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Building perseverance through healthy habits

3/6/2019

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By G. FAITH LITTLE

In researching perseverance, you may start with a common definition like persist in doing something despite difficulty, or delay in achievement of success. You’re bound to come across synonyms like tenacity, determination, resolve, resolution, staying power, purposefulness, firmness of purpose, and so on. Pushing past definition and into application, article after article will give you the top 5, 10, or 12 ways to persevere in everything from training your dog, to taking a road trip, to growing a garden.
Train for a marathon
Become a Yogi
Get your Doctorate
Stay mentally healthy
Think long-term
Find the right fit
See obstacles as part of the process
Connect with others
​Build strength
Know the etiquette
Meet short-term deadlines
Ask for help
Take it slow
Communicate
Say "no" to distractions
Take care of your body
Bump up mileage...gradually
Breathe​
Be realistic
Deal with stress
Slip in some speed
Practice a basic pose
Develop a habit of working
Challenge yourself
Borrowing from a few of these lists, we can support our students in developing a plan to build perseverance in test-taking through healthy habits. Like a Choose Your Own Adventure story or Black Mirror: Bandersnatch, teachers and students can determine which practices make the most sense for their ways of working.

Here's one version:

Build strength by writing at the beginning of every class period, starting small, and increasing as the semester progresses.

Breathe when you need a few moments to figure out your path forward during the exam. Breathe deeply when you notice that your mind or heart is racing.

See obstacles as part of the process by noticing when you see a problem you’ve had trouble with in the past, reminding yourself, “I can do hard things. I’ve gotten through this type of problem before,” and moving forward one step at a time.

Develop a habit of working by doing homework in the same space or at the same time each day. Consistency not an option because of real-life demands? Try developing a habit within the work, like before stopping homework, make a list of questions you want to explore next time or ask your teacher about next class period.
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Take care of your body by stretching during long periods of sitting during class, so when exam time rolls around, it’s a habit to wiggle your fingers and toes, massage your temple, or point and flex your toes when you start getting weary or feeling stress.

Students can mix and match, using lists that already exist, as we’ve done here. Teachers can share their own list as a model – what do you do that builds your own testing perseverance, and what can students take on as their own?

Small groups can brainstorm healthy habits and then connect to what makes the most sense for their own test-taking needs. Whatever the method, starting and building on healthy habits to build perseverance is a practice that students can apply across all content areas, as well as life inside and outside of the classroom.
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The Center for Professional Education of Teachers (CPET) at Teachers College, Columbia University is devoted to advancing global capacities in teacher education, research, and whole school reform. CPET advocates for excellence and equity in education through direct service to youth and educators, innovative school projects, international research that examines and advocates the highest quality instructional and assessment practices today, and sustainable school partnerships that leverage current policy and mandates to raise literacy levels and embed collaborative communities of learning. Uniting theory and practice, CPET promotes rigorous and relevant scholarship and is committed to making excellent education accessible worldwide.
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  • Home
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