Angela Lee Graduation

During my high school years, I can confidently say I have excelled in my academic endeavours. This success is partially due to my desire to learn. I am always intrigued by the lessons and concepts that are at the core of assigned work. My passion for learning has facilitated my learning process; because I am usually interested in the material that is being taught, my ability to retain and understand information is heightened. My academic success is also due to my drive to do the best I can. Since grade nine, I have demanded excellence from myself in all academic subjects. I strived to perform to the best of my abilities in the first high school years so that I would adopt that habit early and take it with me through the senior high school years. Finally, my academic excellence

“It will require creativity and grit to be successful,” said Gilmore, who said she works daily not only to encourage excellence, but strives to inspire the students.

During the 1930’s the 13th amendment might have freed minorities from slavery but it still let them get oppressed. In the novel, To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee, a disabled African American man by the name of Tom Robinson is used as a plot point in the book to help the reader understand the racial problems in the 1930’s Maycomb, Alabama. He was put on trial for the alleged beating and raping a white woman named Mayella Ewell. The verdict, which was biased, sent Mr. Robinson to jail to be served the death penalty but was shot seventeen times when he tried to jump the prison’s fence. Tom Robinson is the personification for the treatment and injustices caused to the African American community due to racism.

Practice makes perfect. This statement directly relates to chapter 1 and 2 in “What the Best College Students Do,” by Ken Bain. Throughout the chapters, Bain provides examples of successful people, studies, and tools to support his idea that learning surpasses grades and other awards in the scheme of life. To accomplish the skill of learning, students must possess determination, intrinsic motivation, and a passion.

Some students give up when faced with obstacles but those who are persistent enough and believe in their full potential will overcome every single one. Dweck also states that, “.. attributing poor performance to a lack of ability depresses motivation more than does the belief that lack of effort is to blame.” Meaning that the most determined students do not think about their failure, instead they believe their mistakes are problems to be solved. However, there will always be students who need guidance and to be praised for their work no matter how easy it became.

If you have ever said to yourself, I have no determination in life, I fall flat in everything I attempt; if we all gave up at the sight of failure, no one would ever realize whichever goals they have in life. Angela Lee Duckworth tells Deborah Perkins-Gough that being gritty or having grit is to be resilient in the face of failure or adversity. If you live by a code, of, “If I can’t do it the first time I will not try again” you will never undertake anything. Many studies have been conducted that explicitly say successful people are not just smart, but also strong in the face of challenges. In the article, “What if the secret to success is failure?” Levine collaborates, “The students who persisted in college were not necessarily the ones who had excelled academically at KIPP; they were the ones who were able to

A student who succeeds is one who encompasses the bravery and courage to start anew. Even knowing that, I was a student who feared every little action I took in high school because of the consequences I was afraid to face afterwards. The uneasiness of carrying out plans alone shaped my character into an indecisive clutter about everything inside my mind. But even with that hindrance, I tackled one of the hardest choices I had to make: choosing Case Western Reserve University over University of Georgia.

When discussing grit, it is important that one understands both sides of the argument. The persistence to complete a goal and the ability to endure adversity is the core of what it means to have grit. Growing up, children were often told the common phrase, “If at first, you don't succeed try, try, again”. This quote is often used to teach children to never give up, a way to ensure that they can triumph over adversity and grow upon their grit. The discussion of grit has grown over the past couple of years with advocators of grit like, Angela Duckworth, having written books and doing lectures on this topic. The same can be said for critics of grit, like David Denby, who has done articles for “The New Yorker”, criticizing the value of just

It’s either you get the work done or you don’t. You pass or you fail. There’s no ifs, ands or buts about it. I can use what I have learned to become a better student in college. I shouldn’t put anything before my education because that’s all that matter at the moment.

Every student is different, from how they learn to how much effort do they put in when studying. But with the right teacher guiding them to success, nothing is impossible. So, how do we motivate the future generation to succeed in school? The Perils and Promise of Praise, by Carole S. Dweck. The author focus on how to motivate students to succeed in school. From how you talk to them, motivate them to learn and rewarding them.

Failure is not an option. That was instilled upon me at an early. I took this mantra with me when I attended Special Forces Combat Diver School at Key West in 2010. My drowning and subsequent failure at Dive School resided in my mind for months to come. I assumed everything I hope to achieve was lost. After the summer had passed and as the semester was about to begin, I recognized that I could still achieve my goals, but it would take time, dedication, and sacrifice. I had to prove myself above my peers. I was already in my junior year of my Political Science degree with at least 4 more semester’s worth of courses to complete. In addition to my ROTC curriculum and working part time, my academic scheduled was already overwhelming. After detailed research and intensive analysis, I realized I could achieve a second

In 1889, Vincent Van Gogh with oil created a classic picture named "Starry Night". He painted his own night during the hardest time of his life. At the time, he was detained in a psychiatric hospital room. Not to be out, he drew during the daytime, based on what he remembered. Van Gogh only mentions "Starry Night" twice in letters to his brother, which made the drawing became more mysterious and curious.

The summer before freshman year I did not make the volleyball team for my highschool, I lacked experience. The summer before my sophomore year I did not make the cheerleading team. I have struggled tremendously at math for all of my high school career. So what did I get out of it? Why talk about all the things I did wrong on a tool to help sell myself, and share my successes? Winston Churchill said “success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts”. The failures I have experienced helped give me a character trait I’ve never naturally had; grit. Merriam-Webster defines grit as a “firmness in mind or spirit : unyielding courage in the face of a hardship or danger”. I would like to think every time I fell off a horse, or did not make a team, or struggled on a test, that it gave me more grit. Failure has taught me that making mistakes is not negative, it is imperative to success. It helped me develope a drive within myself, to aim for success, and to fail my way to achieving

Students want and need work that enables them to demonstrate and improve their sense of themselves as competent and successful human beings. This is the drive toward mastery. But success, while highly valued in our society, can be more or less motivational. People who are highly creative, for example, actually experience failure far more often than success. Biehler (p. 225) claims that studies show that when CAI used in conjunction with a teacher's lessons, is particularly beneficial for low-achieving and young students.

First off, who I am as a learner has changed over the past years. At times before, I wouldn’t take certain classes or assignments seriously and have learned my lessons when I failed. I believe having classmates at the time who weren’t as focused as I wanted to be, played a big role in my lack of understanding in classes. I understood later that if I felt learning was so important to me, I need to realize that it is my future and I needed to focus on my own. Having learner in my top 5 strengths defines me very well. Rath (2007) explains that, “The process, more than the content or the result, is especially exciting for you” (p.133). I believe this defines me as a learner because I enjoy having books in hand, opening up my notebook to write notes and learning new ways to understand the class. Regardless if the content is something I have to get in to or if I don’t do well on tests, I enjoy the process of studying and learning more even when I know I didn’t do so well; that is what motivates me. I believe as long as I keep this mindset and understand that this is my strength, I will continue to grow and further my education as much as possible. Even though I have failed a few of my last classes, I never let that stop me from continuing. Knowing that I have “failed” makes me realize I know I can do better and I try my hardest not to let it get me down. I will not get further if I don’t keep trying and as a learner I am a motivator to myself in my studies.