"Resiliency is the ability to grow and mature in the midst of resistance, and it is something we have control over and something we can increase," Diane Clark noted during her session "Teaching Strategies That Foster Resiliency in the Inclusive Classroom," copresented by Pamela Garriott. "Fifty to 70 percent of people in adverse situations have the ability to bounce back, and schools can create an environment where resiliency can thrive," she added.
To build resilient students, Clark suggests teachers foster kids' abilities to maintain an internal locus of control. Kids need to feel like they can change their situation and to realize that they can make choices that will positively affect their outcomes. Also, if students have the chance to engage in hobbies, chosen activities, or other ways to participate and feel capable, their resiliency will flourish, according to Clark and Garriott.
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The copresenters outlined several resiliency-building strategies that educators can employ in their classrooms, including
- Making school welcome and accessible to all.
- Helping students feel competent by trusting each child and giving them responsibilities and opportunities to participate. Kids that don't have chances to participate feel invisible, and when you're invisible, you lack accountability for your actions because you're not there. Also, kids who feel invisible will do all sorts of things to become visible. Kids who have chances to help and participate feel valued because they are needed.
- Modeling good behavior.
- Fostering autonomy. If you ask a 1st grade class a question, almost everybody in the class will clamor to participate, says Clark. Go into a 9th grade class and ask for examples, she adds, and the room shuts down. Why is this? As kids get older they receive more and more social cues that fitting in is paramount to autonomy—better to be part of an accepted group then to go out on a limb as an individual. Clark believes teachers need to let kids know that individuality is accepted, respected, and valued.
Resilient kids have the ability to detach from whatever dysfunction they're mired in. What can teachers do to promote this ability to detach and move forward? Fostering autonomy in your students means helping them see themselves as separate from the dysfunction. Help students see their personal accomplishments by acknowledging their efforts and the work they do, Clark encourages. Validate their feelings; help them detach from the dysfunction, but not the family. "It's okay to be upset because your family life is chaotic, but help kids find the good amongst chaos," Clark says. No matter how bad a student's home life, it is still their family, and it is still something they value.