to fall asleep, and played a TED Talk all about “grit.” In the seven-minute video, which discusses a study predicting successes among teachers, students, and working adults, Dr. Angela Duckworth discovers that grit is the key character trait of those who were considered successful in their fields, whether they were salesmen, scientists, or students. Duckworth defines grit as “passion and

Each day is a challenge for some of us. Some of you struggle to get up each morning and make it to school. But you find it within yourself to do because the hope of a better tomorrow compels you to do so. It is not easy to explain to teachers or other students that there was no one to wake you up and see that you were ready for school. The moment you leave your house and step on the bus, you are one step closer to realizing your dream, to fulfilling your purpose. That is what perseverance is. It is the finding the strength to do the impossible because you know that all things are possible. It is understanding that your tomorrow has great possibilities because of the steps you take today. I had a neighbor whose parents were divorced, but it seems like both parents divorced her. Her mother had custody, but she was seldom around. My friend raised herself. She gave a whole new meaning to the phrase "putting yourself through school", but she was in middle school. However, she had a dream of something better and it was evident that it required self-motivation and determination.

Whenever I first joined debate, I was probably one of the worst debaters in the district. My gradual improvement over the years can be attributed to many causes. However, I believe that my perseverance and work ethic were the primary factors. The days before a tournament, I would often stay up until midnight to write and practice speeches. Even if I had an unsuccessful tournament, I would get back onto my feet and would keep running to prepare for the next tournament.

Angela Duckworth was a seventh-grade teacher in New York Public Schools, and became a psychologist. She is the author of the TED Talk “Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance”. The main point of this TED Talk is that having grit is what will help you to succeed in life. She asks herself, who is successful and why, and she concluded that people who succeed in life are those who have grit, which is the passion and perseverance to achieve every long-term goal. She emphasized that talent or social intelligent is not what will lead you to succeed, but the key that will help you to succeed are passion and perseverance. Those who can stick with their future goals for years and work hard to make that future a reality is more likely to succeed. Moreover, she explained in her speech that growth mindset is great for building grit, which based on the TED Talk people who have a growth mindset are those people that do not believe that failure is a permanent condition. In my point of view those people who have growth mindset are more likely to be successful in life.