Experience of Building Resilience in Young Learners

Building resilience in young learners is critical to promote the development of effective coping strategies. In the classroom, I can support it by helping children to understand their individual strengths with the help of creative activities and by analyzing the results of child assessments and sharing the identified patterns with children’s caregivers. Considering families’ critical role in promoting resilience, another form of support that I can offer is educating parents on how to build it at home. During meetings with parents, I can disseminate credible information about age-appropriate techniques, including deep breathing exercises and waiting games, that children should know to develop better self-control. Apart from educating parents on how to foster waiting and self-regulation skills, I can implement these and other techniques in the classroom to show students how they can cope with emotional breakdowns.

Some local organizations could serve as resources helping me to teach and promote resilience. For instance, the Bonita Unified School District in San Dimas can offer informational support to those facing anger management issues, and the SPIRITT Family Services in California provides programs to support children’s emotional well-being. When working with students with specific resiliency-related issues, such as poor self-control and increased sensitivity to stress, I could refer their parents to these and similar resources to support improvements in emotional regulation. Next, the City of San Dimas Parks and Recreation Department offers a range of recreation classes for various audiences, including preschoolers. Given that competence supports resilience, I could help children to better understand their areas of interest and unique strengths by planning field trip events with the help of the organization. Engagement in different, sometimes challenging activities, such as dancing, cooking, and drawing, would promote better coping skills.