1. Resiliency Defined
The ability of learners to develop skills to overcome barriers despite obstacles

2. Factors that may impede Factors that support Environmental Obstacles
Resiliency Factors
Factors that may impede
Factors that support
Environmental Obstacles

3. Factors that impede resiliency
Some learners learn it through experience
Some need help
Variable opportunity to develop because of
erratic environment,
invariant role modeling by adults/mentors,
uneven family or community supports

4. Factors that support resiliency
Environmental supports
Schools that promote controlled risk-taking
For academics and social interactions
Schools that provide “all” the choices
Tell the “truth”
Welcome every child
Welcome every perspective
But, establish the boundaries of action in a pluralistic society

5. Factors that support resiliency
Teacher supports
Expectations appropriate to learners to achieve high standards (not arbitrarily high or low)
Opportunities for learners to “do the work”

6. Factors that support resiliency
Family/Community supports
In the context of genuine caring,
Provide positive modeling
Exhibit positive faith in children to make appropriate choices
Find a way to integrate children and foster their positive contributions to family and community

7. What Do You Think These Factors Look Like in a Classroom?
Who are the children/youth there?
Who are you?
How is your class reflective?
Of them?
Of you?
Of the world you want for them?
What do you strive to do?

8. Environmental Obstacles—Poverty and Affluence Re-Defined
Lack of exposure to appropriate curriculum, instruction, and resources
Low expectations of underserved learners
Ill-prepared teachers
Affluence
Exposure to “privileged curriculum, instruction, and resources
High expectations for affluent learners
Narrowly prepared teachers

9. Resiliency and Learning
What is resiliency for?
Does education improve resiliency or does resiliency improve education?

10. The Purpose of Resiliency
To help learners
“Stay in the game”
Learn the game
Change the game

11. How Resiliency Improves Education
Resiliency is about turning problem situations into manageable tasks that the learner can control
Resilient learners see the goals they want, learn the sources from where obstacles to those goals originate, and determine a path around or through those obstacles
In determining a path of action, resilient learners identify what it is they truly need to learn to accomplish their goals.

12. How Education Improves Resiliency
Educators help learners see better goals and better choices to accomplish goals
The “more you know”. . .
Every decision a child makes is her/his best attempt to be intelligent (Glasser, 1989)
Decisions are only as good as the options available to consider
The more experiences and information one has, the more likely the decision is to reflect one’s best intelligence