This fall, I am committed to building my own resilience in order to support colleagues and students. I know this will need to be a focus of my coaching and leadership always, and especially given the times we are living in. Some resources I will use include Onward: Cultivating Emotional Resilience in Educators, mantra with visualization, and mindfulness. I want to share a few ideas in this post.
I initially read Elena Aguilar’s Onward: Cultivating Emotional Resilience in Educators and The Onward Workbook when the books were first published. This spring, and over the summer, I have come back to them again, both for myself and for my work with colleagues (especially those who are in coaching roles, like myself). While I was initially impressed with the information and activities, I have developed a deeper appreciation for them, during this time of pandemic. The chapters are arranged by month, with a focus habit and disposition per month, including: Understand Emotions/Acceptance, Take Care of Yourself/Positive Self-Perception, and Focus on the Bright Spots/Empowerment. I could write post after post with what I have learned from these books.
“Resilience is a way of being that allows us
to bounce back quickly from adversity, and stronger than before,
so that we can fulfill our purpose in life.”
– Aguilar
Tamisha Williams’ The Summer Workbook has been written to explicitly connect Culturally Responsive Teaching and the Brain (Zaretta Hammond) and Onward. This resource is rich with ideas. I recently used “Telling Empowering Stories: Optimism” Visualization as an Inclusion Activity. In the activity we are asked to think of a hope for the school year (for students, one’s team, etc.). With this hope in mind, we visualized using all our senses and focusing on what people might be saying or doing to support the hope. Finally, we drew what we envisioned. I incorporated the mantra I’ve sent for this year into my visual. Participants felt this was an effective Inclusion, because it gave them time to quietly visualize and consider hopes, in order to transition into our meeting.
“We’re doing this work because we’re in need of
collective processing and healing….
Bring your full self to this work. Engage with your resistance….
This work requires full vulnerability.”
-Tamisha Williams
This summer, I attended “Gateway to Inner Life: Teaching into Hard Times” at Teachers College with Lisa Miller and Arlène Casimir. Miller concluded the session with a mindfulness practice. We imagined ourselves sitting at a table and inviting all those who support our best interests to join us at the table. Next, an invitation was sent to our best selves. Finally we called our higher power; higher power is self-defined and can be nature, the universe, the creator, etc. For me, I called nature to mind as that is where I find inner peace. With each of the invitations, we asked guests if they loved us and what we needed to know now as a part of our path. I was moved as this unfolded, feeling the presence of my mentors and family members, both living and deceased. The practice can be found in her book The Spiritual Child.
It is with gratitude that I write about the resources above. They have helped me and colleagues in our work over the summer and I know I will use them in the fall as I support the resilience of, and well-being of, colleagues. By modeling these for teachers, they can feel empowered to use similar activities with students. As a result we will feel more able to learn, to form meaningful relationships as a community, and to thrive.
Resources:
The Summer Workbook
Onward: Cultivating Emotional Resilience in Educators
The Onward Workbook
The Spiritual Child
Culturally Responsive Teaching and the Brain