Fostering Grit, Empathy, and Self Control: Reviewing …...To define self control, on page 53 Hoerr uses Goleman’s 1995 definition of “the ability to modulate and control one’s

Research Note

Fostering Grit, Empathy, and SelfControl:Reviewing Hoerr’s Five Formative Skills

Greg Rouault

Abstract

The world of work that students will merge into has been rapidly changing. Higher education

institutions need to align their programs with the skills and experience that learners need for the real

world. Five success skills have been proposed by Thomas Hoerr: empathy, selfcontrol, integrity,

diversity, and grit. These formative skills have a profound impact on how schools should operate, how

curricula should be developed, how teachers teach, and how principals or administrators lead. This paper

reviews The Formative Five: Fostering Grit, Empathy, and Other Success Skills Every Student Needs.

In addition to a summary and critique, the steps to developing and strategies for implementing each of

the formative five success skills are shared along with a translated version of the questionnaire for

students in the Appendix.

Keywords: empathy, selfcontrol, integrity, diversity, grit

Introduction

Educators and institutional leaders are often involved in discussions of what it means for their student

stakeholders to be successful. While high test scores, graduation rates, and employment percentages are

commonly tracked, others look at learner engagement or regular attendance as positive metrics. Of

course, the reality is that since the timeline in higher education is rather short, limiting the pedagogical

and curricular focus to tests, grades, and/or diploma rates sets the bar too low. It is rather what our

learners need to succeed in the real world and to contribute as happy productive citizens, not only

during their time in school, that should frame the targets and discourse for educators and policy decision

makers.

Similar to Friedman’s (2005) view of a “flattened world,” in is his plenary lecture for the JALT

CUE SIG Conference (2009), Thomas Orr identified that with all of the epic changes through the 20th

Century, it may be the access to cheaper skilled labor provided from those outside of Japan that might

drive this country toward greater proficiency in English language skills. However, with globalization

人間科学部研究年報平成 30年人間科学部研究年報平成 30年

― １４ ―

and the continuing information technology revolution supporting increased automation, we need to

prepare our learners not only with scholastic skills but with adaptability and flexibility to meet their

needs in the future. Kay and Greenhill (2012) observe that “doing well in school; no longer guarantees a

lifelong job or career as it did for previous generations of Americans . . . only people who have the

knowledge and skills to negotiate constant changes and reinvent themselves for new situations will

succeed” (p. xvii), and arguably much the same can be said for Japan.

Various terms have been used to describe these 21st Century skills that learners will need to thrive

in the future. Commonly the 4 Cs (critical thinking, communication, creativity, and collaboration) from

the Partnership for 21st Century Skills (http://www.p21.org/) are used to reflect a path for the desirable

knowledge, skills, and attitudes as takeaways from formal education. These abstract targets are seen to

account for the social and emotional learning, character functioning, and human engineering needed to

navigate, perform, and prosper in the future. While taken largely from his experience in the K12

education system in the United States, Thomas Hoerr presents his own view on the social and emotional

skills that can be cultivated beyond our innate abilities toward determining life satisfaction. In his book,

The Formative Five: Fostering Grit Empathy, and Other Skills Every Student Needs, Hoerr presents five

areas of learning as the formative skills necessary for success in work and relationships in all arenas of

life. This paper outlines and summarizes Hoerr’s account of these success skills, provides a critique of

the volume and its accompanying resources, and identifies future implications for such an approach in

higher education curricula with guidelines on how educators can incorporate these ideas in their

programs.

Five Formative Success Skills

Hoerr identifies empathy, selfcontrol, integrity, embracing diversity, and grit as the five most significant

formative success factors. He also acknowledges some crossover and duplication among terms from the

various models of learning in the literature and concedes that the skills of courage, curiosity,

responsibility, and receptivity are essentially accounted for in his five (p. 9). Hoerr divides these success

skills into two categories: (a) selforiented which are “focused on how we frame and control our

thoughts and actions” (selfcontrol, integrity, and grit) and (b) relationship oriented or “how individuals

orient themselves and behave toward others” (empathy and embracing diversity) (p. 10). Table 1

includes terms which can assist educators in a foreign language setting to capture the essence of Hoerr’s

formative five.

Fostering Grit, Empathy, and SelfControl: Reviewing Hoerr’s Five Formative Skills

― １５ ―

Empathy

Of empathy, Hoerr states that “by understanding our students not only as learners but as people, we can

help them to successfully develop the attributes that they will need to thrive in the world beyond

school” (p. 34). To further define his construct on page 34, Hoerr quotes Krznaric (2014) who sees

empathy as “the art of stepping imaginatively into the shoes of [other people], understanding their

feelings and perspectives, and using that understanding to guide your actions” (p. x). Empathy is noted

as an essential ingredient of wellbeing (see Seligman, 2012, for more on wellbeing in Flourish on

positive psychology) with the suggestion that there is an emotional aspect to empathy, and in being

represented in feelings empathy is more than an objective construct. Hoerr goes on to explain that

empathy is more than perspectivetaking and that learners “need to know how to value, respect and

understand another person’s views, even when they don’t agree with them” (Hoerr, 2017, p. 34 as

quoted from Lahey, 2014). Hoerr also compares empathy and sympathy. He suggests that it is possible

to sympathize with the situation of others while not fully understanding, or empathizing, with their

unique perspective, adding that the interpersonal connection empathy is based on allows for deeper

engagement in relationships than the superficiality of sympathy.

The author rationalizes leading off his formative five with empathy because the kindness, caring,

and understanding that it entails frame the characteristics of the people with whom Hoerr would trust

and lean on in the emotionally charged workplace. With the goal of preparing students for success

beyond school, Hoerr reminds us that empathy is important in business, quoting Bryant (2015).

When we talk about the qualities we want in people, empathy is a big one.

If you can empathize with people, then you can do a good job. If you have no ability to empathize,

then it’s difficult to give people feedback, and it’s difficult to help people improve. Everything

becomes harder. (para. 12)

Hoerr also identifies empathy as a central point in teaching and one common critical criterion in

defining great teachers who through compassion fuel better relationships. Such relationships should be

Table 1 The Formative Five Success Skills and Associated Terms

The Formative Five Success Skills Associated Terms

Empathy Caring, understanding, compassionate

Selfcontrol Measured, restrained, disciplined

Integrity Honest, trustworthy, respectful

Embracing diversity Tolerant, accepting, culturally responsive

Grit Tenacious, resilient, fortitude

(Hoerr, 2017, p. 11)

人間科学部研究年報平成 30年

― １６ ―

noted as not being balanced out at the zerosum of give and take, since the more each party receives

from the other, the stronger both become.

Beyond the shock therapy experiments of obedient behavior in the 1960s, empathy is at the core of

many current issues. The usversusthem mentality, combined with a strict following of peerbased

authority with a reduced sensitivity and retreats to the comfort of tribalism among those who look, act,

and think likes us, has spawned many social problems. A lack of empathy and an undercurrent of

suspicion, miscommunication, and conflict has led to increased cruelty and persecution of others and

those in the minority. Rampant reports of bullying in Japan indicate a lack of empathy. Technology has

reduced the critical facetoface interactions where the capacity for empathy is cultivated. While social

media was once touted as providing more inclusive access, the uncritical selfselection of sources

reinforces exposure to an increasingly divided and politicized or even censored output. Hoerr

summarizes that this narrowing of content serves to reinforce biases resulting in a homogenized culture.

A general lack of interaction with those with different viewpoints makes it harder to understand and feel

empathy towards them by truly listening. On page 41, Hoerr quotes senator Barack Obama’s 2016

commencement speech at Northwestern University on the empathy deficit where “we live in a culture

that discourages empathy. A culture that too often tells us our principal goal in life is to be rich, thin,

young, famous, safe, and entertained. A culture where those in power too often encourage these selfish

impulses.” However, Hoerr also cautions that too much empathy can lead to feelings of guilt, angst, or

even depression as people who give too much of themselves to others deplete their emotional reserves

and suffer compassion fatigue.

In introducing the six steps to developing empathy, Hoerr outlines that educators should approach

teaching these as with any other skill－to value a commitment to growth, and to use focus, effort, and

reflection as the path to continuous improvement. University instructors in Japan will relish that Hoerr

views the formative five as success skills best learned actively, by doing. This is clearly reflected in the

notion of empathy which is an interpersonal skill derived by considering and interacting with others.

The six steps are:

Step 1 Listening: taking time to learn what is being said and how and what is not being said

Step 2 Understanding: having a cognitive grasp of another’s views, not necessarily agreeing

Step 3 Internalizing: putting oneself in another’s shoes and actually experience their feelings

Step 4 Projecting: imagining how one would react in a similar situation from their perspective

Step 5 Planning: responding to a situation with a collaborative plan informed by empathy

Step 6 Intervening: executing the plan


― １７ ―

Self-Control

To define selfcontrol, on page 53 Hoerr uses Goleman’s 1995 definition of “the ability to modulate and

control one’s actions in ageappropriate ways; a sense of inner control” (p. 194). Hoerr sees selfcontrol

as elusive but important, and not only due to the plethora of selfhelp books. To articulate this point,

Hoerr draws on a crossdisciplinary quotation from economist James Heckman (2013) who noted that

selfcontrol “depends upon much more than smarts. Noncognitive abilities－including strength of

motivation, an ability to act on long term plans, and the socialemotional regulation needed to work

with others－also have a large impact” on factors such as earnings, employment, college attendance,

labor force participation, and participation in risky activities or legal compliance. For the purposes of his

book and its readership, Hoerr cleverly extrapolates beyond the basic reporting of Mischel’s famous

marshmallow test with 4year old children eating the one marshmallow or forgoing the immediate

gratification to get two later. Reporting instead on the longitudinal findings, Hoerr relates that the

children who waited longer rated higher on social cognitive functioning in adolescence and showed

higher SAT scores for college entrance. In their teens, the longer delaying preschoolers “exhibited more

control in frustrating situations; yielded less to temptation; were less distractible when trying to

concentrate; were more intelligent, selfreliant, and confident” (Mischel, 2014, p. 23). As adults, those

who demonstrated greater selfcontrol by delaying longer selfreported being more able to pursue and

reach long term goals and had reached higher education levels and even had a lower body mass index.

These findings suggest that children’s ability to exert selfcontrol has implications for later life.

Clearly teachers focus a lot of time and energy to help students develop their selfcontrol and the

discipline to more consistently manage themselves to avoid poor academic performances due to any lack

of this essential skill. Of significance to educators is that selfcontrol can be taught and as learners we

can always develop improved selfcontrol. Hoerr comments that selfcontrol is of critical importance

when we have something that is bothering or potentially distracting us. Tough (2016) is quoted to show

how this may be manifested in our students where “talking back and acting up in class are, at least in

part, symptoms of a child’s inability to control impulses, deescalate confrontations, and manage anger

and other strong feelings” (p. 55). Willpower, another word for selfcontrol, is a learnable skill and our

executive function relies heavily on selfcontrol. Elsewhere in his book, on page 158, Hoerr quotes

CooperKahn and Dietzel’s (2009) definition of executive function as “a set of processes that all have to

do with managing oneself and one’s resources in order to achieve a goal. It is an umbrella term for the

neurologicallybased skills involving mental control and selfregulation” (p. 9). Hoerr also provides the

caveat that without a balance of selfcontrol to be applied in different situations, too much of it can

prevent us from taking risks, being more spontaneous, or enjoying life more fully in our dynamic


― １８ ―

society.

Prior to introducing the steps for developing selfcontrol, Hoerr cautions educators that “if we want

students to develop and flex their selfcontrol muscles, we must present them with (somewhat limited)

choices so that they can learn to take responsibility for their behaviors while we stand back” (p. 59).

The notion being that our students must learn to (a) consider their options, (b) make a choice, and (c)

accept and deal with the consequences. In drafting their goals, students should identify (a) the ultimate

objective, (b) the obstacles or distractions they will need to overcome, and (c) how success will be

determined. Such phrasing from Hoerr should be compared with the typical “guidance” sessions offered

at Japanese universities with rules and directions imposed and compliance expected as opposed to being

nominated and boughtin to by students with an awareness of why the rules are necessary and the

choice to actively (not passively) comply. The five basic steps are:

Step 1 Developing awareness: becoming conscious of the importance of selfcontrol

Step 2 Complying: exercising selfcontrol by complying and being aware of why they do so

Step 3 Goal setting: setting one academic & one personal goal & anticipating real obstacles

Step 4 Transferring: being able to transfer skills learned to other situations from experience

Step 5 Monitoring: monitoring progress and reflecting on what worked and what didn’t

Integrity

To identify the distinction between honesty and integrity, Hoerr uses the dictionary definitions from

Merriam-Webster. In his book, on page 73, honesty is defined as “fairness and straightforwardness of

conduct; adherence to the facts” and integrity is “firm adherence to a code of especially moral or artistic

values; incorruptibility.” This suggests, as Hoerr notes, that it is possible to be honest without displaying

integrity, but not possible to have integrity without honesty. This is explained further by the notion of

honesty being intrapersonal or within the individual. However, integrity involves the conscious action of

making our values known to others; it is developed intentionally and is public and interpersonal in

nature. For Hoerr, integrity is being accountable for what we do by acknowledging our responsibilities

which may include stepping forward and making a stand when the occasion demands it.

Hoerr notes that of the five formative success skills, educators believe that integrity is the one they

do the best job in fostering and instructing. It is true that there is likely an aura of, if not actual focus

on, honesty in all classrooms. Furthermore, it is also hard to find dissenting voices between parents and

educators on the idea of valuing honesty. Honesty is a response to a choice which may occur

instantaneously or may require being thought through. Therefore, teachers should teach honesty directly.


― １９ ―

The growth of online communications and social media have made it easier for people to be dishonest

and act in uncivil ways, as Hoerr points out. The reduced personal connection in modern day electronic

communications works against deeper, trusting relationships and makes integrity even more important.

Integrity is seen by Hoerr to involve carrying our values of honesty to a higher level. Hoerr continues

by suggesting that integrity is more of a challenge to teach, in particular when exhibiting integrity might

involve noncompliance. At the same time, it is recognized that students cannot really learn to develop

integrity without questioning the rules and regulations. Hoerr cautions that teaching integrity is very

complicated because “what is perceived as fair and just by one person can often be considered unfair

and unjust by another” (p. 80).

Therefore, in teaching honesty and integrity, educators need to articulate the rationale behind their

thinking and outline the tradeoffs involved. However, by sharing examples of integrity, teachers can

serve as role models of this difficult, abstract concept. The five steps to progress from honesty to

integrity are listed following the expansion provided in Table 2.

Step 1 Becoming aware of what honesty means

Step 2 Internalizing and acting with honesty

Step 3 Becoming aware of what integrity means

Step 4 Identifying opportunities for integrity

Step 5 Initiating situations to manifest integrity

Embracing Diversity

Hoerr explains that embracing diversity means “understanding that we should recognize and appreciate

Table 2 The Steps of Teaching Honesty and Integrity

Honesty to Integrity Developmental Levels Honesty to Integrity Actions

1. Aware of honesty as a general personal,human, and community good

Identifies honest versus dishonest behaviorfrom questions or prompts

2. Internalizes honesty as a quality that shouldbe embodied and acts honestly

Acts honestly regardless of whether others areaware of the behavior

3. Aware of what integrity means and how itdiffers from and goes beyond honesty

Identifies if an individual is showing honestyor integrity

4. Identifies interactions and situations inwhich integrity could be manifested

Seeks and creates opportunities to showintegrity

5. Accepts the need to show integrity inpursuing what is right, even if it is costly

Manifests integrity in interactions andsituations

(Hoerr, 2017, p. 79)


― ２０ ―

the differences among us” (p. 89). He goes on to say that while empathy, selfcontrol, integrity, and grit

are universally recognized as favorable qualities, diversity is not so universally accepted. How others

differ from us has been at the core of the lived human experience. “Evolutionary theory holds that our

ability to sense when we should be suspicious has been every bit as essential for human survival as our

capacity for trust and cooperation” (Goleman, 2006, p. 22). As a result, Hoerr purports that we still

harbor suspicions or are quick to acknowledge negative stereotypes about people who look or act

differently. Nevertheless, according to Hoerr, embracing diversity means “playing an active role in

supporting the safety and dignity of others and ensuring they are respected” (p. 98).

Hoerr observes that the topic of diversity is often avoided by educators because they see it as

beyond their scope and something that is unlikely to change through instruction. Acknowledging how

power factors into stereotyping, Hoerr proposes a way forward with a quote from Gold (2016) that

states, “We naturally sort people into familiar categories that fit past experiences. Acknowledging this

human tendency with students can open up a conversation about how stereotypes are used in society”

(p. 105). Hoerr claims on page 95 that “students’ perceptions of the ways that others see them become a

reality for them, which, in turn, influences how they are seen by others” and this cycle perpetuates

itself. As it relates to education. a corroborating citation is provided from Steele (2010) who highlights

research findings that showed diminished performance when individuals were concerned that they would

be evaluated relative to a particular stereotype. “Social identities can strongly affect things as important

as our performances in the classroom and on standardized tests, our memory capacity, our athletic

performance, the pressure we feel to improve ourselves, even the comfort we have with people of

different groups” (p. 4). Hoerr suggests that it is however crucial to appreciate the many types of

diversity as these demographic factors (such as race, religion, gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, age,

and income) contribute to our personal identity and frame both our selfperceptions and our stance

toward others. Learners should therefore be taught that our identities are the filter through which all

communication and interaction must pass. Hoerr concludes that appreciating and embracing differences

creates a base for trust and understanding which will be important in the increasingly international scope

of the workforce made up of diverse peoples.

While at times it can seem like the notion of diversity has been overused and widely appropriated

to mean different things, for Hoerr, embracing diversity entails taking an active role in supporting the

safety and dignity of others and ensuring they are respected. However, such teaching is running counter

to years of socialized prejudice towards differences. Hoerr suggests creating new experiences that

highlight diversity and embedding diversity in the existing curriculum through literature, art, and special

events with opportunities to include people reflecting a range of differences as guest speakers.


― ２１ ―

Understanding others in the effort to embrace diversity is thus a success skill that should be developed

in our learners, and the five steps that Hoerr proposes are as follows:

Step 1 Appreciating ourselves: reflecting inward to understand one’s own identity

Step 2 Recognizing others’ diversities: identifying common similarities as well as differences

Step 3 Appreciating others: focusing on others’ strengths & how they are appreciated

Step 4 Planning: enabling students to act upon their understanding & respect for others

Step 5 Implementing: getting out of one’s comfort zone to respect & appreciate diversity

Grit

While Duckworth (2016) defines grit as “the tendency to sustain interest in and effort toward very long

term goals,” Hoerr focuses more on the shortterm development of tenacity or perseverance and the

attitude of hanging in and not ever giving up. Learning to respond well to frustration or failure is

characterized as a pivotal life skill which requires individuals to step beyond their comfort zone in order

to work on developing grit. Hoerr avows that all students benefit from having grit, no matter their

background circumstances and that a focus on developing grit does not overlook or sacrifice the

development of other skills. For some students, and many high school learners in Japan transitioning to

university, success in English as a foreign language may not be seen as a realistic possibility and they

may have “learned to ignore frustrations and accept failures” (p. 121). Duckworth (2016) describes four

psychological assets shared by people with grit: (a) interest, (b) the capacity to engage in deliberate

practice, (c) a sense of purpose, and (d) hope－clearly relevant in language study.

As teachers, our task is to teach and assist learners in developing the grit they need for the specific

challenges in their life. This means that educators must judge learner success against different metrics

than only doing well on tests. Hoerr cautions that some detractors worry that including activities

designed to develop grit through frustration or by pushing students to failures can negatively affect the

academic standing of a learner. There are of course ways around this, such as not grading the grit

activities or dropping the lowest score for the average from a series of assessments. The goal is however

to learn how to channel disappointment productively and not give up when things are a little difficult or

simply new－where personal experience has shown that Japanese university students often default to

expressing muzukashii even for simply new or unfamiliar (but not necessarily difficult!) tasks.

Hoerr concludes that learning is not something teachers do for or to the learners but rather

something that is done with them. Therefore, to successfully foster grit, educators must help students

develop greater agency toward their learning. The opportune time to teach grit is when a student is


― ２２ ―

frustrated and wants to quit. Helping students appreciate the journey in learning over the destination

itself can equip them to better deal with failures as good failures－ones from which we learn (p. 125).

Drawn from his 2013 title Fostering Grit, Hoerr has identified six steps for developing this critical

formative skill in learners. Suitable for all ages, this sequence provides the opportunity to take risks, be

frustrated, and even fail with support.

Step 1 Establishing the environment: celebrating tenacity in physical & psychological ways

Step 2 Setting expectations: learning to respond to failure is an important life skill for grit

Step 3 Teaching the vocabulary: describing grit in various ways so it can be recognized

Step 4 Creating frustration: creating frustrating experiences to work through & learn from

Step 5 Monitoring the experience: monitoring reactions for attitudes toward learning

Step 6 Reflecting and learning: having students reflect on how they felt & responded

Format and Critique

Each chapter opens with a quotation related to the contents of that section. These range from Churchill

beginning Chapter 6 on grit with “Success is the ability to go from failure to failure without losing your

enthusiasm” to the wise counsel of Lewis Carroll‘s Cheshire Cat from Alice in Wonderland for the

closing chapter saying “If you don’t know where you’re going, any road will get you there.” The

chapters on the five formative skills then include exemplars from student behaviors or actions used to

orient the reader to the concept at hand. While somewhat informative, the unfortunate polar extremes in

these examples present much more of a deficit model rather than the complexity along a continuum that

Hoerr is trying to account for. The simple graphics, presented throughout the volume routinely as tables,

do little to counter the linear representation Hoerr is trying to avoid. Figure 4.2 was reproduced as Table

2 in this paper and see also Figure 4.3 on page 79 and Hoerr’s disclaimer on page 78.

Prior to each chapter section headed “What is . . . ?” readers are invited to take a 10question self

assessment survey on that formative skill. There are also Student Assessment Surveys in Appendix A of

the book which have been translated into Japanese and are provided under license from the publisher in

the Appendix at the end of this paper. While Hoerr acknowledges in the body of the SelfAssessment

Surveys that they are not a scientifically valid instrument, it is the issue of his measurement scale that

should be questioned on a number of fronts. First, Hoerr uses a 5point Likert scale from 1(strongly

disagree) to 5 (strongly agree). This is not problematic in and of itself, however, at the bottom of each

survey is the way the points scale is to be arrived at with five questions leaning more toward the

construct and five questions leaning away from it. Hoerr then uses 18 or higher, 15-17, 12-14, and 12


― ２３ ―

or lower as his divisions for fully understanding, understanding, focusing more, and needing to read up

more, respectively. The discord from these categories and what the survey instrument can actually

measure or operationalize aside, it is the numbers that just do not shake out. For example, if a subject

selected disagree (2) for each of the 5 dissenting items that score (2 x 5) would be 10. If the subject

then identified with agree (4) for each of the 5 more affirmatively aligned items that score would be 20

(4 x 5). The survey respondent would have shown a clear discrimination between the items weighted

more negatively and those skewed more favorably, but by simply having avoided the extremes of 1 and

5, the final score 2010＝10 appears woefully low in Hoerr’s scale. So low in fact that while some of

the items may be useful to prompt a discussion about that success skill criterion, it brings completely

into question the idea of doing the math in the survey to arrive at a respondent profile for each of the

constructs. Some basic editing issues also exist such as no reference provided for a citation page 115

116, an actual duplication of the same sentences on backtoback pages 77 and 78, and an inexplicable

change of the order of the teaching contexts presented in the Strategies for Developing section of

Chapter 5. More importantly however, there are issues in both what Hoerr says and what he does not.

There is no elaboration offered on quotations provided such as “Empathy fuels connections, sympathy

drives disconnection” (p. 36) or Hoerr’s own evaluative comments like “Integrity is much more of a

challenge to teach, especially when exhibiting integrity might well mean refusing to comply with

classroom or school rules and regulations” (pp. 7980). It is however some of Hoerr’s asides in an

attempt to explicate further that brought this reader to a pause. For example, the use of Adam and Eve

to invoke support for the claim that “humans have always had trouble resisting temptation” (p. 58) and

the oversimplified and naïve notion that an outside observer can feel the “culture” of a school or

institution merely by looking at their website (p. 135) do not do justice to the more thoughtful

contributions available in the book.

Following some elaboration on each formative skill making up his model, Hoerr’s underpinning for

that concept in its chapter is supported largely with reference to populist sources and personal

communications versus scholarly founded research. While that makes this volume from ASCD

(Association of Supervision Curriculum and Development) quite accessible and easy to read, it does beg

the question of rigor and theoretical foundation in the realm of education psychology where he is

situating this title on student needs. For example, on pages 113 & 121 referring to the apparent ease and

effortlessness of highly successful people, Hoerr does not include mention of Dweck (2006) and fixed

or growth mindsets and selfdetermination theory from Ryan and Deci (2018) appears neither in the

index nor the reference list. On page 122, the expression “learn it by doing” is used, but no mentions of

the scholarly accounts for experiential learning in academic contexts are cited or referenced.


― ２４ ―

The “Steps to Developing . . .” sections created by Hoerr for each of the formative five skills are

delineated with applications, albeit rather briefly at times. These shortcomings aside, Hoerr does meet

the burden of the stated focus of his book which is how to teach his model conceptualized as the

formative five. He advances the understanding that preparing students for life outside of school is more

than achieving standardized test scores. Hoerr goes on to claim that teachers can design curriculum and

teaching strategies for the formative five regardless of learner level or academic context or setting.

Hoerr also reminds us that teaching is more than formal instruction in dedicated lessons. The formative

five also need to be modeled and framed and on display in the institution’s values.

Where Hoerr makes his greatest contribution and most capably lends his years of expertise is in the

“Strategies for Developing . . .” sections. These are broken down into sections recommending practical

action steps by context or roles for all teachers, middle and high school teachers, elementary school

teachers, and principals. Each chapter closes with a selection of books that reflect the construct and its

potential for development in an educational setting with the lists of titles for students divided between

picture books and chapter books. It is from these final elements in each chapter where many of the

implications for innovation in pedagogy can be drawn from.

Implications

In Chapter 7, Hoerr observes that the development of empathy, selfcontrol, integrity, and grit, along

with embracing diversity, involves helping students to understand themselves and how to work with

others. While curriculum, assessment, and collaboration are all relevant, it is the institutional culture that

must really be focused on to foster these formative skills. A focus on the formative five success skills

requires (a) modification to the curriculum, (b) new teaching practices, and (c) more evenly distributed

leadership throughout the school (p. 135) beyond the typical topdown approaches. To initiate change,

Hoerr advises that educators must look at both the formal and informal curriculum. The former is

largely represented in the official curriculum contents, formal lessons, and to some extent classroom

activities. The informal curriculum however includes “the routines, the practices, the policies, and the

cultures” that guide our behavior and is “what we do” (p. 102) and is also what the students are savvy

at watching and listening to what their teachers do and say. The five success skills are best learned

actively, and for implementation, Hoerr provides readers with strategies.

Strategies for developing empathy provided by Hoerr in Chapter 2 (pp. 4350) include:

1) helping students recognize and understand the perspectives of others

noting that empathy begins with listening and trying to understand


― ２５ ―

2) having students engage in service learning or get involved with charitable causes

where it is better to fund projects or conduct altruistic acts tied to aspects of the curriculum

3) helping students appreciate their own background and biases

understanding “Why am I the way I am?”

4) consciously teaching about stereotypes and discrimination, or the evolution of attitudes

understanding the reasons why people’s degree of empathy toward different people varies

Strategies for developing selfcontrol (Chapter 3, pp. 6570):

1) having students set two academic goals: (a) achievement goals and (b) process goals

covering the knowledge and skills students hope to acquire and how to exercise selfcontrol

2) working to create classroom climates where students support efforts at gaining selfcontrol

invite the learner to help think of a solution and determine ways to help each other out

3) examining literature or authentic course contents through the lens of selfcontrol

which literary characters or examples from real life demonstrate selfcontrol or a lack of it?

4) developing a mindfulness practice (http://mindfulnessforteens.com)

meditating and focusing on breath control as a way to reduce distractions and temptations

Strategies for developing integrity, adapted from Chapter 4 (pp. 8185):

1) helping students understand the difference between honesty and integrity

finding instances of honesty & integrity in the news & engaging students on course contents

2) modeling honesty and integrity by admitting to mistakes and identifying unfair situations

students receive a powerful message & much can be gained thru transparency & rationale

3) working to establish a norm of trust in the institution

talking about trust & giving students room to respond to situations that help them earn trust

4) helping learners understand there are often difficult consequences for acting with integrity

anticipate how to react in particular situations and reinforce qualities not captured by grades

Strategies for embracing diversity, adapted from those presented on pages 103108, include:

1) creating mixedvariable learning groups, and even mixedgrade teams

so that students work with classmates who are like and unlike them and across age diversity

2) introducing authentic samples across the curriculum that show discrimination or tolerance

help students to step out of their own experience by role playing the thinking of others

3) embracing diversity by identifying influencers to spread positive, antibullying messages


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to reduce conflicts by working against the tendency to favor those most like ourselves

4) routinely highlighting diversity at faculty meetings & inviting parents to discuss the issues

exposing teachers, parents, & students to resources in & beyond the curriculum on integrity

Strategies for developing grit (pp. 127132)

1) introducing and using the term good failure

so students understand about learning from failure to prevent a reoccurrence & develop grit

2) asking students to set goals that cause them to stretch beyond their comfort zone

so learners see grit as a byproduct of their willingness to stretch

3) providing opportunities for students to learn something new (and hard, but fun!)

so that they can consciously work on grit as they learn, even in activities off the curriculum

4) reporting in faculty development or meetings examples of students displaying grit

identifying learners not usually at the center of positive attention, as all students need grit

In the final chapter, Hoerr links his approach to some very Americentric policies. However, any

educator familiar with the inner working of their own context can work around this target reader

orientation. Quoted comments on page 157 like “success in school [used to mean] success in life” and

“social and emotional skills matter just as much in determining life satisfaction and success as

traditional intelligence” (as cited in Smith, McGovern, Larson, Hillaker, & Peck, 2016) will certainly

resonate with readers in Japan and its rapidly globalizing environs. The final chapter also touches on

happiness, stakeholder relationships, and the oftmaligned limitation to innovation in education,

assessment. On the point of assessing such abstract skills, Hoerr offers intentionality, observation, and

reflection as key principles, which are seeing more traction in Japan in the areas Tough (2016) terms

“deeper learning” and “inquirybased instruction,” as in the following quote appearing on page 160.

. . . in the classroom, teachers need to engage students in discussions rather than just lecturing to

them; projectbased learning, in which groups of students spend much of their time working, often

in groups, on elaborate projects that might take weeks or months to complete; and performance

based assessments, in which student[sic] are judged not primarily by the scores on endofsemester

exams, but by the portfolios, presentations, artwork, and written work they produce throughout the

year. (p. 105)

In his closing personalized statement, Hoerr’s choice of formative to frame these success skills is made

very clear when he states that adults and children learn best when the “learning is developmental,” when

learning is interesting, and when students know the instructor understands and appreciates them.


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Conclusion

The formative five as proposed by Hoerr are key success skills for students and adults to learn and work

with in the future. These skills include empathy, selfcontrol, integrity, embracing diversity, and grit. In

order to develop these skills in the learners, educators must be role models in the application of these

success factors and support the transparent pursuit of them in the culture and fabric of their institution.

Following the introduction to each of the five formative success skills and the steps to developing each,

as proposed by Hoerr, classroom teachers and administrators can implement the most suitable strategies

for their context. In this way, students can see and experience the progress of their learning journey by

“step[ping] outside of our backgrounds and situations . . . and work[ing] to understand others” (p. 43).

References

Bryant, A. (2015, July 11). Stewart Butterfield of Slack: Is empathy on your résumé. New York Times. Retrieved

from https : / /www.nytimes. com / 2015 / 07 / 12 / business / stewartbutterfieldofslackexperiencewithempathyrequired.html

CooperKahn, J., & Dietzel, L. (2008). Late, lost, and unprepared: A parents’ guide to helping children with

executive functioning. Bethesda, MD: Woodbine Press.

Duckworth, A. (2016). Grit: The power of passion and perseverance. New York, NY: Simon & Schuster.

Dweck, C. S. (2006). The new psychology of success. New York, NY: Ballentine Books.

Friedman, T. (2005). The world is flat: A brief history of the twenty-first century. New York, NY: Farrar, Straus, and

Giroux.

Gold, J. (2016, January 11). Teaching about stereotypes 2.0. Teaching Tolerance. Retrieved from https://www.

tolerance.org/magazine/teachingaboutstereotypes20Goleman, D. (1995). Emotional intelligence: Why it can matter more than IQ. New York, NY: Bantam Press.

Goleman, D. (2006). Social intelligence: The new science of human relationships. New York, NY: Bantam Press.

Heckman, J. (2013). Giving kids a fair chance. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

Hoerr, T. (2013). Fostering grit: How do I prepare my students for the real world ? Alexandria, VA: ASCD.

Hoerr, T. (2017). The formative five: Fostering grit, empathy, and other success skills every student needs.

Alexandria, VA: ASCD.

Kay, K., & Greenhill, V. (2012). The leader’s guide to 21st-century skills: Seven steps for schools and districts.

Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon.

Krznaric, R. (2014). Empathy: Why it matters, and how to get it. New York, NY: Random House.

Lahey, J. (2014, September 4). Teaching children empathy. New York Times. Retrieved from https://parenting.blogs.

nytimes.com/2014/09/04/teachingchildrenempathy/Merriam Webster. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.merriamwebster.com/dictionary/integrityMischel, W. (2014). The marshmallow test: Mastering self-control. New York, NY: Brown & Company.

Obama, B. (2016, June 19). Obama to graduates. Cultivate empathy. Retrieved from https://www.northwestern.edu/

newscenter/stories/2006/06/barack.html

Orr, T. (2009). ESP/EAP: English for global living, working, and studying [Plenary Speech]. JALT CUE 2009

Conference. Tezukayama University, Gakuenmae Campus, Nara.

Ryan, R. M., & Deci, E. L. (2018). Self-determination theory: Basic psychological needs in motivation, development,

and wellness. New York, NY: Guilford.


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Seligman, M. E. P. (2012). Flourish: A visionary new understanding of happiness and well-being. New York, NY:

Free Press.

Smith, C., McGovern, G., Larson, R., Hillaker, B., & Peck, S. C. (2016). Preparing youth to thrive: Promising

practices in social and emotional learning. Washington, DC: Forum for Youth Investment.

Steele, C. (2010). Whistling Vivaldi and other clues to how stereotypes affect us. New York, NY: W. W. Norton &

Company.

Tough, P. (2016). Helping children succeed: What works and why. New York, NY: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.


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Appendix


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From The Formative Five: Fostering Grit, Empathy, and Other Success Skills Every Student Needs, by Thomas R.

Hoerr, Alexandria, VA: ASCD. © 2017 by ASCD. Adapted with permission


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Documents

Fostering Grit, Empathy, and Self Control: Reviewing …...To define self control, on page 53 Hoerr uses Goleman’s 1995 definition of “the ability to modulate and control one’s