Resilience Education

Book excerpt: This book examines how young people who struggle with life's worst conditions somehow manage to overcome adversity, identifying significant factors that contribute to their resilience. The book presents information and decision making skills students need to make good decisions in the face of adversity; learning strategies and teaching techniques that facilitate student acquisition of good decision making skills; vignettes and specific examples of what a resilient youth looks like; real-world portraits of school communities that support resilience; and specific guidelines for creating conditions for resilience in the classroom. There are nine chapters in two parts. Part 1, "Supporting Evidence for Resilience," includes: (1) "The Limitations of a Risk Orientation"; (2)"Understanding the Human Capacity for Healthy Adaptation"; and (3) "Applying a Resilience Approach to Education." Part 2, "The PORT-able Approach to Resilience Education," includes: (4) "Educating through Participation, Observation, Reflection, and Transformation"; (5) "Participation: Authentic, Active Engagement"; (6) "Observation: Noting Your Experience"; (7) "Reflection: Interpreting Your Experience"; (8) "Transformation: Being Aware of and Responsible for Change"; and (9) "Bringing It All Together." (Contains 108 references.) (SM)