{"id":14475,"date":"2024-07-25T16:42:22","date_gmt":"2024-07-25T16:42:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theteacherstudio.com\/?p=14475"},"modified":"2024-07-11T16:42:42","modified_gmt":"2024-07-11T16:42:42","slug":"teaching-productive-struggle-in-elementary-school","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theteacherstudio.com\/teaching-productive-struggle-in-elementary-school\/","title":{"rendered":"Teaching Productive Struggle in Elementary School"},"content":{"rendered":"

As educators, we often strive to make learning as smooth and easy as possible for our students. But what if I told you that embracing a bit of struggle could be the key to deeper understanding and long-term success? Enter the concept of “productive struggle”\u2014a powerful approach that encourages students to tackle challenges head-on and persevere through difficulties.<\/p>\n

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What is Productive Struggle?<\/h3>\n

Productive struggle is all about creating a classroom environment where students are given challenging tasks and the “just right amount” of support they need to work through them. It\u2019s not about letting students flounder without help; it\u2019s about providing just enough guidance to keep them on track while allowing them to grapple with the problem-solving process.<\/p>\n

As teachers, this is sometimes tough!\u00a0 We like to rescue…after all, didn’t we go into teaching to HELP students?\u00a0 It is hard, but we have to realize that the best way to HELP students is to let them do as much of the work as possible.<\/p>\n

Why is Productive Struggle Important?<\/h3>\n

Challenge Builds Resilience<\/strong><\/h4>\n

When students face challenges and learn to overcome them, they develop resilience. This resilience is crucial not just for academic success, but for life in general. They learn that it’s okay to make mistakes and that persistence pays off. I love to teach my students important vocabulary like:<\/p>\n

GRIT<\/p>\n

RESILIENCE<\/p>\n

PERSEVERANCE<\/p>\n

STRUGGLE<\/p>\n

These terms truly become a part of our classroom conversations with practice!<\/p>\n

Productive Struggle Enhances Understanding<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Struggling with a concept forces students to engage more deeply with the material. They need to analyze, synthesize, and apply their knowledge in new ways, which leads to a stronger, more lasting understanding. The research is pretty clear.\u00a0 Students need to try things in different ways and have successes and failures to develop those neural connections.<\/p>\n

Here’s the part some teachers miss, however. It’s not enough for the\u00a0teachers<\/span> to know this brain research.\u00a0 We have to tell our students too!\u00a0 Tell them that not know is not only ok, but it grows their brain!\u00a0 Let them know that struggling actually helps in the long run.\u00a0 Think how FREEING that might be to a student who thinks that getting things quickly means you are “smart”!<\/p>\n

Productive Struggle Promotes Growth Mindset<\/strong><\/h4>\n

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Encouraging productive struggle helps foster a growth mindset. Students begin to see challenges as opportunities to grow rather than insurmountable obstacles. They understand that effort and persistence can lead to improvement and success. This is such a great mindshift for students.\u00a0 Like I said earlier, when students think working quickly or getting the right answer immediately means you are a good student, we know we have some work to do.<\/p>\n

Growth mindset is a tricky concept, and there are some things to watch for.\u00a0 If you want to learn a little more about some precautions related to teaching about mindset, check out this blog post<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Productive Struggle Prepares for Real-World Problems<\/strong>:<\/h4>\n

Life is full of complex, unscripted problems. By incorporating productive struggle into our teaching, we prepare students to face real-world challenges with confidence and competence.<\/p>\n

I have written time after time about how often we take the thinking away from our students.\u00a0 We teach addition with regrouping and then give the a bunch of addition word problems to do.\u00a0 They don’t need to make sense of the problems–they just keep adding!<\/p>\n

We want to give students two things.\u00a0 They need the skills necessary to solve any problem they encounter in the future.\u00a0 Secondly, they need the mindset to be willing to try!<\/p>\n

How to Foster Productive Struggle in Your Classroom<\/h3>\n

Choose Challenging Tasks<\/strong>:<\/h4>\n

Select activities and problems that are just beyond your students’ current abilities. These tasks should require them to think critically and apply what they’ve learned in new ways. When we create the right climate, students can grow to LOVE the challenge!<\/p>\n

I have a ton of different types of activities I use for this, but one of my favorites<\/a> is shown below. These problems either have many answers or many ways to get to an answer.\u00a0 So many students are used to filling in a box with an answer, and it’s really important for them to see that sometimes it’s not that simple!<\/p>\n