Finals are finished; the work load college students carry for four consecutive months is dropped. Every responsibility that must be attended to while simultaneously keeping up with school is brushed to the side. Where does the motivation to push through come from? Why does it appear to come and go like rain on a cloudy day? Motivation comes from grit; it is the ray of warm sunlight that breaks through the gloominess of a cold winter day.

In the world of education, how likely you are to succeed is based on the amount of intelligence you are able to demonstrate. Dr. Angela Lee Duckworth responds to this statement by investigating what factors realistically lead to success. In a TED Talk lecture, she expands the details of her research, saying that IQ “is not the difference between my best and my worst student” but the amount of grit that student possesses "(Duckworth). She defines grit as passion and perseverance and having a growth mindset--always leaving room for failure. She noted that students who are most successful are the ones that realize failure is not a permanent state but a trampoline to jump into our next attempt.

For any person with a dream pursuing it is not always as easy as imagining it in your mind. Personally, I can say that having a commitment and sticking to it is the only way to get things done--the right way. Students, including myself, are so used to working to meet the bare minimum. To "skate through" school. I am most successful in my attitude and my outcome when I push myself to meet my goals in a way that is personally rewarding. Having grit and using it to persevere, I believe, is essential to accepting yourself and moving on to the next challenge presented.

As a future teacher, it is important to constantly think about what kind of teacher you will become. There will be students that will not put their best foot forward because they have never been pushed to walk over the edge. It is a tendency to back away from students who give the teacher a rough time. However, for a teacher to challenge the students they have to be willing to accept a challenge themselves. There will always be a student that wants to question “Why.” Be prepared for what a learning student has to offer you. Continue to develop your growth mindset and use it to better the student and yourself.