Monthly Archives: February 2016

http://www.newyorker.com/science/maria-konnikova/the-secret-formula-for-resilience

This article provides a framework of the relationship between mindset and resilience. Through focusing on areas of strength within the face of adversity it becomes clear if people are resilient or not. While this notion appears to be black and white, the article suggests understanding resilience is quite complicated. The psychologists suggest that the way people conceptualize their situations essentially determines if they are resilient. Through the way we respond to adversity determines our resilience. This outlook is helpful for my inquiry project because it shows the importance of responding in a productive and problem solving manner. As teachers, we can invoke this mindset to support our student’s responses to adversities. We may not be able to take away the adversities but we can support students overcoming them. This can develop their resilience both in and out of the classroom. “This research shows that resilience is, ultimately, a set of skills that can be taught.”

http://www.cfchildren.org/second-step

The Second Step Program is designed to build and support social and emotional learning for students. Second Step has programs built for SEL (social emotional learning), bullying prevention and child protection. One of the units in Second Step focuses on problem solving and allows students to engage with problems and develop action plans to combat them. This unit fits the concept of resilience quite well. Second step has a specific unit on problem solving, and I think this can be used to support students on building resilience. Through building a tool kit of strategies, students can develop their resilience in both academic and social contexts. The Second Step program is designed in way that teaches students that developing social and emotional skills is a process that can be built upon everyday. Overall, the Second Step program can be very effective in facilitating conversations about social and emotional learning and how it influences and affects resilience. I particularly like this resource because you can select units for your class, without having to participate in the whole program. This allows teachers to select what areas they feel students support on through the program and supplement other social and emotional learning needs with other resources.

Bondy, E., Ross, D.D., Gallingane, C., & Hambacher, E. (2007). Creating environments of success and resilience: culturally responsive classroom management and more. UrbanEducation, 42, 326- 348.

These scholars explore the diversity among elementary school classrooms and how teachers can approach setting up a resilient classroom climate. The qualitative data from their research reflects the positive student consequences of teachers setting up a resilient classroom climate at the beginning of the school year. This article provides many of the same strategies for fostering resilience as several other scholars and journals do. For example, nurturing positive relationships with parents and students, teaching conflict resolution and positive classroom climate. However, this article differs because it provides a specific context and time frame for teachers to foster resiliency. The qualitative study itself is focused on a specific strategy. The scholars suggest that by creating and fostering a supportive classroom environment starting from the minute the class begins, teachers can begin to support and build student resiliency. This article provides unique perspectives to my inquiry through outline the benefits of setting up classroom expectations, projecting an encouraging tone, and providing a context for when teachers can begin to foster resilience in the classroom.

http://www.weareteachers.com/blogs/building-resilience-in-the-classroom-blog-series

WeAreTeachers features a blog segment on “Building resilience in the classroom blog series.” This blog is helpful to my inquiry because it gives authentic stories of experience from teachers. The strategies provided on the blog provide in the moment and long- term support strategies. One of the entries discusses The Flip It strategy, which is used to support students’ emotional resilience. It provides specific scenarios where teachers can use the strategy. This was unique in comparison to other blogs I have explored. This blog is helpful to my inquiry because it provides insights into teacher resilience. While this is not the focus of my inquiry, it is important to consider multiple perspectives in inquiry. Looking into teacher resilience contributes to understanding multiple perspectives of resilience and how people build it.

Padron, Y. N., Waxman, H., Brown, A. P., & Powers, R. A. (2000). Improving classroom instruction and student learning for resilient and non-resilient english language learners. Center For Research on Education, Diversity and Excellence, 7, 1-4.

This article looks at how English Language Learners (ELL) experience resilience in the classroom. Padron, Waxman, Brown and Powers (2000) explore the relationship between classroom instruction and student resilience/non resilience for English language learners (ELL). The study concludes that student centered learning environments compared to teacher driven are often better for English language learners to be resilient. The hands on and experiential student centered learning approach allows students to engage in experience that is geared at supporting their resilience. These scholars emphasize that implementing student centered learning environments is not always easy. Thus, they have developed a general instructional program to help foster this type of environment. The Pedagogy to Improve Resiliency Program (PRIP) focuses on building relationships for students, building social and academic competencies, reducing stress and generating/allocating resources for students.

Brooks, R., & Goldstein, S. (2008). The mindset of teachers capable of fostering resilience in students. Canadian Journal of School Psychology, 1, 114-126.

Brooks and Goldstein (2008) discuss the role of teacher mindset in fostering resilience in their students. The article discusses how the personal values teacher’s hold influence their expectations for their classrooms. This mindset bridges the relationship that the teacher has with the student and can influence how they nurture resilience in the classroom. The article explains that life long learning, relationships and taking responsibility for yourself are part of a positive teacher mindset. I agree with how the article approaches the teacher’s role in resilience building. These scholars emphasize explicitly discussing failure and resilience and setting up the classroom climate that supports this from the beginning. Through talking about the fear of failure and what you can learn from failure is emphasized in this article. I think these are tools and mindsets that can be brought into practicum in the beginning. A limitation of this article is that it primarily focuses solely on the responsibility of teachers to enable student resilience. While I agree that the teacher has an important role in fostering resilience, I think that students can equal members in the process and be engaged as well.