Gifted Endorsement: Action Research – Free Choice

As we began our remote learning adventures, I remember thinking about which students were going to have a higher success rate. Would it be the ones that always completed work in class? Or would it be the ones that never did, but found this type of learning less stressful and were finding success? What about the struggling students? What about the high achievers? What would be the factors that played into success? 

Then I read this blog post, Building and nurturing resiliency in gifted children found at Cuey Learning. I started thinking about how I could potentially help students in this situation by learning about resiliency. But the question was, how do I do this remotely? Would it even be beneficial?

I decided to try this lesson from Byrdseed.tv on resiliency. This would obviously have been easier in the classroom, but I did have participation. Here was what  I posted for day 1.

Here are some of the responses I received.

For the resiliency video I came up with some things for cannot stretch or squish, can stretch or squish, but don’t bounce back, and can stretch and it goes back.
~Cannot stretch or squish. Rock, soap, chips, apple.
~can stretch or squish but don’t bounce back. Slime, t-shirt collar, squishy with orbees.
~can stretch and goes back. Rubber band of course, bracelet, scrunchies.

~cannot stretch or squish~coins(metal), dried cement,or a pencil~can stretch or squish, but doesn’t bounce back~sock, a blanket, or any type of fabric~can stretch and goes back~a squishytypes of rubber ,or a violin string.

I came up with; can’t stretch or squish: pen, paper,book.
Can stretch but can’t bounce back: jacket, t shirt collar, towel.
Can stretch and does bounce back: putty, spring, guitar string.

This was what I posted for day 2.
Here are some of the responses.

Can stretch but gets stronger: My dad. He exercises every day in my garage, me when I do the list that coach Ross sent me, and Carl Lewis who was an American sprinter in 1961.

For the resiliency thing. People who got stronger from tough times: Marie Curie, Malala, Albert Eisenstein.

Here is the third and final day.

These were the responses.

I have learned that you get stronger through hard times. Many people have over come hard times and troubles. If we work together we can get covid19.

I have learned that resilience is to recover quickly from difficulties for example objects that can stretch and bounce back the people in the video who showed resilience.

Some people that get stronger over time by working out, or running, maybe swimming or etc. I picked me. I do the p.e. thing every day and my other person was nurse Mary because she was in a marathon. Go nurse Mary!!!

My winner was Marie curry she had to work through hard times in order to be star that she was, and is.

What is interesting about teaching in a general education classroom is I have a spectrum from struggling students to gifted students. These responses include both types of students. I was pleased to see their thoughtfulness. This was not an activity they had to do, but many chose to try it. I would even say that in one of my struggling math students, she has shown great resiliency through the trying times of remote learning.

If I look back at the personalities I knew so well before in-person classes halted, I would say the students having the greatest success are those who are resilient. Many of the questions I asked myself early on have been answered. No, just because you completed work in school or are high achieving, doesn’t mean it applies in this situation. The same with struggling students. It didn’t mean they gave up, they actually continued to work hard in many situations. I think the highest rate of success were the students who had parents with high expectations and the ones who stayed connected with myself and other students. Hopefully the lessons on resiliency helped some of them in some way!