Key Points
Back to top- A classroom educator learns first-hand how much she can gain from resilience training and shares her insights.
- Building on her foundational knowledge about social and learning (SEL), she learns the vital lesson that we are always learning.
- She also realizes that SEL is not a separate subject but rather the pillar supporting every aspect of a student’s academic and personal journey.
When I was invited to participate in a district-sponsored volunteer course on teacher resilience, I had reservations.
“Resilience training?” I thought. “This sounds like something tailor-made for our counselors, our school behavioral health professionals, or perhaps our exceptional student education teachers, who deal with particularly challenging situations, but not for teachers.” I imagined sessions focused on crisis management or advanced psychological support—vital skills, no doubt, but likely not directly relevant to my daily classroom interactions.
However, from the first session, my assumptions fell away. The course wasn’t just about coping with extreme stress; it was about understanding the subtle, everyday emotional landscape of our students and, crucially, our ourselves. The trainers didn’t just speak in theory; they shared concrete scenarios and practical strategies during the entire session, including in valuable small-group discussions. These sessions facilitated discussions that revealed the universal nature of emotional well-being.
Insights From Experts
Back to topPrior to the course, I’d already begun to explore this deeper understanding through my own learning and experience, including through the concepts in Marc Brackett’s Permission to Feel. As I was to see again in this course, Brackett’s work powerfully emphasizes the importance of emotional literacy, helping people recognize emotions through the Mood Meter, which developed into the centerpiece of the Yale SEL program RULER. As Brackett has highlighted, emotional skills are the key to unlocking our potential, fostering a culture and society unlike anything we’ve experienced thus far—and very much like the one we might dare to imagine.
Another remarkable author central to this cohort series was Elena Aguilar, whose book Onward: Cultivating Emotional Resilience in Educators champions cultivating resilience and thriving as an educator. The training seamlessly connected with and enriched these personal insights through activities designed to help us understand and care for ourselves, grasp our emotions, and cultivate compassion. My prior engagement with texts like Permission to Feel and Onward had laid a strong groundwork, and this training provided the vital, practical application that cemented my belief in SEL’s pervasive importance.
Crucially, the series reinforced the vital lesson that we are always learning. As Aguilar notes, seeing challenges as opportunities for growth helps us not just survive adversity but thrive in its aftermath. These habits and dispositions are essential for finding solutions and moving forward.
Every Moment Matters
Back to topWhat struck me was how the training illuminated the critical need for all staff members who participated—teachers and some administrators—to grasp these principles. We explored how seemingly small interactions throughout the day, from a casual hallway greeting to a moment of frustration in a lesson, profoundly impact a student’s emotional state and their capacity to learn.
We discussed how a student’s unseen or unheard feelings in a moment of stress can manifest as behavioral issues or academic disengagement. The training underscored that because SEL is integral to all disciplines, every interaction, every shared glance, every piece of feedback we give is a moment ripe for either fostering or hindering a child’s social and emotional growth.
Applying this to my own work and personal life has been transformative. I’ve become far more attuned to the non-verbal cues from my students, recognizing when a brief moment of quiet check-in or a slight adjustment to a task’s perceived difficulty can make all the difference.
I’ve consciously integrated more mindfulness exercises into my daily routine, not just for my students, but for myself, understanding that my own regulated emotional state is foundational to creating a calm and supportive learning environment. I now see every challenge not just as an academic hurdle, but as an opportunity to build resilience, empathy, and problem-solving skills collaboratively with my students.
SEL as a Pillar of Learning
Back to topThe training didn’t just equip me with new strategies; it fundamentally reshaped my understanding of SEL. It taught me that it’s not a separate subject to be taught, but rather the pillars supporting every aspect of a student’s academic and personal journey, requiring the conscious and compassionate engagement of everyone in the school building.
As such, I wholeheartedly encourage practitioners and experienced educators, administrators, and all staff members to undertake similar training based on emotional resilience. We must recognize its extensive reach into our daily lives and its profound influence on the academic and cognitive processes of both our students and ourselves.
The views in this blog are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of CASEL.
An experienced educator and leader, Dr. Jaddy Brigitte Nielsen Nino brings 13 years of expertise in fostering student growth within diverse learning environments, currently based in the U.S. She is recognized for her innovative approaches to curriculum development, her commitment to emotional resilience in education, and her contributions as a researcher, reviewer and evaluator.
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