Resiliency in Gifted Students

1. Resiliency in Gifted Students Support, Load Balance, and Optimism Office of Gifted Education and Curriculum Development Virginia Beach City Public Schools

2. Strategic Plan Goal • 1)  All teachers will engage every student in meaningful, authentic and rigorous work through the use of innovative instructional practices and supportive technologies that will motivate students to be self-directed and inquisitive learners. Office of Gifted Education and Curriculum Development Virginia Beach City Public Schools

3. Strategic Plan Outcomes • Our primary focus is on teaching and assessing those skills our students need to thrive as 21st century learners, workers and citizens. All VBCPS students will be: • Academically proficient; • Effective communicators and collaborators; • Globally aware, independent, responsible learners and citizens; and • Critical and creative thinkers, innovators and problem solvers. Office of Gifted Education and Curriculum Development Virginia Beach City Public Schools

4. Theoretical Impetus of Resiliency Research • Instead of studying students from high-risk communities who fail, discover what is distinctive about students from the same communities who succeed. Office of Gifted Education and Curriculum Development Virginia Beach City Public Schools

5. Organizing Framework for Session Two Main Constructs • Supportive relationships provide sustenance to the development of resiliency • Certain personal skills support resiliency and these skills can be taught Office of Gifted Education and Curriculum Development Virginia Beach City Public Schools

6. Organizing Question 1: How can you help your school become more effective at promoting resiliency? Organizing Question 2: How would you set-up and run an internet focus group? Organizing Framework for Session Office of Gifted Education and Curriculum Development Virginia Beach City Public Schools

7. Focus Points for Notes • Focus one—When, where and how can adults support resiliency • Focus two—When, where and how can we provide opportunities for students to support each other Office of Gifted Education and Curriculum Development Virginia Beach City Public Schools

8. Home Lives • Structured home • Firm consistent rules and discipline • Parental monitoring of homework and behavior • Less crowded, cluttered, and cleaner homes Office of Gifted Education and Curriculum Development Virginia Beach City Public Schools

9. Characteristics of Resilient Students • Positive outlook • Good sense of humor • Commitment to conventional institutions • Have a sense of purpose • Internal locus of control Office of Gifted Education and Curriculum Development Virginia Beach City Public Schools

10. Adult Relationships • Attached to at least one significant adult • Has positive interactions and involvement with committed, concerned educators and other adults • Adult provides social support • Adult has confidence in their capabilities • There are role models worthy of respect and admiration Office of Gifted Education and Curriculum Development Virginia Beach City Public Schools

11. Social Characteristics • Social support from peers • Peer acceptance • Positive personal relationships • Separate achievement from social status • Minorities see themselves as overcoming stereotypes and stigmas • Actively engaged in community in meaningful way Office of Gifted Education and Curriculum Development Virginia Beach City Public Schools

12. Personal Competencies • Optimism • Perseverance • Responsibility/Internal locus of control • Independence/Autonomy • Social competence • Self-efficacy • Problem-solving skills Office of Gifted Education and Curriculum Development Virginia Beach City Public Schools

13. Self-Efficacy • Students need to believe they have the skills to be successful • Students believe they can accomplish the task if they put in the work and apply their skills • Students are recognized for their skill development and effort—NOT for being “smart” Office of Gifted Education and Curriculum Development Virginia Beach City Public Schools

14. Internal Locus of Control • Students believe that they are in control of whether or not they are successful • Do not blame others, chance, fate, tools, teachers, parents, or other exterior factors • Assess what they can do differently to change future outcomes Office of Gifted Education and Curriculum Development Virginia Beach City Public Schools

15. Personal Behaviors • Spend less time watching TV, using prescription drugs, playing video games • Talk to parents or siblings about what bothers them • Go along with parent requests Office of Gifted Education and Curriculum Development Virginia Beach City Public Schools

16. Lack of Resilience • Sense of helplessness • Sense of being stuck • Fall prey to negative influences more easily • Behavior, academic, and emotional failure • Least engaged in humor, problem solving, remaining optimistic, and making their own decisions. Office of Gifted Education and Curriculum Development Virginia Beach City Public Schools

17. Student Skills • Managing Stress • Promoting Optimism • Managing Competitiveness Office of Gifted Education and Curriculum Development Virginia Beach City Public Schools

18. Stress The body’s general response to any intense physical, emotional, or mental demand placed on it by oneself or others (Kaplan, 2005) Eustress (Positive Stress) • Motivates and focuses energy • Helps achieve goals and reach potential Distress (Negative Stress) • Feels unpleasant • Can lead to anxiety • Can decrease performance • Can lead to physical or emotional problems Office of Gifted Education and Curriculum Development Virginia Beach City Public Schools

19. Stress in gifted children • Busy schedules • Feeling “different” • High expectations (from self or others) • Perfectionism • Competitiveness • Underachievement • Lack of challenge • Other examples??? Office of Gifted Education and Curriculum Development Virginia Beach City Public Schools

20. Stress Them Just Enough • Load Balance—The link between environmental demands and capabilities of student • In order for students to grow intellectually, they should complete tasks within their “Zone of Proximal Development” (Vygotsky, 1978). • A point of required mastery where a child cannot successfully function alone, but can succeed with scaffolding or support Office of Gifted Education and Curriculum Development Virginia Beach City Public Schools

21. What can teachers do? • Provide information on coping strategies • Model how to deal with stress • Encourage children to express her/his feelings appropriately • Listen • Validate/acknowledge child’s feelings • Be available for guidance • Model acceptance and encouragement • Help each child be a “whole person” • Be patient • Work with parents and student on load management Office of Gifted Education and Curriculum Development Virginia Beach City Public Schools

22. Coping Strategies for Stress Management • Regular exercise • Healthy nutrition • Adequate rest • Take time out for enjoyable activities • Learn skills that make tasks easier / more successful • Be a problem-solver • Shifting perspective • Be optimistic… Office of Gifted Education and Curriculum Development Virginia Beach City Public Schools

23. Discontinuity of Resiliency • Students level of resiliency can vary over time and across situations • Situational changes • Social changes • Developmental changes • Dabroski-Positive disintegration Office of Gifted Education and Curriculum Development Virginia Beach City Public Schools

24. Positive Disintegration Process • The individual becomes active agent in own disintegration-thus the person finds a 'cure' for himself, • not in the sense of a rehabilitation • in the sense of reaching a higher level than the one prior to disintegration. • Occurs through a process of an education of oneself and of an inner psychic transformation. • Main mechanisms of this process: • A continual sense of looking into oneself as if from outside • Followed by a conscious affirmation or negation of conditions and values in both the internal and external environments • (Dabrowski, 1972, p. 4). Office of Gifted Education and Curriculum Development Virginia Beach City Public Schools

25. Personality Reintegration • Through the constant creation of himself • + the development of the inner psychic milieu • + development of discriminating power with respect to both the inner and outer milieus • an individual goes through ever higher levels of 'neuroses' and at the same time through ever higher levels of universal development of personality" Office of Gifted Education and Curriculum Development Virginia Beach City Public Schools

26. Optimism: A tool to manage and prevent stress • What is optimism? • Thoughts??? • The Optimistic Child: A Proven Program to Safeguard Children Against Depression and Build Lifelong Resilience – authoredby Dr. Martin Seligman(1995) Office of Gifted Education and Curriculum Development Virginia Beach City Public Schools

27. Optimism is NOT Just hoping that everything will be okay Ignoring reality Just telling yourself positive thoughts Wishful thinking Optimism Involves Flexible and reality-based thought process Optimistic explanatory style Telling yourself something that is equally true, but nicer Opposite of pessimism Opposite of catastrophizing Optimism … Office of Gifted Education and Curriculum Development Virginia Beach City Public Schools

28. Office of Gifted Education and Curriculum Development Virginia Beach City Public Schools

29. Teaching Optimism • Apply concepts to your own life • Model and teach concepts to children Skills to learn for optimism: • Catch automatic thoughts • Evaluate thoughts • Generate alternatives • De-catastrophize Office of Gifted Education and Curriculum Development Virginia Beach City Public Schools

30. Pessimistic Explanatory Style Permanent Pervasive Personal “Things at school never go right for me.” “No one is ever going to hire me.” “I must be an unlovable person.” Optimistic Explanatory Style Temporary Specific Impersonal “Things at school are bad right now.” “This particular person didn’t hire me.” “My friend is probably busy or forgot to call me back.” Explanatory Style Office of Gifted Education and Curriculum Development Virginia Beach City Public Schools

31. Practice 1. Jamie got a C in the first nine weeks in math. You approach him and he tells you the following: “I’ve really screwed up. My parents wanted me to be on the principal’s list all year. Now, I can’t do that. They’re going to be so disappointed. I wish I could quit school. I’ve already failed for the year. Why should I even try any more?” How can you help Jamie de-catastrophize? 2. Let’s look at some examples from your experience or from your list of automatic thoughts. Office of Gifted Education and Curriculum Development Virginia Beach City Public Schools

32. What is competitiveness? • Contest • Opposition • Process of trying to beat others • Rivalry Office of Gifted Education and Curriculum Development Virginia Beach City Public Schools

33. Emerging Reaction Patterns to Competition Negative Positive • The honest competitor • The ambivalent competitor • The personal best Office of Gifted Education and Curriculum Development Virginia Beach City Public Schools

34. Benefits of Competition • Teaches students they may struggle or fail at first but achieve their goal eventually • Helps students persevere when faced with obstacles • Increases their resilience, or ability to recover from setbacks • Helps students learn to win with grace and humility • Prepares students for future competition as they enter their careers • Inspires students to strive for excellence Office of Gifted Education and Curriculum Development Virginia Beach City Public Schools

35. Can competition be hurtful? • Sometimes, if taken to extremes. Things to take into consideration: • Delay exposure of competition to young children, especially if they are very sensitive • Address competition when it arises Office of Gifted Education and Curriculum Development Virginia Beach City Public Schools

36. Strategies to help your child deal with competitiveness • Talk to students about competition • Practice appropriate behaviors • Praise effort rather than performance • Read optimistic stories with resilient characters • Brainstorm ways to help children cope when they encounter upsetting situations Office of Gifted Education and Curriculum Development Virginia Beach City Public Schools

37. Strategies to help your child deal with competitiveness (continued) • Use competition as less of a motivator and more for a tool of personal improvement • Help children to manage stressful situations • Help children to build supportive social networks Office of Gifted Education and Curriculum Development Virginia Beach City Public Schools

38. Thanks To • Kristina Groce, M.A.; Amanda Slonaker, M.A.; Mary Skokut, M.Ed. for their presentation Promoting Resiliency by Managing Stress, Competitiveness, and Perfectionism, March 31, 2009 Office of Gifted Education and Curriculum Development Virginia Beach City Public Schools