Teacher resilience is defined as “using energy productively to achieve school goals and meet students’ needs in the face of adversity.” In a recent program on compassion resilience, designed by CASEL and the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction, the author stated:
“In our efforts to build resilience in our students, we are charged with the examination of our capacity personally and professionally to model that which we strive to build.”
We value and support you, the educator, first. From you comes the leadership necessary for your students to cope, grow and lead themselves.
In the Lead4Change lessons, everything starts with the personal lifeline. Today we encourage you to do Lesson 1, Activity 1 yourself. In fact, your lifeline exercise might focus on only the last 12 months. What does your personal lifeline look like? How can you use that information to recognize and build upon your ability to be resilient, compassionate and to cope with the ups and downs of life?
Administrators – Lead4Change Lesson 1 is a perfect exercise for your team meetings or staff development.
After you have completed the lesson yourself, you are ready to share it with your students. This is an excellent tool to better understand how each student is coping and what they have been experiencing. Students will also see how resilient they have been as they create their lifeline – for their life or for the past year.
To see how one teacher views the Lifeline exercise, hear from Allison Silverman at Port Chester Middle School, NY.
We would love to hear your feedback on Lesson 1. Share with us here.