5 Promoting Student Resilience Introduction
Lynn Meade
“The oak fought the wind and was broken, the willow bent when it must and survived.”
― Robert Jordan, The Fires of Heaven
“Persistence and resilience only come from having been given the chance to work through difficult problems.”
― Gever Tulley
We can listen to our students, advocate for our students, and show our students how to use the resources but ultimately one of the greatest gifts we can give our students is the gift of perspective. By helping them to see that they have control of many things and they have choices, we help empower them to grow. Giving them the tools to embrace a growth mindset and teaching them that struggles can produce growth can help them develop the lifelong skill of resilience. In doing so, we are giving them tools to be successful in college and beyond.
This unit is designed to give you the tools you need to have conversations with your students about why their mindset matters. You will learn ways to adjust your mindset so you can ultimately help them to adjust theirs.
Learning Objectives
The Promoting Student Resilience: Coaching Students Toward a Growth Mindset While Building Failure Immunity unit is broken down into three main subtopics. At the end of each of these, coaches will be able to do the following:
Nurture the Growth Mindset in Our Students
- Teach students the difference between open and closed mindset
- Share examples of how to incorporate the “yet” script
- Guide students toward personal goal-setting practices
- Apply principles of Stanford’s prototyping model to coaching conversations
- Tell their story of struggle in a way that helps students see process over perfection
Coach Students to Use Design Thinking for Wicked Problems
- Define wicked problems
- Ask questions about identities and ask, “What is their why?”
- Brainstorm possible paths and solutions
- Assist students in reframing dysfunctional beliefs
- Help students consider prototyping ideas
Help Students Build Resilience
- Discuss resilience-building strategies with their students
- Share research on what makes a person resilient
- Praise growth in their students, model gratitude, and reframe failure
Media Attributions
- Resilience (1) © Lynn Meade
