Throughout the year you will find information about those key intellectual skills that are taught and practiced that help children become independent and self-directed. Persistence It is not uncommon for students to give up in frustration when the answer to a problem is not immediately known.  They sometimes wad up their papers and throw them away saying, "I can't do this," "It's too hard," or they may write down any answer to get the task over with as soon as possible.  Some children find it challenging staying focused for any length of time or are easily distracted.  They often lack the ability to analyze a problem, to develop a system of strategies to attack the problem.  They may give up because they don't have enough problem solving strategies. In teaching Persistence we want students to: *  be able to stick to a task until it is completed *  not to give up easily *  to be able to analyze a problem *  to develop a number of strategies for problem solving *  to collect evidence to show their problem-solving strategy is working, and if one strategy      doesn't work, they know how to regroup and try another strategy *  to be able to recognize when a theory or idea must be rejected and another one tried *  to have a method of analyzing a problem - this includes knowing how to begin, knowing    what steps must be performed and what data is need to be collected. When students have many opportunities to practice persistence, they become quite comfortable when being confronted with any kind of problem or task.