Flipping the Switch: Keys to Creating a Resilient School Climate

Format

Individual Presentation

Location

Harborside Center East

Strand #1

Social & Emotional Skills

Strand #2

Academic Achievement & School Leadership

Relevance

Schools across the nation and internationally are in need of resilience education. Resilient students are emotionally, socially and academically successful. This presentation will provide a wider view on how to teach resilience and ensure that EVERY uses the circumstances surrounding them to propel themselves forward.

Brief Program Description

Drawing from the vital skills of resilience in WhyTry Founder Christian Moore’s book, “The Resilience Breakthrough: 27 Tools for Turning Adversity into Action,” this engaging presentation empowers participants to learn resilience and to deliver these skills to students of any background and learning style, enabling them to thrive both in school and in life.

Summary

Grit. Fortitude. Determination. Resilience. No matter what you call it, teachers and administrators nationwide agree that there has never been a greater need to teach our students how to thrive in school and in life. Studies have shown that students who score higher on resilience measures have improved social skills, higher grades, a greater love of learning, and better decision-making skills.

The breakthrough idea of this presentation is that resilience can be taught. In fact, it’s something we are all born with – from the homeless person on the street to the brightest Harvard professor. Most of us – including many of our schools’ most struggling students – just haven’t learned how to access what’s already inside. In this presentation, participants will learn about the vital skills of resilience. This engaging presentation will empower participants to deliver these skills to students of any background and learning style.

In this session, participants will be introduced to four sources of resilience that will help students learn to look at their problems differently. These four sources are:

  • Relational Resilience: The ability to draw motivation from the support of others and others’ dependence on you.
  • Street Resilience: Using disrespect, discrimination, and mistakes as fuel to propel you forward in life.
  • Resource Resilience: The recognition that resilience can be increased by accessing seen and unseen resources around you.
  • Rock Bottom Resilience: The belief in your ability, even when you’re at your lowest point, to change your circumstances, combat hopelessness, and fight on.

When students internalize the principles behind each of these sources, they are able to transform problems into positive motivation to help them succeed in school and post-secondary life.

This engaging presentation will use stories, activities, visual components, and other multisensory learning tools to demonstrate the power of transforming life’s inevitable negative situations into positive outcomes.

Following this presentation, participants will know how to build a belief in students that they can change their circumstances, no matter how hopeless. They will gain strategies to transform pain and adversity into fuel, and they will recognize and know how to utilize the resources for resilience that exist around them.

Evidence

Multiple third party studies have shown the solutions presented in this session have yielded these outcomes:

School Climate: Students improved social behavior and emotional health. Students showed less social stress and anxiety. Students improved self-concept and overall happiness. Students showed more internal control.

Academic Success: The average GPA increased. Academic progress improved in all areas. Youth perceived themselves as being more capable of learning.

Dropout Prevention: Students reduced failing grades by 47%. Students were three times more likely to graduate. Time spent implementing these strategies correlated with a reduced number of explosions. 90% of students reported increased motivation to keep trying.

Classroom Management: Students reported fewer emotional, attention, and rule-breaking problems. Students showed improved attitudes and motivation. Behavior incident reports decreased by 20%

Bullying Prevention: Students reduced fighting/aggressive behavior and harassment/bullying behavior. Students emotionally showed more internal control and less social stress and anxiety. Students had a 13% decrease in referrals and behavior problems.

Biographical Sketch

Christian is a renowned author, speaker, and licensed clinical social worker. Christian spent most of his childhood years on the streets near Washington, D.C. Due to learning disabilities, counselors informed him that college wasn’t an option. However, Christian became a well-respected recipient of a master's degree. As a social worker in education, youth corrections, and a homeless program, Christian saw the need for a new approach and created WhyTry. He now consults with thousands of school districts on lowering dropout rates, improving school climate, preventing bullying, and closing the achievement gap by teaching social and emotional education.

Keyword Descriptors

Resilience, Dropout prevention, Classroom management, Academic success, Relationships, Social development, Emotional development

Presentation Year

2016

Start Date

3-9-2016 9:45 AM

End Date

3-9-2016 11:00 AM

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Mar 9th, 9:45 AM Mar 9th, 11:00 AM

Flipping the Switch: Keys to Creating a Resilient School Climate

Harborside Center East

Drawing from the vital skills of resilience in WhyTry Founder Christian Moore’s book, “The Resilience Breakthrough: 27 Tools for Turning Adversity into Action,” this engaging presentation empowers participants to learn resilience and to deliver these skills to students of any background and learning style, enabling them to thrive both in school and in life.