Activity Three

Note: The topic of disasters and resiliency is a sensitive one for many students - some of whom have experienced extremely difficult times in their lives. We have chosen to team teach several days of this unit with our guidance counselor to allow students to discuss issues which affect them and to address coping strategies.

Class period one

1. Divide the class into small groups. Hand out examples of recent natural disaster from the newspaper to each group. Have each group read the account and report back to the class answering the following questions:
• What happened?
• How did people respond?
• What was the outcome?
• How did people cope?
2. Next, the counselor asks students to write down what "disasters" they have experienced in their lives and answer the same questions about them.  Students are given the chance to share their experiences. The counselor introduces the concept of "resiliency" and asks students to explain who helped them through their difficult times and what helped them to recover.
3. Make a list of the factors which help people cope with uncontrollable events in their lives.
4. End with a journal entry on the advice students would give other people when they face a difficult event in their lives.

Class period two

1. Begin with a survey on developmental assets from the Search Institute. Students complete the survey. The counselor leads a discussion on the research that points to the importance of the assets in coping with hardships.
2. Students are then asked to go back to their list from the previous day and identify the number of the asset relating to each item.
3. The students are asked to survey their parents about a disaster in their lives and answer the same questions they did in class. Send a handout home explaining the unit, the 40 developmental assets, and resources for families for building resiliency in their lives.