Introduction
Resilience is a student’s ability to adapt well to difficulties or stress during studies. This approach helps students avoid the potential negative psychological consequences of challenging experiences. Resilient students generally respond positively to academic or social challenges. Resilient students are mainly characterized by high autonomy, a sense of confidence, and the belief that they will be able to achieve high results.
Resilience is considered one of the critical competencies of the curriculum for elementary students since it improves student outcomes. It is linked to the belief that students can influence their environment.
The Concept of Resilience and its Benefit for Elementary Students
Several critical abilities develop resilience and influence the learning process (An Introduction to Resilience in Educational Settings, 2020). The first is emotional regulation, which means the ability to remain calm and depict emotions in the proper way. The second is the ability to control impulses, which involves making a conscious choice to act according to desire (or not), as well as delaying gratification and persistent action. The third is the involvement of causal analysis or the skill of analyzing problems and determining causes. The fourth is empathy, which includes the skill to understand the feelings and needs of another person. The fifth is realistic optimism, which means maintaining a positive outlook without denying reality (An Introduction to Resilience in Educational Settings, 2020). Self-efficacy includes belief in one’s ability to solve problems and cope with stress.
Equally important is opportunity seeking, or taking advantage of new opportunities and reaching the educator’s goals. Higher resilience allows students to achieve more positive outcomes with fewer problem behaviors. Resilient people are always courageous and motivated to resolve problems and difficulties properly (An Introduction to Resilience in Educational Settings, 2020). They do not deny or exaggerate themselves; they maintain a positive outlook and are confident despite any difficulties.
Resilience in students arises from learning a certain way of interpreting problems and not simply as a psychological response to social or academic difficulties. Children’s mental attitudes and their models of interpretation of events, particularly why certain things happen, affect their level of resilience (An Introduction to Resilience in Educational Settings, 2020). Students feel a great impact on their physical and mental development every day.
Between school, other educational activities, work, and social life, children encounter many new experiences and challenges (An Introduction to Resilience in Educational Settings, 2020). A skill like resilience allows one to deal with these challenges, bounce back from setbacks, and have the best chance of success. This opportunity allows them to learn and develop in any situation. Resilience also positively affects a child’s ability to approach new problems, people, or experiences with confidence and the right mindset, which will increase the chances of success.
A Classroom Strategy for Fostering Resilience among Students from Difficult Circumstances
A specific classroom strategy for fostering resilience in students who have faced difficult circumstances is developed to enhance learning abilities and behavior. The problem with the plan includes difficult circumstances, which led to anxiety, overgeneralization, catastrophizing, or exaggeration of the likelihood or magnitude of adverse outcomes among students. The goals of the plan are teaching the model to learn from mistakes, setting audacious goals, and encouraging responsible risks.
The Resilience Donut theory is part of the plan, sections of which will be included in the strategy (Nečasová, 2021). The first is the involvement of the parental factor in learning resilience, and the second is the skill factor, which includes teaching the child how to prove competence (Nečasová, 2021). The third is the factor of family and identity, which is discussed in extracurricular and relevant classroom hours.
The peer factor refers to the process by which social and moral development is enhanced through interaction with peers. Equally important is the community factor, which includes the transfer of morals and values of the local community and student support. The strategy discussed below is focused on the development of resilience in students and consists of several steps.
The first step of the strategy is to set bold goals for students. Thus, it will develop the student’s ability to identify personal goals and then the ability to tolerate the discomfort that creates resistance to achieving that goal. An example of such an objective is asking students to reflect on the camera-on/camera-off dilemma. Students will be able to explore in this way how it affects their personal and academic development. Will being on camera interfere with their studies or make it difficult for them to be visual in society?
The SMART framework is the next step in measuring student goals. The next step is to celebrate the achievement when the child reaches the destination. To achieve this goal, the following plan step is to set aside time to reflect on progress toward the bold goal and express gratitude and excitement when the goals are met.
The next phase of the strategy is teaching students to fail in order to increase motivation, which is a core component of Resilience Theory. This strategic step can be achieved by creating a classroom where failure and disappointment are an expected and honored part of learning (Hunsu et al., 2021). During such training, the teacher will praise students for their hard work and not just for grades and academic success.
The final step is encouraging risk-taking, which includes incentives. Students are not afraid to feel stress or frustration, which is not seen as a pressure on them from which they need to escape. By introducing students to models of developing resilience, they will alleviate frustration and help them return to an optimal and productive focus on learning. Therefore, the targeted instructional approach to strengthening resilience in students who have encountered challenging situations aims to educate resilience and motivate and teach students to cope with difficulties that affect their learning process.
Conclusion
Summing up, resilience is an important life skill that most students need to overcome adversity in their studies. Often, educators do not know what strategy or theory to apply in order to increase the level of resilience among students. The main support for teachers focuses on the development of cognitive or technical skills. Teaching resilience requires increasing safety in the learning environment.
Resilience also means the ability to adapt to changing circumstances, which can be achieved by implementing evidence-based teaching methods that encourage flexible approaches to learning. If the teacher is student-centered, the designed sustainable environment will only promote this trait. The main methods will be focused on reducing the cognitive load by strengthening key concepts and competencies. Equally important is the inclusion of approaches to rethinking assessment and the use of difficulty-informed learning.
References
An introduction to resilience in educational settings. (2020). The Education Hub. Web.
Hunsu, N. J., Carnell, P. H., & Sochacka, N. W. (2021). Resilience theory and research in engineering education: what good can it do? European Journal of Engineering Education, 46(6), 1026–1042. Web.
Nečasová, L. (2021). The resilience of high school students, analysis of compensatory measures, and preferred strategies for coping with adverse situations. Sociální Pedagogika | Social Education, 9(1), 54–65. Web.