By Light of Christ Catholic Schools

School Activities in Unity

Hope, Trust and Resilience at St. Peter’s School

May 20, 2020 | 9:31 AM

Grade 6 teacher Hannah Kendrick knows that each child has their own extraordinary talents and that having unique differences is our best multiplier for success in school and in life. For this reason, her and her students have been learning about their strengths throughout the school year.

Gallup research proves that a person’s greatest path to a thriving and engaged life happens when they understand their talents and develop those talents into strengths.

The process for students begins with completing the Gallup StrengthsExplorer assessment.

StrengthsExplorer assesses 10 talent themes for individuals and identifies each student’s three strongest emerging talents. The ten themes are Achieving, Caring, Competing, Confidence, Dependability, Discoverer, Future Thinker, Organizer, Presence, and Relating.

Once the assessment is complete, students receive a “Top 3 Report” that tells them about their dominant talents. It also includes action items for home and school to build and broaden their potential.

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In the classroom, Mrs. Kendrick helps the students to understand how they can use their strengths to advocate for themselves and others, to improve learning, and to contribute to their community. As a result, students develop greater self-awareness resulting in higher levels of self-confidence. This in turn leads to a greater degree of hope, resilience, and trust, something that we can all benefit from during this unprecedented time.

Sebastian, a student in Mrs. Kendrick’s class, has Dependability, Future Thinker and Organizer as his top three themes. He says that the one he sees and uses most is Future Thinker because he is always thinking about things he wants to do after this whole coronavirus thing is over. This sense of hope is critical. Jordis is also a Future Thinker. She has a natural curiosity about the future and especially technology. Her eagerness for the future demonstrates a sense of trust that things will work out for all of us. Another student, Amaya is a natural competitor. Her Competing strength when combined with her Dependability and Organizer has led to greater resilience and determination to succeed regardless of obstacles or stressors.

Mrs. Kendrick says that since beginning to focus on student strengths in the classroom she has noticed more active engagement and enthusiasm for learning, greater happiness, and enhanced creativity.

This when combined with their sense of hope, trust in the future, and resilience meant that she was assured that her students were going to be able to persevere during remote learning.

Through this process of understanding strengths, Mrs. Kendrick and her students have been able to develop a deeper understanding of self and she hopes that this propels them forward as they continue to be lifelong learners and make a positive impact in their community and beyond.