Resilience As “Ordinary Magic”

Kirsten Olson, Ed.D.Caroline D. Bradley Scholarship Event

April 23, 2010

Resilience

• “It’s like a fire that warms you, and warms other people.”

It’s ordinary magic!

What do you already know?

Power and love of learningat the center of my life

Joyful Learning Experience

Kirsten doing Little House on the Prairie

“Mass education was the ingenious machine constructed by industrialism to produce the kind of adults it needed… ”

-Alvin Toffler, Future Shock, 1970

Trapped in an old fashioned institution

Designed to sort and track kids

Truncated Ideas About Ability In School

•Human ability is enormously plastic, develops over the lifespan

Define Learning As “Product” •Overemphasis on low-level cognitive tasks

• “Rigor” still about memorization

• Inability to adapt to individual learners

• Frontal, “monolithic teaching” (Christensen,2008)

“If you had to design an environment that was going to most effectively turn off the human brain, it would be

the contemporary classroom.”-John Medina, Brain Rules

Effect of “schoolishness” on manylearners

“I’m bored in school most of the time. Photography is the one time when I’m really interested.”

“There was always something mechanical about school, a mold I never fit into, never quite understood. Although I knew inside

that my writing was powerful and artistic, I was unwilling to make myself vulnerable to someone else’s critique. The years of

frustration and failures had taken a toll on my confidence and I found myself unable to trust my own ability in the classroom.”

“I’m one taco short of a combination platter.”

“ I told my teacher I wanted to go to college. He said I’d be pregnant

and drop out in two years.”

“I’m really good at school, but I’m very secretive about making mistakes. I always want to be right, and have the right answer. Otherwise, people think you are dumb.”

“School’s a game, and I can never stop running. I never rest. I’m always jumping the next hurdle, because that’s what people say I should do. I’m ‘gifted.’”

“Crazy. Lazy. I believed I was broken.”

How did they learn to be great learners?

What makes people resilient in school?

Angela Duckworth

• GRIT study• Cadets at

West point• “Beast

Barracks” summer

Cadets were asked…

• What is your attitude towards adversity?

• “Setbacks don’t discourage me.”

• “I know I can learn from mistakes.”

Ambition

Self Discipline

Persistence

Matter a lot more than ability

• “Even generously estimated, ability accounts for only 50% of achievement.”-Angela Duckworth

That’s either a lot of failure, or an opportunity to show grit and resilience

• “At least 80% of what you try to do is not going to turn out as you expected.”

• -Srikumar Rao, author of Happiness at Work

Think about your own life…

• When have you shown “grit”?

• When have you not?• What do the elements

of grit look like for you?• Share at your tables…

“Grit”

• Ambition• Self Discipline• Persistence

Effort vs. Ability

• “I started to see mistakes as my friend.”

Become an “effort” theorist

• Human ability grows over the lifespan

• Mindset, by Carol Dweck (2006)

A strengths-based approach to yourself, and others

Letting go of negative emotions,“flipping the script”

Not letting the institution define you, tell you what you are good for

• “Adaptive distancing”

• Resistance• Author of

your own mind

Passion

How does this relate to resiliency?

Definition: Resilience is the capacity to “bounce back” even after significant trauma, failure, or loss of resources

What does your own “grit” tell you about resiliency?

What we used to think about resilience

• Only a “lucky few” had it

• Couldn’t really be defined

• It was inborn

By studying the stories of those who show great resilience…

• Resilience can be taught

• Resilience is reinforced by those you surround yourself with

• Resilience can be practiced…

Those who are resilient tend to have 4 personal strengths…

• Connectedness matters

• Good reframers• Independence,

autonomy• Sense of

purpose

A dead end or an invitation?

Let’s Practice!

• Your friend says, “I just messed up on a test. I’m so stupid…”

• What do you say?

• What’s the message you are giving to yourself, too?

Reframing, problem solving

• When you say to yourself…

• “There is no way out of this situation. It just can’t be fixed…”

Practicing Gratitude

• “My life sucks. It’s awful.”

• What do you say?

Appreciate others

• “That kid always does better on tests than me.”

• “She looks prettier than me.”

• “He always sounds smarter in class discussions.”

• How do you help yourself?

Take care of other people

• “I’m in such a bad mood today.”

• How do you get out of yourself?

What’s your sense of purpose?

• “This AP American history course really blows.”

• “Why do we have to learn the subjunctive in Spanish?”

• What do you say to yourself?

Practice letting go

• “I’m not good at talking with girls. Girls hate me.”

• “My phys ed teacher was an abusive jerk. I hate sports.”

Kirsten’s recipe(s) for resilience in learning!

• Passion• Explore • Broad and deep• Have a cheer

squad

In Life

• Live with zest!• Enjoy others• Use your body• Move out of “me”• Nurture your sense of

purpose• Practice gratitude

For parents

Mentors

Don’t listen to the “negativizing” brain

You are fabulous!

Resilience as “ordinary magic”• “Resilience is ordinary

magic that can be increased not only by fixing problems but also by building up personal resources in good times. We can build good habits, discover personal strengths, enhance relationships, and become more aware of the particular personal assets that help us cope.”

• -Kathryn Britton, University of Maryland