Welcome!

Resilience is a person's ability to bounce back after disappointment, their capacity to recover from adversity, to get up when they stumble, to keep on trying. Resilience is a way of talking about a person's mental pliability, their emotional toughness.

Resilience is essential for both academic and social development. Unfortunately many students arrive at school with low levels of resilience. In order to achieve in the classroom and be happy in the playground, teachers must actively work to build children's resilience.

This blog was put together by an Edge Hill State School Professional Learning Community. It is an attempt to resource ourselves and our fellow teachers with information, inspiration and teachings tools on resilience.

You might like to start by looking at ACARA and Education Queensland documents, or these posts on understanding resilience.

You might also be interested in the topics under LABELS on the right hand side bar. 

Thanks for visiting.

How resilient are you?

Resilience is both taught and caught. How resilient are you?

A short quiz here.

Internal Weather Clock

My Internal Clock is a drawing using weather features to illustrate how a student is feeling.

Activity

• 1. Students are focusing on how they are feeling.  Allow students to relax and focus on their breathing ask them to breathe deeply into their belly, allowing their belly to rise and fall. If they get distracted that is okay go back to the raising of the breath.

• 2. Ask students to pay attention to how they are feeling on the inside.  What kind of weather features are you feeling now, are you feeling windy, stormy, raining on the inside or maybe a rainbow?  

• 3. Look inside and see what is there.  It may change one day the sky may be clear, the next may be cloudy.  You may feel stormy and restless inside right now remember later the sun may shine or maybe the sun will come out tomorrow. 

• 4. Check your internal weather again had it changed or stayed the same.  Can you draw your internal weather?  Try the exercise tomorrow and see how your weather may have changed. 

Using humour to combat maths anxiety

Kids may experience anxiety just knowing there is a lesson coming up, like maths.  If a Math Cartoon is shown at the beginning of a math lesson, a different perspective on mathematics will grow, reducing anxiety and encouraging laughter, fun and motivation.

How to use them:

• Use it as a quick opener for a new math concept being learnt.
• A scaffolding activity at the beginning of a lesson explaining the logic behind it.
• Kids can create their own math cartoon.                                                        
• Put these up on display in the classroom.

Using drawing to help children identify and understand their feelings

Superheroes- When students have a fear, ask them to create a superhero that can help fight that fear with them. Their superhero can have special powers, a super hero name and a special costume.

Worry Warrior- Create an imaginary creature or contraption to help gobble up their worries. You can use craft materials to make it, like boxes, to make it. Students can give it eyes, arms and legs and cut a mouth out of the box to put their worries in. Students feed their worry warrior with their worries. 

Colour my life- Give students a blank sheet of paper and a selection of coloured pencils or crayons. On one side of the paper, make a ‘key’ where students pick one colour to represent the different feelings they’ve had in their lifetimes (younger students may need a list of basic feelings to help them). The other side of the paper represents their life. Since we have feelings all the time, students have to fill up the entire paper, creating an abstract design using the colours they have chosen. They need to use all the colours from the key in whatever proportion they have felt in their life. 

Happy brain Worry brain- Draw two heads side by side onto a sheet of paper. Have students draw or collage the things that make them happy in the ‘happy brain’ and things they worry about in the ‘worry brain’.

Bubble Drawing- Ask students to draw a picture of themselves on a sheet of paper and then draw a bubble around their image. Ask them to write out all the things they feel they cannot control outside of the bubble. Then have them write all of the things they do have control over inside the bubble. Work with students to come up with a list of things they have some or full control of in their life. Their goal is to fill up the inside bubble and then ask students to focus on improving what’s in their control. Ask them what actions can take to influence the things inside the bubble. 

Mindfulness drawing- Gather blank paper, drawing materials and any favourite craft materials. Tape the paper to the desk. Students need to close their eyes. Ask students to check in with themselves and notice how their feelings feel in their body. Next, ask students to open their eyes and choose a coloured pencil. Close your eyes again and draw a continuous squiggle without lifting the pencil from the paper. Ask students to imagine the feeling expressing itself on the page. Students stop when the movement or expression feels complete. Students can also use their non-dominant hand if they want. Next, ask students to look at the squiggle they made and turn the paper side to side until they see an image emerge. Using other colours or materials, ask students to create the image they saw from the squiggle.

Indigo Dreaming: A Book of Meditations for Children

Indigo Dreaming: A Book of Meditations for Children by Amy Hamilton

This book contains 49 fully guided meditations for children age five to twelve.  It includes activities, tips and information on how to begin and end a meditation.  This book is easy to read and simple to use.  You simply read the meditations from the book to your class.  I have used it at different times throughout the school day.  It is particularly helpful if you class takes a long time to settle after breaks.

Self Esteem Game : Mirror Mirror

Learning Goal: 

To get the children to focus on a special skill or ability that they have.

Preparation:

Place a mirror in a box, facing up, so that when a person looks into the box, they see their reflection.

Content:

Explain to the children that the box contains a picture of the most important person here today.

Ask each child to come forward and have a look.  Caution them to keep a secret.  Of course, children see their own reflection.

After the last child has been up, ask them all to think of something that makes them special and different.  Explain that bragging and boasting is okay for this exercise and model the following procedure.

ACARA personal and social capabilities

The Australian Curriculum outlines the personal and social capabilities that students should develop. Document found here.

Introduction:

In the Australian Curriculum, students develop personal and social capability as they learn to understand themselves and others, and manage their relationships, lives, work and learning more effectively. The capability involves students in a range of practices including recognising and regulating emotions, developing empathy for others and understanding relationships, establishing and building positive relationships, making responsible decisions, working effectively in teams, handling challenging situations constructively and developing leadership skills.

The Melbourne Declaration on the Educational Goals for Young Australians (MCEETYA 2008) recognises that personal and social capability assists students to become successful learners, helping to improve their academic learning and enhancing their motivation to reach their full potential. Personal and social capability supports students in becoming creative and confident individuals with ‘a sense of self-worth, self-awareness and personal identity that enables them to manage their emotional, mental, spiritual and physical wellbeing’, with a sense of hope and ‘optimism about their lives and the future’. On a social level, it helps students to ‘form and maintain healthy relationships’ and prepares them ‘for their potential life roles as family, community and workforce members’ (MCEETYA, p. 9).

Students with well-developed social and emotional skills find it easier to manage themselves, relate to others, develop resilience and a sense of self-worth, resolve conflict, engage in teamwork and feel positive about themselves and the world around them. The development of personal and social capability is a foundation for learning and for citizenship.

The Personal and social capability learning continuum is organised into four interrelated elements of:

·         Self-awareness

·         Self-management

·         Social awareness

·         Social management

The diagram below sets out these elements.

Online social stories

This collection of video social stories provides a wonderful introduction on specific topics to help students develop their resilience. This set is mostly applicable to the junior school and has been implemented in small 15 minute sessions, which includes a specific focus on behaviour for that week. The group set includes 20 lessons on the following topics:

• Managing Impulsivity
• Always be a good sport
• Controlling Emotions: A lesson from Angry Birds
• A kids guide to getting along with your classmates
• Working together as a team
• Social Skills: Bullying
• Seasame Street: Bullying
• Daren’s lesson on bullying
• Bullying: Verbal abuse
• Nonverbal Bullying
• Other kinds of bullying
• Have a plan when you see bullying

Online social stories

This collection of video social stories provides a wonderful introduction on specific topics to help students develop their resilience. This set is mostly applicable to the junior school and has been implemented in small 15 minute sessions, which includes a specific focus on behaviour for that week. The group set includes 20 lessons on the following topics:

• Managing Impulsivity
• Always be a good sport
• Controlling Emotions: A lesson from Angry Birds
• A kids guide to getting along with your classmates
• Working together as a team
• Social Skills: Bullying
• Seasame Street: Bullying
• Daren’s lesson on bullying
• Bullying: Verbal abuse
• Nonverbal Bullying
• Other kinds of bullying
• Have a plan when you see bullying

Resilience Project Slideshow

The Resilience Project's mission is to teach positive mental health strategies to as many school aged students as possible.

Statistics show that:
l in 4 adolescents have a mental illness,
1 in 7 primary schools kids have a mental illness, and
65% of adolescents do not seek help for mental illness


The Wellbeing PLC chose The Resilience Project presentation as they deliver emotionally engaging programs and provides participants with evidence based, practical strategies to build resilience.

Banishing Boggarts

This is a useful idea for Harry Potter fans.

"Boggarts take the shape of your most feared thing in all the world and change according to who is looking at them.  The spell Harry’s class was taught to help banish Boggarts was “Ridikulus”, and to perform the spell you have to imagine your feared object or person in a ridiculous or funny way.  Children imagined scary teachers dressed in old women’s clothing, giant spiders on roller skates and Egyptian mummies becoming unravelled.

This is quite similar to a technique psychologists sometimes use with people with anxiety called “defusion”.  The idea of defusion is to help people be able to see their feared situations as merely pictures and words in their minds, rather than a real, immediate threat."

50 Calm Down Techniques

Rennee Jain, over at Psych Central, has written a very useful list of 50 calm down techniques. They are all good. I'm interested in trying the ones that help kids breathe deeply:  #9 Blow Bubbles, #13 Blow out a candle and #28 Blow a pinwheel. 

How to Practice Forgiving Yourself

Elisha Goldstein shares a practice to help us stop blaming and forgive ourselves.

The Resilience Project

The Resilience Project commenced in response to current mental health stats:

1 in 4 adolescents have a mental illness
1 in 7 primary schools kids have a mental illness
65% of adolescents do not seek help for mental illness 

They deliver emotionally engaging programs to schools, sports clubs and business’s and provide them with evidence based, practical strategies to build resilience.

Talks here.

Slide show here.

Singing for resilience

Singing isn’t just an enjoyable add on to children’s school days. Singing can lead to instant improvement in physical, emotional and social wellbeing, helping students into a positive, empowered state where they are ready to learn and achieve. There is research to suggest that singing, moving and listening to music can: 

-create physical calm or energy

-help students feel more confidence and bonded to the group

-Improve mental function, helping different areas of the brain work in a coordinated way. 

-Reduce stress and slow heart rates and breathing. Children who lack concentration can be helped to focus by the patterns and rhythms in music.

(quote from Fischy Music. http://www.fischy.com/)

The simple act of singing is beneficial in itself, but if you would like the message of the songs to also encourage resilience, teamwork, individual effort and positive changes in behaviour, think about singing these songs.

Happy – Pharrell Williams

Don’t Worry Be Happy – Bobby McFerrin

Count On Me – Bruno Mars

Roar – Katy Perry

Firework – Katy Perry

Price Tag (censored version) – Jessie J

Best Day Of My Life – American Authors

Que Sera – Justice Crew

Stand By You  - Rachel Platten

Hall of Fame- The Script

On Top of the World – Imagine Dragons

True Colours – Cyndi Lauper

My Favourite Things – from The Sound of Music

Viva La Vida – Cold Play

The Climb – Miley Cyrus

Let It Go – from Frozen

I Can See Clearly Now – Jonny Nash

Try again – Shakira

Carry on – Olivia Holt

Nat King Cole – Pick Yourself Up

Smiling mind meditation session for classroom

here.

Mindup Curriculum

Mindup is a curriculum that teaches the basic physiology of the brain so that they understand what is happening in their brains when they are feeling anxious or angry. 

There are 3 manuals and each is split into 5 sections  - Getting Focused, Sharpening your Senses, All About Attitude, Taking Action Mindfully

It works through the senses teaching mindfulness. Section three takes a closer look at remaining positive, perspectives and optimism. The final section deals with gratitude and kindness. Each section has great age appropriate stand alone lessons that you can take and teach individually.

Publishing details: Published for the Hawn Foundation by Scholastic copyright 2011

Link: http://teacher.scholastic.com/products/mindup/ 

Inspirational Quote: Learn by doing and falling over

Inspirational Quotes: disappointment.

Inspirational Posters: Good ideas, bad ideas

Books for teaching resilience

Books for resilience

A Big Hug Book (Call number: 152.4  INN) – This series deals with emotive issues that children face in direct an gentle terms, allowing children’s feeling and problems to be more easily shared and discussed with family and friends. 

• The Playground is like the Jungle
• Worries are like Cloud
• You are like you
• Friendship is like a Seesaw
• The Internet is like a Puddle
• A Family is like a Cake

Dinosaurs have feelings too (152.4 MOS)- This series of books looks at emotions and how to deal with difficult feelings. They are funny, light-hearted books that you’ll want to read again and again.

• Anna Angrysaurus
• Sophie Shyosaurus
• Samuel Scaredosaurus
• Jamal Jealousaurus

Behaviour Matters (152.4 GRA)- The Behaviour Matters series has been developed to  provide a starting point for further discussion on children’s behaviour both in relation to themselves and others. The series is set in the jungle with animal characters reflecting typical behaviour traits often seen in young children. 

• Monkey needs to listen: A book about paying attention
• Tiger has a Tantrum:  A  book about feeling angry
• Giraffe  is left out: A book about feeling bullied
• Hippo owns up: A book about telling the truth

Why should I? (158.2LLE) – Part of a child’s development is asking questions and learning about themselves. With amusing pictures and simple text, this book shows why it is important to help around the home and at school. These books contain notes for parents and teachers to help them use these books most effectively. 

• Why should I help? 
• Why should I listen

Feelings Series (152.48 MOR) – Each of these feelings books have been carefully designed to help children better understanding their feelings, and in doing so, gain greater autonomy (freedom) over their lives. Talking about feelings teaches children that it is normal to feel sad, or angry or scared at times. With greater tolerance of painful feelings, children become free to enjoy their world, to feel secure in their abilities and to be happy. 

• When I’m feeling scared
• When I’m feeling kind
• When I’m feeling jealous
• When I’m feeling lonely
• When I’m feeling sad
• When I’m feeling happy
• When I’m feeling angry

Laugh-Along Lessons (152.4 LES) 

• Hurty Feelings

The Short and Incredibly Happy Life of Riley (JF T)- 

Humans live for quite a long time and for a lot that time we are not happy. We want to be taller, shorter, fatter, thinner, older and younger. We want our straight hair to be curly, our curly hair to be straight and our brown eyes to be blue. We hate our parents, children, teachers, students and everybody. We want to be somewhere else with someone else, eating something else and wearing something fantastic no one else can afford and we want to splash them as we drive by in our big red car. Rats live for quite a long time and for most of that time they are very,  very happy…

Andrew Matthews' books for teaching resilience

Andrew Matthews is one of the world’s most widely read self-help authors and is a Cairns local, 

Some of his book titles include:

Being Happy

Follow your heart

Being a happy teen

Happiness in a nutshell

Happiness now

How life works

Stop the bullying

144 strategies for success and happiness

(how happy people think, what successful people do, how you can do it too!)

Below is the website with further information

http://andrewmatthews.com/collections/all

He also has a Facebook page!

Mindfulness Brain Poster

Use this poster to teach your students to know their brain, how it works and why they behave the way they do. Giving them an understanding gives them power over their responses and a common language to discuss their issues with. Use it at the start of the year to begin your mindfulness program. 

Publishing Details: It is part of the Mind Up Curriculum, published by Scholastic 2011

Inspirational Quote: Singing and happiness

My Internal Clock

My Internal Clock is a drawing using weather features to illustrate how a student is feeling. It is taken from Smiling Minds.

Activity

1. Students are focusing on how they are feeling.  Allow students to relax and focus on their breathing ask them to breathe deeply into their belly, allowing their belly to rise and fall. If they get distracted that is okay go back to the raising of the breath.

2. Ask students to pay attention to how they are feeling on the inside.  What kind of weather features are you feeling now, are you feeling windy, stormy, raining on the inside or maybe a rainbow? 

3. Look inside and see what is there.  It may change one day the sky may be clear, the next may be cloudy.  You may feel stormy and restless inside right now remember later the sun may shine or maybe the sun will come out tomorrow.

4. Check your internal weather again had it changed or stayed the same.  Can you draw your internal weather?  Try the exercise tomorrow and see how your weather may have changed.

Inspirational Quote : You can still succeed

EQ Learning and Wellbeing Framework

Here.

Foreword:

Learning and wellbeing are inextricably linked — students learn best when their wellbeing is optimised, and they develop a strong sense of wellbeing when they experience success in learning.

Happy, healthy and confident young people are vital in securing a strong future for Queensland, which is why the Learning and Wellbeing Framework will be used in Queensland state schools from 2012.

Students themselves identify schooling as a key influence on their wellbeing. Whether it is the positive impact of a great teacher, an inspirational and engaging classroom lesson or that bit of extra support provided at just the right time – there is no doubt that a student’s experience at school has a significant impact on their wellbeing.

In turn, schools are only too aware that students with high levels of wellbeing make better learners — they demonstrate more effective academic, social and emotional functioning and generally engage in more appropriate behaviour at school. Parents and carers have the most significant impact on their child’s wellbeing, and their partnership and active participation in school activities are welcomed and encouraged.

This framework connects the elements of curriculum, environment, policy and community that enhance wellbeing for learning and life — complementing the exceptional work already happening in state schools. It identifies ways to support students and it will be a useful, important and practical resource for state schools to improve outcomes for all students.

Inspirational Quote : Why me? Try me!

Inspirational Quote: Don't sweat the small stuff

Inspirational Advice - I'm thankful for my struggle

Why One Kid Gives Up While Another Bounces Back

This is an excellent infographic explaining why some children give up and others do not. It could be used directly with older children and teachers of younger children could use it to inform their own practice.

The Blob Tree

The Blob Tree was developed by Pip Wilson – click here for more info.  It uses a simple cartoon image of non-specific characters in different situations and asks you to consider which character you most identify with.

This activity is particularly good to evaluate work and we have found that learners enjoy using it in linking, or to reflect on a topic or piece of work, but it can also be extended to discuss the way that we interact with and support each other as a learning community.

Activity

1. Hand out a photocopy of the Blob Tree to each learner. Give them a few moments to look at the image. When we have used this resource we have allowed the learners to make their own interpretation about each blob character’s feelings.

2. Explain that you want to give them a chance to record how they are feeling about linking with another class. Learners think about which blob character they most identify with and colour it in. You should explain that there are no right answers as this is about feelings.

3. Ask learners to share their blob tree with those near them if they want to (probably in groups of 2 or 3) and discuss their reasons for choosing their blob. Be aware that this could raise sensitive issues for some learners and be prepared to help them deal with that.

4. In responding to the question ‘How do we all live together?’, learners can then use the blob tree, either a new blank version or their own if they choose, to think about how the different blob characters might treat each other. They might for instance, pick out examples of attitudes and behaviours that they think are positive or negative. They may identify characters who they feel are in a position to help others (this may provoke an interesting discussion, as characters standing tall and strong may be a help simply by being role models…). They can then think about, and possibly discuss, how this might relate to attitudes and behaviours in their learning community.