Creating Resilient Learners

Have you ever watched a child attempt to take his first steps? Typically he tries, falls down, tries again, falls again, and repeats this process until he experiences success. When he does, there is usually a room full of smiling, clapping adults providing encouragement to continue on.

Occasionally, if a fall hurts, there will be tears, but often the young child is resilient and just keeps on trying. What is it about young children that pushes them to keep trying? Wouldn't it be great if we could see that same resilience in our students as they learn to read, spell, and solve math problems?

Daily 5 and CAFE promote resilient learning through conferring, modeling, and sharing.

• Conferring—When teachers confer with students, they model and provide guidance. They also give the child an opportunity to practice in small increments, similar to a child who is taking first steps.

• Modeling—Daily 5 sets the stage for student success through student modeling of desired behaviors and teacher modeling during focus lessons. This modeling provides children with a picture in their minds of the desired outcome and an understanding of what it will look like, sound like, and feel like when they are independent.

• Sharing—Student sharing at the end of Daily 5 provides encouragement to students to revisit their work, try something that worked for a peer, and celebrate small steps of success.

The culture and community that is fostered in a Daily 5/CAFE classroom can make it just as natural for our learners to resiliently try again and again as it is for a small child who is learning to walk.