What is resiliency?
When you first hear the words resilient or resiliency, you may think of a definition similar to the idea of withstanding or “bouncing back” from difficult decisions. This idea is often connected to the resilience of communities, plants, or even commercial products. I urge you to consider a new type of resiliency — individual resiliency.
When we look at resiliency through the lens of individuals, we are able to see a stark difference in our other ideas of resiliency. Many may consider the resiliency of communities to be derived from their “strength in numbers.” The natural world may be considered resilient because of the millions of years of evolution. Even commercial goods that boast about their resiliency do so because they were designed that way. As an individual, it can sometimes feel as though you cannot change your level of resiliency. This is simply not the case. Through practice, we can all improve our individual resiliency to trauma.
Why is it important for educators?
As educators, we are in a unique position when considering individual resiliency. We must not only be concerned with our own resiliency, but also that of our students. This responsibility reflects the notion that we are not simply focused on our content area, but instead must aim to prepare our students for life beyond the walls of our classroom.
“You may not control all the events that happen to you, but you can decide not to be reduced by them.”
Maya Angelou, Letter to My Daughter (1987)
Many students experience trauma. This is an unfortunate truth that we cannot afford to ignore. In an effort to improve the resiliency of our students so that they can better handle the stress and trauma in their lives, we must infuse resilient thinking into our daily education. Kristin Souers and Pete Hall dive into the idea of Fostering Resilient Learners in their book by the same name. Within this book, the two authors connect individual resiliency to the classroom and demonstrate the importance of relationship, belief, self-awareness, and grace.
What can I do?
Throughout their book, Souers and Hall concisely put forth various phrases or mantras to help with fostering individual resiliency within yourself and your students. Each of these phrases corresponds to a chapter of the book. Some of my favorites include:
- Forever Changed, Not Forever Damaged. (Chapter 11)
- Similar to the Maya Angelou quote included above, this reminds us to keep a growth-centered mindset in response to trauma.
- When in Doubt, Shut Your Mouth and Take a Breath. (Chapter 5)
- Sometimes the best thing to do is breathe instead of talk. There have been many times when breathing exercises have helped me to calm down.
- It’s OK to be Not-OK. (Chapter 12)
- This is likely one you’ve heard. There is often a stigma around asking for help from others or showing that you are not okay. Instead, we must remember that it is natural to be “Not-OK” sometimes.
If you want another way to measure your own resiliency so you can better foster resiliency in your students, check out this video by Psych2Go about 8 Things Resilient People Do:
TLDR:
Michael Mischler
Miami University || Class of 2023
College of Education Health and Society || Integrated Science Education Major
Hey Michael,
Awesome blog post!! I loved the different creative aspects of this post. I think you definitely understand the topic and this showed in your post. Great job on tying in the book into the concepts you mentioned. This really backed up the information you present and helped clarify any misconceptions I had. A question I have for you is how we can be in tune with our students without coming off as intruding? We want to know our student’s triggers but need to give our students space as well.
Hey Michael!
I really liked that you started your blog with talking about resiliency in general, including the TedTalk, and then putting it in context of trauma in the classroom. I thought that was a unique way to approach this topic. I also thought it was cool that you included your favorite chapters from the book, as it can direct readers to specific sections to learn more. Do you have any thoughts about healing centered engagement or how it could be applied in the classroom to avoid focusing on students’ trauma?
Hi Ellie!
Thank you so much for the comment on my post! I wasn’t sure if the “different types of resilience” would come across right so I’m super grateful for the reassurance. One of the biggest things we can do to help students develop individual resilience is to be transparent about our own humanity and exhibit individual resiliency ourselves.
Michael,
I loved diving into your blog about resiliency in learners. It certainly is eye-opening to discuss why considering the trauma of students when teaching is important. I especially love how you break down the ideas of resilience and how it applies differently to different people. Do you have any thoughts on how we can help our students develop individual resilience in a classroom community?