Cultivate resilience by incorporating small challenges (also known as micro-adversities) in your classroom with effective, trauma-informed strategies that are proven to improve behavior, increase engagement, and empower students to achieve.

One in four children have witnessed or experienced a traumatic event by the age of 16 that can affect behavior and learning. Fortunately, educators of all grade levels can inspire resilience and grit that helps students adapt to change and overcome hardship with simple everyday activities. This book offers a breakthrough method for building community and empowering your students with a new strategy: micro-adversity.

Micro-adversities in the classroom can be actionable activities, like trying to solve a puzzle that is intentionally missing a few pieces, or building emotional intelligence with conversation starters. By experiencing small failures, students learn to overcome them and thrive. Written by two teachers, one a former US Army Ranger, this method combines the extensively trained military perspective with the important foundations of trauma-informed education.

About The Authors

M. Jane

M. Jane is an educator and writer. She has recently served as a program ambassador to the US National Office for the Department of Labor to develop distance learning practices that serve underprivileged populations. She has evaluated and developed academic and crisis-mitigating community programs, and taught for a number of years at a university in Washington State. She holds a master's degree in education and co-leads a residential education and training academy for disadvantaged youth. She is passionate about viewing education as a human service. M. Jane lives in the Pacific Northwest with her two children.

Ty Bricker

Ty Bricker currently teaches homeland security at a Job Corps center in the Pacific Northwest. From 2003 to 2007, Mr. Bricker served in the US Army, 2nd Rangers, 75th Ranger Regiment, where he served on three combat deployments, exiting as a team leader. He completed his social sciences degree from the University of Montana Western and continues his graduate work in political science from Liberty University. Mr. Bricker is passionate about inspiring others, teaching, and sharing lessons learned. He currently lives in the Pacific Northwest.