Dr. JoAnne Bullard from Rowan University presented at the 2020 Lilly Conference on the use of reflective writing and gratitude to increase resilience of undergraduate students. Bullard reviewed literature about the anxieties that affect students and the research on using journaling and reflection to promote well-being. I did not know that studies have indicated that students with high stress received lower grades, had more challenges developing strong relationships with faculty, and decreased graduation rates (Dvorakova et al. 2019). Our current pandemic is likely having a huge effect on this. Bullard also mentioned that research shows that students tend to engage in avoidance coping strategies when faced with stress. Bullard then described the benefits of research with gratitude: practices that help with well-being and positive coping mechanisms such as exercise… and even sleep quality. I have been doing gratitude check-ins daily with Calm.com for over two hundred days now, using simple prompts to reflect on what I’m grateful for… but I didn’t think about the connections between self-regulation and gratitude. Bullard suggests instructing students experiencing stress and anxiety to realize the trigger (a test on Thursday, for example), and to pause and explore why they are feeling that way. I’ve been incorporating pauses in class to reflect & retrieve, and just today we finished the guidelines for a planning and reflection assignment in the yeast course. Bullard made me realize the opportunity to include gratitude prompts in these reflections. Bullard conducted a study with student athletes and incorporated journaling in one section with prompts. They also used the Predictive and Factor Resilience Scale. The prompts they used were:
- What obstacles did you overcome this week?
- What is one thing you did outside of your comfort zone and how did you respond?
- Who or what are you thankful this week?
Bullard emphasized planning these experiences into your course structure is critical. Also, feedback from the study participants was to include more questions or mix them up. It is important that the questions are still reflective and connect to the gratitude with the goal of promoting self-regulation and well-being. This presentation and the research mentioned made me realize another benefit of these questions: helping students pause and appreciate their growth.
