Do you ever notice students shutting down after a mistake, avoiding anything that feels even a little challenging, or getting overwhelmed by something small? These patterns often connect to learned helplessness. Thankfully, the level of resilience in students isn’t fixed — it’s something we can intentionally teach and strengthen over time.
Resilience isn’t about being tough. It’s about learning to recover, try again, problem-solve, and trust themselves enough to keep going. And while we can’t control everything happening at home, we can build a classroom environment that strengthens students from the inside out.
Below are 10 ways to help students develop resilience, with natural, teacher-friendly hyperlinks to the research behind each strategy.
What Resilience in Students Looks Like in the Classroom
Trying Again After a Mistake
When a student checks their work and gives something another go, that’s resilience in action — a behaviour strongly supported by growth mindset and emotional-skills research.
Speaking Up After Feeling Embarrassed
A shy student raising their hand again the next day shows emotional bravery and core SEL competencies at work.
Handling Peer Conflicts Calmly
Students working through disagreements instead of melting down reflects both social awareness and prosocial behaviour linked to resilience.
Sticking With a Challenging Task
When a student keeps experimenting until something works, they’re practising perseverance — a key feature of resilience-building problem-solving skills.
Adapting to a Change in Routine
Managing seating changes, new routines, or a substitute teacher reflects healthy flexibility supported by research on resilience in school settings.
10 Ways to Develop Resilience in Students
The following are a combination of research-backed strategies and teacher wisdom. Check out the links to the research to learn more about each one.
1. Encourage Problem-Solving and Critical Thinking
Give students time to try ideas, revise them, and learn through the process. These small moments build flexible thinking and emotional steadiness, which aligns with research on communication and problem-solving skills.
2. Create a Supportive and Inclusive Classroom Environment
A positive classroom climate — warmth, safety, belonging — is closely tied to resilience through increased social support.
3. Use Specific, Effort-Focused Feedback
Feedback like, “You stuck with this even when it was tricky,” reinforces perseverance. Effort-focused feedback boosts motivation and self-belief, consistent with self-efficacy research in children.
4. Nurture Strong Relationships
Warm, supportive teacher–student relationships are one of the strongest predictors of resilience. Ann Masten calls this “ordinary magic” — the power of everyday connection.
5. Promote Self-Reflection
Simple routines like journals or rose/thorn/bud help students understand how they overcame challenges. Reflection strengthens self-efficacy, which is strongly tied to resilience development.
6. Encourage Servant-Hearted Leadership
Have students help their friends to build confidence and purpose. In my classroom, this meant being a reading buddy, offering support during centres, or helping with class materials.
This aligns with research showing that prosocial behaviour contributes to resilience.
7. Maintain Predictable Daily and Weekly Routines
Predictable routines lower anxiety and support emotional regulation. Daily “shape of the day” cards and weekly previews build safety, which is supported by research on resilience as an education outcome.
8. Teach Students How to Handle Big Feelings
Movement breaks, breathing exercises, quiet corners — these tools help students regulate their emotions. This connects directly to emotional-skills and resilience research.
9. Build Healthy Habits Together
Stable energy and emotional regulation absolutely support resilience. While I couldn’t control what students ate, I could model balanced habits and help students notice how their bodies felt.
10. Guide Students in Setting and Reflecting on Small Goals
Goal-setting builds persistence, planning, and self-confidence. These align closely with self-efficacy research in elementary students.
Sample Activities to Build Resilience in Students
Storytelling & Discussion
Stories give students a safe way to explore challenge, perseverance, and resilience. This is supported through research on resilience-related problem-solving.
Growth Mindset Routines
A “Yet Board” normalizes struggle and effort — both connected to perseverance and emotional-skills research.
Role-Playing Conflict & Problem-Solving
Practising scripts and strategies helps students feel more confident during real conflicts, which aligns with school climate & prosocial research.
Mindfulness & Reset Strategies
Breathing, stretching, and quiet corners all strengthen emotional regulation, supported by emotional intelligence and resilience research.
Goal-Setting Workshops
Reflection and progress-tracking build self-efficacy — a key part of resilience development.
Final Thoughts on How to Develop Resilience in Students
Resilience isn’t about being perfection — it’s to be consistent, calm, and intentional. Every time we encourage problem-solving, reflection, emotional regulation, collaboration, and small acts of leadership, we’re building lifelong skills that students will carry far beyond our classrooms.
If you’d like to explore how resilience fits into your broader classroom community and management foundation, read Blog 81.
And if you are want to identify students struggling with resilience head to Blog 82: How to Identify Students Lacking Resilience in the Classroom
