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Although I have heard this quote before, Pitler, Hubbell, Kuhn and Malenoski (2007), went on to explain in more detail that "success comes in cans, failure in cant's". They further stated that the originator of this quote must have recognized that effort is the most important factor in achievement. In addition, the authors agreed with Schunk's (2003) belief that research shows that the level of belief in self-efficacy plays a strong role in motivation for learning and achievement (p. 155).

Pitler etal felt that based on research that not all students realize the importance of effort, and that they attribute their success or failure to external factors. When a student makes a connection between academic success with factors outside of his or her control, the authors felt that it is easy to develop the attitude of a defeatist. Just as the authors stated, one way to help students make the connection between effort and achievement is to create a rubric using a spreadsheet like Microsoft Excel. The rubric will give students a clear idea of what effort looks like. The only concern I have with the rubric is to motivate students to actually read them before attempting to complete their work, and the teacher needs to ensure the students understand the rubric.

Pitler, Hubbell, Kuhn and Melenoski stated that a powerful way to convince students that effort is truly tied to achievement is to show them data not only on themselves, but combined data on groups that they associate themselves with. They argue that when students see that others have faced many of the same difficulties they face and have overcome these obstacles and achieved goals with strong effort and good attitude, they too can see the connection between effort and achievement.

References

Pitler, H.; Hubbell, E. R.; Kuhn, M; and Malenoski, K (2007). Using technology with classroom instruction that works. Alexandria, Va.: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.

Schunk, D. H. (2003). Self-efficacy for reading and writing: Influence of modeling, goal setting, and self-evaluation. Reading & Writing Quarterly, 19, 159-172.