Resiliency

Excerpt from What Makes Someone A Good Student? Fraser-Thill (2010):

 

Academic resilience is a more specific version of the larger concept of resilience. Academic resilience is defined as the ability to effectively deal with setback, stress or pressure in the academic setting.  It refers to a student's willingness to persevere at academic tasks even when they are frustrated. In other words, academically resilient children do not give up, no matter what faces them.

 

Let's say that 10-year-olds Brandon and Tony have nearly identical math skill sets and intellectual aptitude. Brandon, however, has high academic resilience while Tony has low academic resilience. When their teacher introduces a challenging new type of math problem, they probably both experience frustration and make similar errors. Due to his personality, though, Brandon is much more likely than Tony to fight to master the new math skill.  Tony has a greater chance of believing that the new math skill can not be learned because he is unable to master it quickly and without effort.

 

Learning anything is an inherently frustrating process. How can it not be? If we knew it all already, we would not be "learning"! Therefore, having a personality that is more likely to plow on despite frustrations - that is, being academically resilient - is a major factor in academic success and in helping a child become a good student.

 

While personality is partially in-born, it can be greatly influenced by experience. Therefore, you can promote academic resilience in your child and help them become a good student by encouraging him or her to not give up when hard times arise. You can also model academically resilient behavior by demonstrating how you do not give up when you face intellectual challenges - like trying to find an error in your check register, or mastering a new computer operating system at home or at work. Let your child be an active part of your journey through frustration to mastery. By watching you be persistent, they'll be more likely to act the same way themselves.