Introduction

What is the Awakening Resiliency project?

Through this project called Awakening Resiliency, we are wanting to teach students
important skills and strategies that will help them become more resilient and build their selfesteem. Awakening Resiliency is a project that revolves around the idea of students
discovering who they are as individuals and how they can become all around better citizens.
Resiliency is a major concern for the youth of this generation and helping/ teaching them skills
to cope with stresses and situations in life is important for the future of our students. We hope
to help students become more self-aware and learn how to manage their emotions and selfcontrol in order to make the right decisions in life; to build their resiliency. As teachers and
staff, it is our goal to provide our students with a safe environment where they can feel accepted
and learn to be independent people.

Purpose
It has come to our attention as professionals that education has far exceeded just the needs of
academics for our students. We want to provide students with the necessary skills in order to
succeed in every aspect of their life. Our goal is for students to make responsible and informed
choices to maintain health and to promote safety for self and others.

Driving Questions
Awakening Resiliency focuses on a driving question for students:

Do you know who you are?

The purpose of this driving question is to allow students to think critically about the aspects,
morals, values and qualities they possess. It allows students to really discover who they are as a
person and why. This is an opportunity for students to build their resiliency, understand their
emotions and learn how to deal with everyday stresses.
There is also a driving question provided to teachers and staff:

How can we teach students to become more resilient

to the stresses and situations of life?

How will it run?

We have recently been learning that Character Education is an important and emotional topic
that needs to be addressed in schools, homes and communities. The school will implement the
program throughout the whole school year. At the beginning of the year, teachers and staff will
have organized and discussed how to incorporate this program into their classrooms and into
the school as a whole.
There will be a welcoming assembly during the first week of school where students will learn
about the project. Teachers will also have a classroom discussion about the Portfolios that
students will create. Teachers are asked to teach topics from this project approximately 1-2
times a week; some of the activities included with this project do focus on curricular outcomes.
There will be 4 major events throughout the school year where the entire school will be involved
for an afternoon period. The 4 major events related to this project are:
Be a Buddy, Not a Bully
Pay it Forward
Community Service
Fundraising for a Cause
These events have been pre-planned by the teachers and staff. They will be scheduled into the
school calendar prior to the beginning of the school year.
Teachers will meet regularly in order to communicate about the project and to organize the
following activities/events. There will be one teacher from the school that will become the
leader of this project. This teacher will help run the PD sessions for the teachers and staff, along
with the PD session available to parents/legal guardians and community members.
We want to encourage the participation of all teachers, staff, parents/legal guardians, students
and community members.

What is included with the project binder?

Included with this project binder is all the information needed in order to implement this
project: Awakening Resiliency. There is general information about the topics related to
resiliency and provided are many activities or all levels for teachers to use in the classroom with
their students; along with worksheets, tests, activities, links, etc. Teachers can choose how
many and which activities they would like to use in their classroom. Teachers are welcome to
implement any other activities of their own that relate to the topics provided with Awakening
Resiliency.
There is an explanation of the portfolios students will be creating and also the star tags where
students will attach with their chosen work in their portfolio. This allows the student to
explain why they chose the activities/worksheets that they have placed in their portfolios.
There is information for teachers and staff, PD session information, parent/legal guardian and
community member information. Provided are exemplars of brochures for this project, poster
and invitation letters for the PD session. Additional resources and information is included with
this project binder.