Educator Resilience

Educator/Developer

Stress is how our body reacts to worries. Worries are those things that trouble us. A little stress can help push us through a problem or challenge. Too much stress can be painful and harm our health.

Resilience can help protect us from too much stress. We become resilient by learning coping skills that make stress easier to handle. Becoming resilient means we learn to reach out and talk to other people about our problems and worries. This is often called social support. A social support system is a very important part of becoming resilient because many people working together are more likely to solve a problem. By learning to work with others on problems, we become better problem solvers. The better we become at solving problems the more we believe that we can reach a goal. We feel better about ourselves. Resilience can help us in our work, learning, and the way we handle our problems. We are able to reach out and find help when needed.

The Hero’s Journey is a storytelling style found in many epic stories. Our hero faces a challenge and goes on an adventure. The hero is victorious in meeting the challenge and returns as a changed person. Some examples are Luke in Star Wars, Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz, and Frodo in Lord of the Rings. Like the hero facing the challenge, your call to adventure begins when you face a stressful challenge. That challenge moves you from where you are comfortable to the unknown. But, with some clever problem solving and the help of other people you can victoriously come to terms with the challenge. The Hero's Journey encourages us to recognize the importance of teamwork through a social support system. Similarly, our learning uses group Problem Based Learning (PBL) with positive-coping skills to create less stressful outcomes to our real life challenges. Resilience helps us cope with difficult change and the Hero's Journey helps see these challenges as opportunities for growth.

Basic Resilience Exercises

Basic Resilience Exercises Your goal with this learning is to create your own Hero's Journey while becoming more resilient. Yet, a goal without a plan is only a wish. So, there are three exercises that help move you along in your Hero's Journey. There are challenges, skills to be developed, and companions on the journey. These skills are your protective armor. They make you more resilient. You learn five resilience skills, Belief, Persistence, Strength, Trust, Adaptability, and can create your own skills. One way to make your Hero's Journey is to explore each of the five skills. You can start with the Belief skill and work on the Tell your story exercise. Then, find a companion or companions to work with the Collaboration exercise. Find a real challenge and complete that exercise. Finally, alone or with your companion, work on the Transformation exercise.

1. Tell your story builds confidence. In this first exercise, select a skill flashcard, such as Belief. Remember a past challenge where you were successful using something like the skill presented on the flashcard. Work on answering the questions while keeping the past challenge in mind. Look to the flashcard Example for ideas about how to put together your story. This is where we see how our heroes go about life in their ordinary world before their call to adventure. Luke is a farm boy on the planet Tatooine. Dorothy is a farm girl living in Kansas. And, Frodo is a small Hobbit living in the Shire.

2. Collaboration moves you from the familiar to the unknown in the Hero’s Journey. Collaboration means working together to problem solve. Remember Luke had Obi Wan, Dorothy had Glinda the Good, and Frodo had Gandalf to help form social support systems to work together as they moved into the unknown. You also want a companion to work with to develop your skill and meet the challenge. Find a real challenge you, your companion or someone you know is facing and apply the skill using the questions to guide you.

3. Transformation asks that you think about, or reflect on, the skill you just used. This is where our heroes, surrounded by their social support systems, make their return to their known world. Each of our heroes has changed or transformed in some way. Luke gets a hero’s welcome with his companions. Dorothy returns to her family with the knowledge that to do anything, you must believe in yourself. Frodo realizes he can no longer go back to his ordinary life in the Shire and decides to leave with Bilbo, Gandalf, and the elves. Looking at the Hero’s Journey, you moved from the known by doing the Tell your story exercise. Then you moved to an adventure in the unknown, Collaboration, where you worked with another person to deal with a real challenge by applying a skill. And, now, you return from the adventure. Transformation is thinking about how you have changed after working with the exercises. How did your thinking change? What did you learn from working on a real challenge with another person? What did you learn from the skill you just practiced? Try describing the skill in a few of your own words. Today is the day your story begins, and no matter how difficult the journey, you get to write the conclusion.

Try the exercises. These Basic Resilience Exercises are written to grade 8 to 9 reading level. The exercises can be completed orally as a group discussion. Alternatively, writing responses can often help to better organize thinking. If you have limited time, then consider completing the Belief and Trust skills. Then, go to the Strength Skill and practice a relaxation exercise, such as diaphragmatic breathing. Though each skill is unique, the learning exercises for each skill are nearly the same. This repeating of exercises is intended to build confidence. The repetition srengthens the idea that each of us can be resilient and work comfortably with others as we deal with real life challenges. It is therefore essential that you work with a companion while completing the resilience exercises. Basic Resilience Exercises PDF »

Assessing learning. Several layers of testing are available for organizations seeking a level of accountability. Firstly, the freely available Response to Stressful Experiences Scale (RSES), general resilience test may be used for adults as a pre-instruction and post-instruction test. The Response to Stressful Experiences Scale is for adults and available through GSA. RSES PDF ». If testing as a group, then consider allowing the participants to use an alias as a name on the test as it provides more reliable results. Expect to see statistically significant gains in groups of about ten or more people after two to three hours of learning. Secondly, there are personal learning and change of behavior assessments following each skill in the Basic Resilience Exercises. These can be used formatively for discussion to provide both the learner and the facilitator with useful feedback.

Woody

Woody title page For younger learners, Woody explores the Hero's Journery. Woody is written at a 4th grade reading level and is illustrated. Woody encourages building social support, self-esteem, self-efficacy (believing you are capable of reaching a goal), and problem solving skills. It recognizes that it is okay to change one's beliefs as we learn new ideas. Woody PDF »

Resilience Supplements

Resilience 'App'

Hero's Journey Logo A simple web-based application that parallels the five skills, and further allows you to create your own resilience skills. The simple app permits exploration of a personal challenge using any of the skills. All data are stored locally on your computer or device. Should you want a printable version, the app has been translated to hardcopy in the workbook. Try it here »

Download Resilience Application.

Resilience App zip »

A STEM Approach to Resilience

The preceding resilience exercises should be explored before this STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) exercise examining the Internet of Things (IoT). Technology has quickly and dramatically changed the way we work, socialize, and communicate. Discover how technology gives us insight on developing a social support system to deal with our challenges while learning about the Internet of Things (IoT) using visual programming (Node-RED). Because of its educational focus, these exercises use the low-cost Raspberry Pi computer. If you do not have a Raspberry Pi computer available, you can still complete all of the exercises using either a Macintosh or Windows computer -- see how to install Node-RED below. These exercises have been tested down to middle school levels.

Raspberry Pi OS

1. Resilience Prep

Complete a Resilience Learning module, such as the Fast-track--Two Skills.

2. STEM Learning

STEM, Resilience, and Raspberry Pi Setup, Part 1 of 3. Discover the positive coping resilience skills we use while doing a Raspberry Pi setup. And, discover how a technology system gives us insight on how to develop a social support system to deal with our challenges. Video »

STEM, Resilience, MQTT, and Node-RED, Part 2 of 3. Video »

STEM, Resilience, Node-RED, and Internet of Things, Part 3 of 3. Video »

Resilience Workbook. The second section of the workbook provides for a more in depth look at these STEM exercises. Workbook PDF »

Mac OS

1. Resilience Prep

Complete a Resilience Learning module, such as the Fast-track--Two Skills.

2. Install Node-RED on Mac OS

Brief, simple Node-RED install for Mac OS for those not using a Raspberry Pi. Video »

3. STEM Learning

STEM, Resilience, and Raspberry Pi Setup, Part 1 of 3. Though you are not using a Raspberry Pi, view this video to discover the positive coping resilience skills we use while setting up a computer. And, discover how a technology system gives us insight on how to develop a social support system to deal with our challenges. Video »

STEM, Resilience, MQTT, and Node-RED, Part 2 of 3. Video »

STEM, Resilience, Node-RED, and Internet of Things, Part 3 of 3. Video »

Resilience Workbook. The second section of the workbook provides for a more in depth look at these STEM exercises. Workbook PDF »

Windows OS

1. Resilience Prep

Complete a Resilience Learning module, such as the Fast-track--Two Skills.

2. Install Node-RED on Windows OS

Brief, simple Node-RED install for Windows 10 for those not using a Raspberry Pi. Video »

3. STEM Learning

STEM, Resilience, MQTT, and Node-RED, Part 2 of 3. Video »

STEM, Resilience, Node-RED, and Internet of Things, Part 3 of 3. Video »

Resilience Workbook. The second section of the workbook provides for a more in depth look at these STEM exercises. Workbook PDF »

Gamification Resources

Gamified learning is an educational process of building in game elements to make learning more motivating and interesting. Our goal is to encourage social interaction and support using positive coping skills that foster resilience. More »

Resources for Teachers

Suggestions to Teachers for Adapting Resilience Resources. You are the specialists for your learners and the following goals and objectives are intended to aid you in adjustment of the materials. Adapting Resilience Resources PDF »
Intended for teachers as a basic resource for student created videos and storytelling -- starting point to create your own works. Brief minute-long stick-figure animations of five resilience skills. Encourages reinterpretation of the resilience skills. Sequence is Learning to be Resilient, Belief, Persistence, Strength, Trust, and Adaptability. Videos »

National Child Traumatic Stress Network (NCTSN)

NCTSN.org is a resource for the public, professionals, and others who care about children and are concerned about child traumatic stress. Link »

American Psychological Association (APA)

Brief resilience guide, for parents and teachers, with focus on children. Link »

Legacy Instruction (2023)

The following instructional material, though still useful, has since been rewritten. The content and theme remains much the same, but the newer instruction better meets the needs of a broader age and reading range. This older instruction has been integrated into a number of institutional resilience programs and may be useful for designing your own materials.

We face a lot of change and uncertainty. How we cope with these stressful challenges is, in part, up to us. By practicing to be resilient, we take greater control of our challenges and we can make our families more resilient, too. Resilience encourages using positive-coping skills to manage stress in an optimal way. These positive-coping skills are considered protective factors because our intent is to take a personal challenge and create a more positive and less stressful outcome. Protective factors include recommendations of the World Health Organization (Suicide, 2014) for suicide prevention. Our objectives, therefore, are to develop social support systems, positive-coping skills for resilience, self-esteem, self-efficacy (believing you are capable of reaching a goal), and problem solving skills. An entirely educational approach is used for learning resilience using the theme of the "Hero's Journey." Hero's Journey Logo Common to many epic stories is the hero who, facing a challenge, goes on an adventure, is victorious, and returns as a transformed person. Some examples are Luke in Star Wars and Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz. The Hero's Journey encourages us to recognize the importance of teamwork through a social support system. Like many sports, as we learn the game, we are also learning how to work as a team.

The learning is organized as resilience exercises that develop problem solving abilities and bring awareness to the importance of social support by applying positive-coping skills to create less stressful outcomes to our real life challenges. The learning is very effective in groups and can be used with most audiences to include organizations, educational settings, and families. Because this instruction evolved from a university program, those of you with preteens will want to first explore the resilience skill exercises and then adapt them for your children. For example, exercises that have writing can be explored orally. Allow children time to describe their challenges and encourage them to work with you to apply positive coping skills. Like adults, children also need to recognize that their social support system can really help them with their challenges.

The following two methods for learning resilience are oriented to your time constraints and interests. Learning need not occur all at once. Rather, the learning can be broken into smaller segments, for example, working on just one skill. Should you prefer printable resources, the following learning is also provided in the Resilience Exercises. Each exercise is organized into two double-sided pages allowing for easy use in group settings. Resilience Exercises PDF »

Comprehensive--All Skills

1. Pretest

Optional general resilience test before you begin the learning and again sometime after you complete the learning to measure personal change. The Response to Stressful Experiences Scale is for adults and available through GSA. RSES PDF »

2. Background

Brief two minute overview, for adults, of why we need to be resilient and how we can become resilient.

Resilience: Why and How, Part 1 of 3. Video »

3. Learning

This Comprehensive option has you work with all five positive coping skills. Work with another person, using the videos and the first section of the workbook, on the skill exercises for each of the five skills (3 to 4 hours).

Resilience: Why and How, Part 2 of 3. Brief video on learning the Belief skill and developing a social support system. (4 minutes) Video »

Belief flashcard. Skill exercises. More »

Persistence flashcard. Skill exercises. More »

Strength flashcard. Skill exercises. More »

Resilience: Why and How, Part 3 of 3. Brief video on learning the Trust skill with mention of the Persistence, Strength, and Adaptability skills. (4 minutes) Video »

Trust flashcard. Skill exercises. More »

Adaptability flashcard. Skill exercises. More »

Resilience Workbook. The first section of the workbook provides for a much more in depth look at all skills and exercises. Workbook PDF »

4. Posttest

The same general resilience test may be a used sometime after learning to measure personal change. What has the testing shown you about your resilience?

5. Supplements

You can add to your learning using the Resilience App and the STEM Approach to Resilience exercise.

Fast-track--Two Skills

1. Pretest

2. Background

Brief two minute overview, for adults, of why we need to be resilient and how we can become resilient.

Resilience: Why and How, Part 1 of 3. Video »

3. Learning

This Fast-track option will ask that you work with two skills, Belief and Trust, and then briefly examine the Strength skill. Work with another person, using the videos and first section of the workbook, on the Belief and Trust exercises. Watch each video for an overview, work the "flashcard," and, if desired, use the workbook for more depth of information. (1 to 2 hours)

Resilience: Why and How, Part 2 of 3. Brief video on learning the Belief skill and developing a social support system. (4 minutes) Video »

Belief flashcard. Skill exercises. More »

Resilience: Why and How, Part 3 of 3. Brief video on learning the Trust skill with mention of the Persistence, Strength, and Adaptability skills. (4 minutes) Video »

Trust flashcard. Skill exercises. More »

Resilience Workbook. The first section of the workbook provides for a much more in depth look at all skills and exercises. Workbook PDF »

4. Posttest

The same general resilience test may be a used sometime after learning to measure personal change. What has the testing shown you about your resilience?

5. Supplements

You can add to your learning using the Resilience App and the STEM Approach to Resilience exercise.

Updated 30Oct2024