Happy (always resilient) Spring!

I will be speaking at a conference in Nebraska this summer on the connection between GRIT and resiliency. Both words are often used together these days, and "grit" has become the new focus for educators and other helpers.

I think grit fits within the umbrella of Fostering Resiliency but the research of Dr. Angela Duckworth and others is highlighting that it may be a more important aspect than we previously knew.

Below, I review the findings on grit and connect them to The Resiliency Wheel and the list of Individual Resiliency Factors. I also offer more resources on the topic of the importance of "grit" and how to build it!


MORE DETAILS ON MY NEW WEBINAR "Resiliency In Action: How Families, Schools and Communities Build 'Bounce Back Kids'" are also below, including staff development activities and a quiz for offering C.E.U. credit in your district or organization.

I also hope you can join us in warm, sunny Los Angeles Sept. 4 & 5 for the Resiliency Training Program Training of Trainers, which has attracted attendees from all over the world during the past 15 years. This one-of-a-kind training provides the most comprehensive resiliency training available...and this is the last chance to attend during this school year. (Scroll down for more information or to register.)

CONNECTING RESILIENCY AND GRIT:

"Teaching Life Skills" is one of the six most potent environmental resiliency builders as shown on The Resiliency Wheel (above). Life skills include assertiveness training, conflict resolution, communication skills, and goal-setting. The literature on GRIT is showing us that perseverance as a life skill (or "grit") is extremely important, perhaps more than we knew. And the research also informs us that an important part of teaching life skills is to emphasize the "marathon-nature of undertaking any major life goal", which typically does involve mistakes, set-backs, failures and misfortune.

Because movies and t.v. programs typically show an easier-than-in-real-life outcome, it is more important than ever to give students, youth, families, and adults we help this life truth: "No matter what, keep on keeping on! That is how the vast majority of people succeed. Success rarely comes easily and the most important ingredient is the grit to stick with the process."

The research on grit also gives us important details on the essential elements of "perseverance" -- which is an Individual Resiliency Builder.

Jennifer Fink writing for Scholastic.com lists "10 grit-building techniques to help you prepare your students for success--in the classroom and in life":

1. Incorporate Kids' Passions into the Classroom.
2. Tap into Students' Intrinsic Motivations.
3. Promote Practice.
4. Grade for Effort, Persistence, and Focus.
5. Praise Actions...like efforts, strategies, focus, perseverance.
6. Model Positive Reactions to Setbacks and Mistakes.
7. Build on Student Strengths.
8. Challenge to Create Excellence.
9. Teach a Growth Mind-Set.
10. Let Students Know that Learning Involves Struggle.

1. Persistence can be counterproductive and even unhealthy.
2. There are important benefits to knowing when *not* to persist.
3. Motives for displaying grit need to be examined: Is a kid doing something he or she truly wants to do or doing it out of "a desperate need to prove competence"?
4. What are the benefits of one-pointed grit vs. "enjoying a complex mental life"?
5. Children should be able to explore lots of things rather than spending all their time "trying to improve one thing."
6. Fostering grit and resilience are not substitutes for providing other types of physical assistance to those who are struggling.
7. Hard things are not worth doing *just because* they are hard.

Kohn's points are reminders that there can be "a downside" to grit that is not promoted in a balanced, whole person-centered way. That being said, I must admit, there would be *no* Resiliency In Action, Inc. without the grit of many who founded it and continued it for two decades!

CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFORMATION, TO PREVIEW, OR TO PURCHASE

OR.....You can attend THIS ONE-OF-A-KIND TRAINING IN SUNNY L.A. near the beach FREE ...by purchasing 50 copies of "Resiliency In Action: Practical Ideas for Overcoming Risks and Building Strengths in Youth, Families, and Communities" OR 100 copies of "The Resiliency Workbook" for your school or organization.

Organizations that have contracted me as a presenter/trainer include:

National Big Brothers/Big Sisters, Job Corps, Americorps, Vermont Dept. of Education, California Dept. of Education, Colorado Dept. of Education, Pennsylvania Dept. of Education, New Hampshire Department of Education, Maine Dept. of Education, State of Texas Safe and Drug-Free Schools Initiative, Texas Elementary Principals Association; University of Southern Maine, Loyola Marymount University (Los Angeles), Texas A & M University, University of Hawaii, New Zealand National Federation of Children's Health Camps, New Zealand Ministry of Education, Calgary (Canada) Regional Educational Consortium, Winnipeg (Canada) Schools, BB/ BS Swiftcurrent, Saskatchewan (Canada), Nebraska Association of Prevention Professionals, Ohio Network for Training and Assistance for Schools and Communities, State of New York Dept. of Juvenile Justice, New York City Department of Education, Los Angeles Unified Schools, National School Counselors Association, National Association of Leaders in Student Assistance Programs, National Association of School Social Workers, State of CA School Dropout Prevention Initiative, individual school districts and agencies in 45 U.S. states and Regional Educational Centers in Texas, New York, Wisconsin, Kansas, Minnesota, Washington, Ohio, Pennsylvania. In recent years, Ms. Henderson has been contracted by the U.S. Army and the U.S. Air Force.

CLICK HERE TO SEE THE PRESENTATION EVALUATIONS I JUST RECEIVED FROM THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS

I hope to meet you in L.A. for the Resiliency Training Programs Training of Trainers or when I come to your school or organization!

Sincerely,