The principle from Elena's Resilience Manifesto that resonates with me most is 6. To help children build their emotional intelligence and resilience, we must simultaneously tend to our own emotional intelligence and resilience. It reminded me of the safety talk on airplanes when they say to put your own oxygen mask on before helping others. We are not just guides for students but examples as well. They see more than we realize and modeling resilience (or a lack of it) can do as much as facilitating an activity.
I appreciated how she called out the 3 different conversations (individual resilience, organizational conditions, and systemic conditions). In my experience teaching MS Science (reflecting on both myself and others) a lot of time was spent complaining about the issues we couldn't control, at which point it is easy to spiral and feel like things we do on an individual level won't make a difference - feeding a feeling of apathy and frustration. Building individual resilience means recognizing when we are doing it, and choosing (intentionally) to stop and redirect our own way of thinking.
Looking forward to exploring the habits and dispositions she will highlight throughout the rest of the book and to chatting with you all about implications and applications for our work with educators.
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Charissa Stair
Educator Engagement Manager
Oregon Coast Aquarium
Newport OR
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