Resilience! A Guide for Educators - You Can Do It!

Resilience!A Guide for EducatorsMichael E, Bernard, Ph.D.Professor, Faculty of Education, University of MelbourneFounder and Executive Director, You Can Do It! EducationWorking as a teacher, special educator oradministrator, there are times when negative,adverse events at work (and home) can lead youto experience a range of negative emotions suchas anger, anxiety or feeling down. While thesenegative emotions are normal andunderstandable, when you become extremelyangry or highly anxious, or feel very down, notonly is your overall social‐emotional well‐beingimpaired, but your ability to think clearly, solveproblems, and continue to perform at a highlevel of professional effectiveness is greatlyreduced.A key personal capability we all need when thegoing gets tough is “emotional resilience”. Nomatter how technically skilled you are in yourjob (e.g. classroom management, in the designand presentation of lessons, in using ongoingperformance feedback of students to guide yourinstruction, managing budgets, strategicplanning) without emotional resilience, the ability todeliver your abundant professional skills iscompromised.Emotional Resilience means… being aware ofyour negative emotions (anxiety, anger, down)when something adverse happens, being able toprevent yourself from getting extremely upset,or when you are very upset and knowing whatto do to calm down and to feel better. It alsomeans being able to control your behaviourwhen you get extremely upset. By being able tomaintain control of your negative emotions,emotional resilience helps you to “bounce back”from adversity and, specifically, to continue towork towards your goal of being successful andhappy.Emotional resilience as a personal capabilityinvolves your use of a variety of ways to thinkand different coping skills that: 1. help youregulate the intensity of your emotionalresponse to adverse events in your life, and 2.help you to eliminate the adversity. Some waysof thinking and coping skills are emotionfocused(e.g. not blowing things out ofproportion, not taking things personally,switching from negative to positive thoughts,relaxation, finding someone to talk to) and focuson ways you can you can calm down and be incontrol of your emotions when the adversitycannot be so readily eliminated from your life(e.g. difficult behaviour of some people). Otherways of thinking and coping skills are problemfocusedand involve you using your personalstrengths (e.g. asserting yourself, managingyour time, steps to solving an interpersonalproblem) to make the problem go away (e.g.oppositional student, someone asking you tojoin another committee).Emotional resilience is not about eliminatingemotions totally. It is about empowering you sothat you feel you have some control over youremotional response to adverse situations.My own recent research throughout Australia,England and the United States into the personalcapabilities of educators has yielded someinteresting findings. While educators as a grouptend to have strong getting along capabilities,are extremely persistent, and are generallyorganized, they indicate that they need todevelop their confidence and emotionalresilience.This brief article provides some ideas that havehelped countless teachers, special educators andadministrators maintain their calmness andemotional control in the face of the unrelentingand, oftentimes, highly adverse events thatmake up the territory of schools.Resilience: A Guide for Educators 1

Emotional Resilience:The “Big Picture”We have learned thatthere are three mainnegative emotions thatall people experience atvarious times when theyare faced with adverseevents: anger, anxietyand feeling down(depressed). It is quitenormal and healthy toexperience thesenegative emotions asthey often can helpmotivate you toeliminate the adversity.We have also learnedthat the same emotioncan vary in intensityfrom strong to weak asillustrated by theEmotional ThermometerEmotional Thermometer. Forexample, if a student curses at you,you may experience various degreesof anger from mild annoyance(temperature rating of 1 or 2) toextreme rage (temperature rating of9 or 10). It is when our emotionsbecome extreme that our behaviouroften becomes erratic and selfdefeatingas when we actaggressively or withdraw.A goal to set for yourself when youare faced with negative, adverseevents at work or home is to notbecome extremely upset but rather,using the Emotional Thermometer asa guide, stay within the middlerange of emotional upset(temperature rating between 4 and 7.Adverse Events in SchoolsBecause of the nature of schools and theconstant interaction amongst students, teachersand parents, high workload demands and thepublic accountability of teachers, specialeducators and administrators for improved testscores, there are inevitable examples of adverseevents (“things”) that all too frequently occur inthe daily lives of educators that can give rise tovarying degrees of anger, anxiety and, or,feeling down. These are listed in Tables 1through 3.Events that give rise to anger include actions ofothers you perceive to be unjust, unfair,inconsiderate, disrespectful or unprofessional.Anger can also be precipitated when youperceive that there are too many things to doand not enough time to do them.Events that give rise to anxiety are those currentor future events that might occur that indicatethat you are not being as successful in an area ofyour work (achievement, discipline) as youwould like to be or events that indicate thatpeople (students, administrators, colleagues,parents) might be critical of you.Events leading to you feeling down include pastevents that reveal you have not been successfulin meeting your goals in areas of professionalaccomplishment (student lack of achievement,meeting students’ needs, out of control class) orwhen you have been criticized by someonewhose opinion you respect and value for someaspect of your work.Resilience: A Guide for Educators 2

Things that Lead to Anger …Adverse Events Associated with Students (unfairness, inconsideration, disrespect): Students who refuse tofollow directions in class and playground, interrupt teachers, waste time, lie (e.g., forge parent’s signature), cheat,steal, fight, talk back, do not do homework, tattle, bully, throw objects, swear, show disrespect to each other,daydream, do not understand schoolwork, do not listen, are not organised and take a lot of time to get materialsready, have poor study habitsAdverse Events Associated with Other Teachers/Staff, Administration or Parents (unfairness,inconsideration, disrespect): disruptions outside of class, not being treated professionally by other teachers,differences in the manner in which teachers relate to and teach other students, equipment not being returned, unfairtime tabling, principal makes decisions without discussing issues with those impacted by decisions, lack ofcommunication, lack of respect from other teachers for what you do, teachers not following through on doing whatthey say, lack of administrative support, preferences in teaching loads, unfair share of “duty”, having “worst” students,delay by administration in ordering needed material, secretary hides supplies, lack of cooperation, gossip andrumours being spread among staff, parents who support student’s bad behaviour, parents accusing teacher withoutknowing all the facts, parents who question grades of their childThings that Lead to Anxiety …Adverse Events Associated with Students: when you see or anticipate (lack of success/criticism) … not beingable to control the behaviours of the students in your class, restlessness in students, not being liked by students,students being angry and “turned off”, students’ reactions to being given poor grades, being asked a question youcannot answer, being unable to adapt to meet the individual needs of students, being unable to motivate students,arguing over test answers or grades, cheating by students, students not performing well on tests and not meetinggoals set for them, not holding high enough expectations of students, not being respected by students, students“twisting” situations when reporting an incident to parents, students not showing up for class, students hurting eachother, students declining in behaviour or academic performance from previous standards, students not having learnedbenchmarks for age/grade, not being able to teach because of time involved in managing severe behaviours (e.g.,autism), low academic performance of studentsAdverse Events Associated with Other Teachers/Staff, Administration or Parents: when you see or anticipate(lack of success/criticism) … walking into class unprepared, school principal or supervisor has critical judgments tocommunicate to you about your discipline or instructional effectiveness, negative encounters with parents who arecritical of you, incompatible relationship with an administrator or supervisor, aides not fulfilling obligations, finding timefor creative teaching, having too much work to do at home, being blamed by parents, responsibilities for extracurricular activities, excessive noise and disruptions outside the classroomThings that Lead to Feeling Down …Adverse Events Associated with Students (lack of success/criticism): students continuing to misbehave, notknowing how to make students who suck their thumb and cry feel better, lack of success of a child in specialeducation you have responsibility for, lack of success in meeting the needs of students in special education, watchingand not being able to help students who manifest ongoing emotional problems (e.g., separation anxiety), students notshowing up for an activity, setbacks after progress with a student, being compared by students to other successfulteachers, a “sea” of blank student faces, lack of student enthusiasm, not being successful in individualisinginstruction, personal comments by a student about teacher (“This is boring.”), poor exam results made public, notbeing promoted, someone else being selected to go to a conference, another teacher or program receiving greatersupportAdverse Events Associated with Other Teachers/Staff, Administration or Parents (lack of success/criticism)…other teachers who try to discipline students in your class, being treated as outcasts as special education teachers,criticism/lack of parental support, public criticism thought by teacher to be correct, exclusion from social groups afterschool, being ignoredResilience: A Guide for Educators 3

“Things Are Neither Good nor Bad But Thinking Makes Them So.” -ShakespeareWe now understand that the greatest influenceover the extent to which you are emotionallycalm and in control when faced with adversesituations is your thinking rather than thesituation itself. Take for example a teacher whois faced with a student who curses. You can seefrom the accompanying diagrams that one largefactor that determines how upset you become inthe face of cursing is the way you think aboutthe student’s behaviour.Examples of Different Emotional Reactions to the Same SituationAngerHappening Thinking Feeling Behaviourstudent curses Students should always be respectful.extreme anger yellsThis is awful and terrible.angerputs student downI can’t stand it.out of control irrational penaltyThis student is a real _______.Teacher ATeacher BI prefer students to be respectful.I can deal with it.I don’t like this behaviour.This student is fallible and is making a mistake.annoyedin controltalks respectfully tostudentlogical consequenceDownHappening Thinking Feeling Behaviourstudent curses I should have been successful with this student. extremely down withdrawalOthers will judge me badly.This is awful. I can’t stand it.I am hopelessTeacher ATeacher BI prefer to be successful and have my workapproved of by others.When I am not, it’s bad, but not the end of theworld. I can cope.I’ll try to figure out if there is anything I can do.disappointedconstructive actionDon’t Go Blowing Things Out of ProportionPlease take a minute to read through anexample of a teacher and a principal who areexperiencing extremely high emotional stress.Please consider whether or not the way theyview and think about some troubling eventsreveal an “It’s not as bad as you think it is”mindset.Mary James is a grade 7 teacher who is viewedby many as an excellent teacher. She seems toenjoy teaching adolescents and has many waysto make the curriculum come alive. Currently,Mary is not enjoying her teaching and isexperiencing Monday‐morning‐itis. Theproblem is that several of her students, all boys,are taking advantage of her good nature. Whenshe asks one of them to stop talking or anotherto stop throwing paper in class, she is greetedby opposition or delaying tactics. From ateacher who had strong positive relationshipswith her students, she is changing over to onewhom, because she is yelling, lecturing andscolding is becoming viewed by some of hermore difficult students as the enemy. Mary’smindset towards the students seems to bemaking matters worse and causing her severeResilience: A Guide for Educators 4

emotional stress: “Their behaviour is terribleand awful. It is not tolerable to have to put upwith it! They deserve to be treated as they treatme!”Brian Fordham, school principal of Shady LakesSchool has begun noticing that he is becomingmore intolerant of one of his classroom teachers,Mary James. The issue surrounds the way Maryis handling one of her more challengingstudents, Jonathon Singer. Jonathon is routinelysent by Mary to his office for any number ofmajor and minor offences –the last one beinghaving drawn a face on his maths work sheet.While Mary does a great job with her “good”students, she feels that when students behavebadly, there is nothing she can really do. AsPrincipal, Brian’s responsibility is to helpsupport Mary in learning new ways to bettermanage her students, but finds his frustrationand occasional anger about Mary’s approach todifficult‐to‐teach students hard to take. Hismindset is leading to unprofessionally highlevels of stress: “She really should be able toteach all students and handle the difficult onesin firm and positive ways. It is really awful andunbearable to constantly have to deal with her.She should probably consider leaving teaching.”Over the past few decades, I have written aboutan aspect of our thinking that contributes agreat deal to our emotional stress and pooremotional resilience. This tendency is referred toas catastrophising. Simply stated, catastrophisingmeans the tendency to blow the badness ofevents out of proportion.What we have learned is that when people of allages become extremely emotionally upset, theydo so because they are thinking to themselvesthat what has happened or is about to happen isnot only bad, but is the worst thing that couldhappen. We use particular words and phraseswhen we catastrophise such as: “This isterrible.” “This is horrible.” “This is really theworst thing.” We use these words and phrasesnot only when referring to events that arecatastrophic such as war, terrorism, naturaldisasters but to events that are bad but notcatastrophic such as when we make mistakes,fail or when people are thinking critically ofwhat we have done or said.Consider the Emotional Thermometer. It can beused to measure the intensity of how stronglysomeone feels. Now, when something happensto us that we perceive to be bad such as makinga mistake or being rejected, it is normal to feel inthe middle of the Emotional Thermometer. Wemight feel somewhat or medium down, orworried or angry. However, when wecatastrophise, that is, blow the event out ofproportion, our emotional temperature movesway up the thermometer and we feel verydown, panicked or furious.The key to staying relatively calm or in themiddle of the Emotional Thermometer when weare faced with something that is bad but notawful, terrible and catastrophic is keeping thebadness of the event in perspective. Ourthinking at these times will sound somethinglike: “While this is bad. It’s not that bad. It couldbe a lot worse.”Resilience: A Guide for Educators 5

How to Use the Howbadzzat? “Catastrophe” ScaleThe Howbadzzat? Catastrophe Scale poster canhelp you to not to blow bad things out ofproportion and of the importance of keepingthings in perspective. The Howbadzzat?Catastrophe scale developed for use with for allpeople including children and young peoplepresents to a scale for measuring how badthings are. Extremely high ratings (90‐100)which can be considered as catastrophes, the“worst” things in the world, are represented byan erupting volcano, a meteor hits the earth,being eaten by a shark and being physicallyassaulted. Things that are “very bad” include avery serious car accident, being arrested andthrown in jail. Things that are “bad” includebeing at the dentist, your computer crashes,falling off your bike and receiving a bad mark inschool. Finally, things that fall into the “a bitbad” include being stung by a little mosquito,having a pimple, your ice cream falls on theground or a dog eats your hotdog.Where you place an event on the CatastropheScale determines how strong your emotions areon the Emotional Thermometer.There is little question that Mary James is facedwith hassles associated with poor studentclassroom behaviour that make teaching Sciencetough. And Brian Fordham’s demands ofleadership are increased when Mary Jamescontinuously sends to him students to bereprimanded.However, the question is whether or not theyare blowing events at work and home out ofproportion. Yes, both are confronted withevents that we would all agree are “bad”.However, it appears that both are exaggeratinghow bad things really are.Once Mary and Brian place these events on the“Catastrophe Scale” in proper perspective, theiremotional reactions become more manageableand they are more fully able to use theirconsiderable talents to solve their practicalproblems. By incorporating the “CatastropheScale” into their mindset about life’s difficultiesand recognising that most things in life arehassles but not horrors, their emotional life willbe more settled and they will experienceheightened social and emotional well‐being.And the additional payoff is that when childrenand young people witness adults in their livesnot over‐reacting emotionally to theirchallenging behaviour, they will be learning apowerful lesson for how they can react to theirown issues they may encounter.So remember, when you notice your emotionalthermometer heading towards fever range,think to yourself: “Howbadzzat?” And if theanswer is “It’s not as bad as I think it is,” youwill have served yourself up a powerful elixirthat will help you stay calm in the face ofadversity.The Battle between Positive and Negative Habits of the MindWe now know that we are all born with twoways of thinking; 1. positive or rational, and 2.negative or irrational. The degree to which webecome emotionally upset when adverse eventshappen is governed largely by whether we areviewing and interpreting the event through arational or irrational lens. The accompanyingtable will provide you with an opportunity todetermine whether you hold any of the majorirrational, negative Habits of the Mind that leadto poor emotional resilience.The impact of the different irrational, negativeHabits of the Mind on your emotional responseswhen faced with adversity is represented below.Self‐DowningYou are prone to high levels of being downNeed for ApprovalYou are prone to high levels of social anxietyNeed for Achievement (Perfectionism)You are prone to high levels of performanceanxietyResilience: A Guide for Educators 6

Resilience: A Guide for Educators 7

I Can’t Do It!You are prone to getting down and feelinghopeless and hopelessI Can’t Be BotheredYou are prone to high levels of anger whenfaced with unpleasant tasks; you tend toprocrastinateIntolerance of OthersYou are prone to anger with people youperceive as doing the wrong thingKeep in mind that all of us to greater or lesserextents harbour negative, Habits of the Mind.Fortunately, by becoming aware of those thatyou hold, you have an opportunity to make aswap within your mind and replace thenegative Habits of the Mind with the positiveHabits of the Mind described in the Check Upfrom Your Neck Up Survey below.Your Check Up from the Neck Up SurveyInstructions: Place a check mark in the box that indicates which type of thinking is mostcharacteristic of you when faced with adversity. Self-Downingvs. Accepting Myself Need for Approvalvs. Non-Approval Seeking Need for Achievement(Perfectionism)vs. Responsible Risk Taking I Can’t Do Itvs. I Can Do It I Can’t Be Botheredvs. Working Tough Intolerance of Othersor Tolerance of OthersWhen things go badly and I make mistakes or people are critical of me, I tend toput myself down and think of myself as a failure or a loser.When things go badly and I make mistakes or people are critical of me, I acceptmyself and do not put myself down at these times.I seem to be someone who is overly concerned with what others think of me, and Ithink it is terrible to be criticised or thought badly of.While I like to be approved of, I don’t need the approval of others.I seem to be someone who needs to be highly successful. It is horrible for me tomake mistakes.While I like to be successful, I don’t need to be all the time. I try new things eventhough there is a high likelihood that I might not be successful at first.I am a pessimist believing things will turn out for the worse.I generally believe I will be successful and things will turn out for the best.I really can’t stand it when I have too much work to do and not enough time to doit. Things shouldn’t be so hard and unpleasant.While I prefer that things go comfortably and easily, I accept that in order toachieve pleasant results in the long term, I sometimes have to do unpleasantthings in the short term.People should always act fairly, considerately, and respectfully. I can’t stand itwhen they do not. People who act unfairly are “louses” who deserve to bepunished.People are fallible and sometimes make mistakes. While I strongly prefer others toact fairly and considerately, I can stand it when they do not. I try hard not tocondemn them for their actions.Resilience: A Guide for Educators 8

What to Do to Build Your Emotional Resilience at Work (and Home)Step 1 – Take StockTo begin with, let’s focus on those events thatoccur at work that lead you to get extremelyangry, anxious or to feel very down. You canuse the Emotional Thermometer to rate theintensity of your emotions.In the table on page 3, I have listed events thatcommonly occur at work that can trigger intensefeelings of anger, anxiety and feeling verydown. These events make it harder to stay calm.Take a few minutes to review the events on thelists and underline those events that seem to beyour pressure points.The feeling of extreme anger requires specialmention. More often than not, we feel perfectlyjustified in feeling very angry and, at times,retaliating because we have been treatedunfairly and inconsiderately or we perceiveinjustice. The point to be made about feelingvery angry is that extreme anger normally doesnot help us function effectively in the situationthat triggers our anger and, in many instances,extreme anger causes us to say and do thingsthat we later regret.So when you take stock of your anger, takestock of your behaviour and the consequencesof your behaviour on others and on thesituation. I believe that a moderate level ofanger (4 – 6 on the Emotional Thermometer) isappropriate for situations that occur withpeople at school as it motivates you to take stepsto change the person’s behaviour or correct theinjustice. However, any higher and we losecontrol or ourselves and the situation.So, an important resilient thing to do is to beaware of how upset you are and deciding tostay calm.Step 2 – Take ControlOnce you recognise those situationswhere you are not staying calm or are notcalming down quickly enough andbouncing back, you can them decide totake control of yourself and the situation.Rational Mindset to Take ControlDepending on the nature of the adversityand your emotions, different rationalways of thinking can help you to manageyour emotions so that you stay calm, calmdown, control your behaviour and bounceback.Dealing with All Stressful Events. Thereare two robust, rational ways to thinkabout most negative events that addgreatly to your emotional resilience.• “It’s Not as Bad as You Think It Is”thinking (Don’t blow things out ofproportion.)Positive/Rational Thoughts to Help Reduce Your Anger• While it is preferable to be treated fairly, kindly and considerately,there is no law of the universe that says I must be.• People who act unfairly, inconsiderately, or unkindly maydeserve to be penalised, but never to be totally condemned asrotten no-goodniks who deserve to be eternally damned.• Anger does not help in the long run; it is only temporarilyeffective at best.• Anger towards others frequently prevents me from gettingwhat I want.• While it is undesirable to fail to get what I want, it is seldomawful or intolerable.• I can cope successfully with unfair people even though Istrongly wish they would act better.• I wish others would treat me fairly – but they never have to.• I do not need other people to act well – I only prefer it.• People act the way they do because that’s the way they act.Tough!• I can live and be happy – though not as happy – with mysignificant other’s fallibility.• My supervisor is fallible and will not always act fairly or competently.Tough – that’s the way fallible human beings work!• I can put up with this negative and hostile person, though itwould be better if he/she acted better.Resilience: A Guide for Educators 9

• “I Can Stand It” thinking (You canstand things you don’t like.)Ever hear yourself thinking: “This isawful, I can’t stand it!” You might applythis thinking about the behaviour of astudent, fellow colleague, schooladministrator, parents or the way theschool operates. When your brain tellsyour body something is awful and youcannot stand it, your emotions gogalloping to the top of your EmotionalThermometer. To strengthen yourresilience in the face of adverse events,you will need to remind yourself thatthings are not as bad as you think they are–they could be a lot worse. Review thesection on the Howbadzzat? CatastropheScale presented earlier in the article. Youshould also remind yourself that you havestood and will continue to stand thingsthat are bad –the evidence is that theseevents won’t kill you, you won’t faint.Dealing with Setbacks includingCriticism. We have now learned that onetype of negative thinking that underminespeople’s resilience is when they putthemselves down and take things verypersonally. This negative way of thinkingis called “Self‐Downing”. In order torebound from criticism and setbacks, youwill want to use a more rational way tothink about yourself; namely:• “Accepting Myself” thinking(Never rate yourself as beinghopeless or a loser when badthings happen to you.)Positive/Rational Thoughts to Help You Stop FeelingAnxious• Just because things are not succeeding today does notmean I’m a “no-hoper” or that I will not succeed in the future.• While it is very desirable to achieve well and be recognisedby others, I do not need achievement or recognition tosurvive and be happy.• Mistakes and rejections are inevitable. I will work hard ataccepting myself while hating my mistakes and setbacks.• My performance at work – perfect or otherwise – does notdetermine my worth as a person.• Things are rarely as bad, awful, or catastrophic as I imaginethem to be.• What’s the worst thing that can happen? It’s not the end ofthe world if I’m not successful or if someone thinks badly ofme.• Breathe in, breathe out. Be cool.Positive/Rational Thoughts to Help You StopFeeling Down• I accept who I am, even though I may not like some of mytraits and behaviours.• There are many things about me that I like and do well(enumerate them).• I have done many things at work successfully in the past, Iwill succeed in the future.• I am intelligent and talented enough to learn what I have todo and how to do it in order to accomplish my goals.• My performance at work – perfect or otherwise – does notdetermine my worth as a person.• I am confident that everything will turn out okay given that Ihave my goals, know what to do, and work hard.• I prefer people to like me, but I can live without theirapproval.• Mistakes and setbacks are inevitable. I will accept myselfwhile disliking my mistakes and setbacks.To help overcome the tendency we allsometimes have to put ourselves down,complete the top half of the circle on the nextpage by filling in the appropriate spaces withpluses (+’s) for the things you do well at workand with minuses (‐’s) for the things you do notdo so well. Then, complete the bottom half ofthe circle by writing in the things you do well inthe rest of your life as well as the things you likeabout yourself (+’s). In the (‐’s), write in thingsyou do not do well or you do not like aboutyourself.To counter the tendency to put yourself downwhen things are not going well, ask yourself thefollowing questions:1. Does this bad situation (mistake, failure,rejection, criticism) take away my goodqualities?Resilience: A Guide for Educators 10

2. Does it make sense to conclude (and is ittrue?) that “I am totally hopeless”because of one or more negative thingsthat have happened?WorkRest of Your LifeDealing with Performance and SocialPressures. To strengthen emotional resilience insituations where you worry a lot (e.g. speakingup in a meeting, trying a new approach), thefollowing two ways of thinking help combatanxiety.• “Taking Risks” thinking (It’s OK tomake mistakes when trying new things.)• “Being Independent” thinking (Youdon’t need people to approve ofeverything you say and do. It’simportant to say what you think, feeland want.)Some of us who have the highest standards ofprofessional excellence mistakenly believe thatbecause they strongly prefer to be verysuccessful and to receive recognition fromothers, they need achievement and approval.Whoops! You see the problem? When we are insituations where we believe we need somethingResilience: A Guide for Educators 11

• Exercise to combat fatigue• Healthy eating to combat fatigue• Having a good laugh and not takingyourself or the situation so seriouslyWith emotions calm and resilience established,you are now in a good position to figure outwhat you can do to make the problem go away.Step 3 – Take Action to Make the Problem Go AwayOnce you are in control of your emotions andbehaviour and you are ready to bound back,here are some actions you can take to make theproblem go away so that you can be stress‐free!Be ConfidentWhen confronting problems that arechallenging and with setbacks, use your bestexamples of verbal and non‐verbal confidentbehaviour. Make your best effort to:• Trying a new discipline plan• Trying new and different things at therisk of failure• In high pressure situations, express myopinion• Sharing with parents “issues” andproblems I am having with their child• Speaking with a clear, firm tone of voicewhen expressing my ideas in a facultymeeting• Standing up for what I believe whenothers express a different opinion• Speaking my mind even if my opinion isunpopular• Standing up for someone who is beingtreated unfairly• Beginning a project that no one elsethinks is valuable, but I do• Taking on a project that you don’t know100% about and to research it on yourown• Making suggestions to my superiorabout how to improve programming• Volunteering to model good practices inmeetings• Asking for (and do not feel intimidatedby) constructive criticism• Trying to do new things based onconstructive criticism• Implementing a new teaching strategy• Continuing doing something I think isright even when someone disagreesConfidence (Non-Verbal)• Maintaining eye contact• Standing up straight, tall with goodbody posture• Speaking clearly• Taking opportunities to meet newpeople• Dressing confidentlyPersistWhen faced with time‐consuming, boring tasks,gear up for the extra effort and avoidprocrastination. Make your best effort to:• Finishing all important tasks that have tobe done• Doing the work nobody wants to do butneeds to be done• Finishing unpleasant tasks early in theweekGet OrganisedWhen faced with time/work load pressures, getyourself organised. Make your best effort to:• Planning out lesson in advance to fitwithin time allocated• Maintaining sufficient school suppliesand materials• Keeping track of important meetings• Preparing for important meetings• Setting deadlines to complete tasks• Having proper equipment I need forlesson ready to go before lesson• Having a file cabinet with filing systemto file papers• Writing down a list of what needs to getdone each dayResilience: A Guide for Educators 13

• Setting realistic goals and times bywhich they will be met• Recording important meetings/events ona calendar• Filling out a daily, hour‐by‐hour “whatto do” chartGet AlongWhen dealing with difficult people and difficultaspects of your organisation, use assertive andconflict resolution skills.“Assertiveness” can help all people reducelevels of negative emotions by helping tochange the circumstances that helped create theemotions in the first place. When you’reassertive, you state clearly and directly yourhonest feelings and wishes. Rather than raisingyour voice or mumbling, you use a warm andyet firm tone of voice. You wear a relaxedexpression and look directly at the person whois pressuring you or treated you with disrespect.Conflict Resolution. Steps to solving a conflictinclude:• Step 1. Define the problem• Step 2. Determine if you are very angry;calm down first if you feel you are losingyour temper• Step 3. Make a list of different things youcan say or do to solve the conflict.• Step 4. Make a list of the positive andnegative things that could happen foreach thing you could do or say.• Step 5. Select the best things to do or so(the one with the most positives andleast negatives).• Step 6. Put the solution into action.• Step 7. Evaluate whether the solutionwas successful in solving the problem.• Step 8. If you were not successful, selectanother solution until you find one thatworks.Make your best effort to:• Making positive comments aboutcolleagues• Avoiding gossip• • Providing constructive advicerather than give orders• Volunteering to work with others onprojects• Offering to help others• Being a good listener• Being flexible and not insisting it mustbe done my way• Being open to learning new ideas fromother people• Relating positively to a difficult parentteacher, student or administratorStrengthening Resilience:Individual Action PlanThe accompanying “Strengthening Resilience:Individual Action Plan” will help you to applythe Take Stock, Take Control, Take Action threestepapproach to strengthening your resilience.Complete the form and if you wish, discusswith another colleague. Plan to review youraction plan on a regular basis.Resilience: A Guide for Educators 14

Strengthening Resilience: Individual Action PlanResilience…being aware of how you feel, maintaining calm…when upset, controllingyour negative behaviour (aggressive, passive withdrawal)…when upset, calming downquickly…bounding back to life (work, relationships)…STEP 1. TAKE STOCK1. Specific situation/event/time when you want to be more resilient.____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________2. How do you usually handle the situation and yourself?____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________3. How would you like to handle the situation and yourself?____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________STEP 2. TAKE CONTROL4. Ways to think that help manage your emotions.____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________5. Things to do to help you manage your emotions.____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________STEP 3. TAKE ACTION6. Things to do to make the problem go away.____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________7. Name of person to act as your “personal coach.” ____________________________Resilience: A Guide for Educators 15

In ConclusionResilience is a vital personal capability thatdetermines not only your own social‐emotionalwell‐being but also the social‐emotional wellbeingof those around you. To be an excellenteducator today requires more than mastery ofyour craft. The demands on educators today aregreat. In order to do your best job possible,emotional resilience is required to survive therigors of your profession. Without it, you are toovulnerable. With it, you are empowered.Resilience: A Guide for Educators 16