We're asking ASCD Emerging Leaders their thoughts on education.
Resilience is the spark that helps educators keep the flame for educational equity burning bright. Without resilience in teaching and learning, kids make the decision to avoid difficult assignments, and educators make the decision to give up on "difficult" students.
—Jahkari Taylor (@purposepushers), Title 1 instructional coach, Purpose Pushers, Suffolk, Va.
Resilience for both students and educators can be the difference between mastering a task and simply giving up when easy transforms into difficult. It links closely with the concept of a growth mindset, which instills in us the firm belief that failures should never be an ending point but a reflection point that guides iteration, breakthrough, and growth.
—Patrick Hausammann (@PHausEDU), supervisor of instructional technology/ITRT, Clarke County Public Schools, Berryville, Va.
Novelist Robert Jordan characterized the life of an educator when he wrote, "The oak fought the wind and was broken, the willow bent when it must and survived." Educators encounter challenging circumstances daily. Yet, there's a sense of resilience innately embedded in our DNA. We teach simply because the future depends upon it.
—Tyrri McCloud, math and science instructor, Broward County Public Schools, North Lauderdale, Fla.
Resilience in teaching and learning means reaching a goal regardless of the journey. It is easy to let obstacles, challenges, failures, or excuses interfere with success. It is much harder to accept failure and struggle as part of growth. Being resilient teachers and learners requires us to reflect, analyze data, and ask the tough questions. Resilience also emphasizes the power of yet. I have not reached my goal yet. I have not learned it yet. The door of opportunity is still there. Resilience is not just believing success is possible but taking intentional steps forward to reach it. It is knowing "I can, I will, and here's how."
—Jessica Holloway (@hollowayreader), instructional coach, Hixson Middle School, Soddy Daisy, Tenn.
Defining someone's achievement in overcoming difficulty based on how much resilience they have is problematic. As educators, we should not view resilience as something that one person must do on their own to combat failure and reach success. The power of resilience is realized when the community and systems around a person guide and help that person in forging a new path of discovery and growth. In teaching and learning, we need to demand that our communities and systems, not the individual people, become more responsive and resilient.
—Lauren Jewett, student support/special education teacher, KIPP Morial Primary School, New Orleans, La.
A mentor educator once told me that "In life, it is better to do the hard right, than the easy wrong." Educators must know that when we do what is best for kids, there will be times when we receive pushback. Resilience comes into play when we continue to show up, do the hard work, and exhaust all efforts to ensure that all students have the education that they deserve. When we receive pushback, we must lean hard into our resilience and passion so that we can continue to carry out the "hard right" for each and every student in our building.
—Jen Hawkins (@jen_hawkins4), assistant principal, Hortons Creek Elementary School, Cary, N.C.
Responses edited for length and clarity.
