Risk and Resilience

Middle school students head out onto Lake Michigan in kayaks.

On Monday Dr. Beth Pearson and Dr. Michael Bambery from the Arbor Psychology Group came to Summers-Knoll to share thoughts and expertise on the subject of developing resilience in children. This is a subject dear to all our hearts, as resilience is a vital characteristic of an independent learner and an engaged liver of life.

As Beth and Michael discussed, there are different aspects of resilience, one of which is the willingness to take risks. Students who have the confidence or courage to go out on a limb, whether it's to expose themselves in a spotlight (performing, presenting, sharing work) or take on a new challenge with the possibility of failure, are opening themselves to learning. They don't sit on the sidelines and let others get on with it; they put themselves in an active role and participate in the successes and failures, joys, disappointments, shocks and surprises of a full learning experience. In order to be willing to do this, they need to feel that it's safe to fail - that they are supported by their teachers and friends.

It's part of our work to develop that sense of a safe community for our kids, and to provide opportunities to take risks in that context. My last post  talked a bit about how we work with our students to build a safe and strong community. We strive to provide the kind of foundation and the kind of experience that supports the development of brave kids - kids who are willing to speak up for an unconventional point of view, or choose a new instrument to play, or sing, despite their fears, in front of a crowd at an art and music cafe, or go higher on that climbing wall than ever before, or find in high school that they've enrolled in a class that doesn't suit them, and have the courage to advocate for themselves and effect a change.  Our kids do these things, and it's testament to the kind of environment our teachers, families, children, and other invested adults both within and without the walls of the school have built together.

Academic risk is pursued as a goal at Summers-Knoll. Children are encouraged to present their work to others from the very youngest class to the time they graduate. Exhibitions at 7th and 8th grade level seem a long way off to our kindergarteners, but this week the kindergarteners will present at morning meeting for the first time, in the first step towards exhibitions and their graduation performances. (They are understandably nervous, but they've seen other classes present and they know that everyone will be kind, and Val will be there to help.) In Sam's group, students are sharing work with each other and giving each other unusual feedback.  Being willing to let others see and comment on your work is not an easy thing to do, but peer-to-peer feedback leads to an enriched ability to self-evaluate and learn from mistakes. Taking on a leadership role can be inspiring, and builds that sense of empowerment; from stepping up to find the answer to a problem, as Danny and Ishan did in Chris's group (read about it here) to teaching the whole class, as the children regularly do in Spencer's class (here's Lilith).  Physical challenges like archery and dance require focus and determination, and motivate the children to keep trying and trying until a skill is mastered. These situations all carry an inherent risk of failure as well as the potential for mastery. Sometimes the children feel victorious, sometimes they feel disappointed; either way it's a time to learn. They start to develop the understanding that they can overcome their fears, they can be brave, and that being successful isn't something that just happens; practice, hard work, and learning when things go wrong all help to grow that sense of pride and achievement.