Classroom Behavior and Learning Environment Differences Between Resilient and Nonresilient..

Abstract

In education, conceptual work on resilience has recently gained recognition as an important framework from which we can understand why some students become successful in school, whereas similar students from the same disadvantaged family backgrounds and neighborhoods have not been successful in school. The purpose of this study was to compare the classroom instruction and learning environment of resilient and nonresilient students in elementary schools consisting of predominantly minority students. The participants were 4th- and 5th-grade students and their teachers. Near the end of the school year, all the 4th- and 5th-grade students from 3 elementary schools located in a major metropolitan area in the south central region of the United States completed the My Class learning environment survey. Trained observers also systematically observed the resilient and nonresilient students identified by teachers during regular reading classes, language classes, or both. The results from this study indicate that resilient elementary school students perceive a more positive instructional learning environment and they are more satisfied with their reading and language arts classrooms than nonresilient students. In addition, nonresilient students indicated that they have more difficulty in their classwork than both average students and resilient students. The observational results revealed that resilient students spent significantly more time interacting with teachers for instructional purposes, whereas nonresilient students spent more time interacting with other students for social or personal purposes. Resilient students were also observed watching or listening significantly more often than nonresilient students, whereas nonresilient students were observed more often not attending to task. The percentage of time that resilient students were on task was much higher than that for nonresilient students.