My Thoughts on the Connecticut Shooting

My heart.  Oh, my heavy heart.

This weekend has been absolutely bittersweet.  Sweet because of spending so much time with family and Mr. UpCyclist returning from a trip to Finland and Sweden.  Bitter because of the school shooting in Newtown, Connecticut.  So many lovely, innocent lives and families changed forever.

I've had just a few days to process the act of the shooter.  My thoughts continue to swirl in my head.  As an educator, I've had many family and friends ask my opinion on the topic.  Is it a school problem?  Gun control issue?  Mental healthcare concern?   Community challenge?  What?

Though, I believe it is all of those things, I believe the real answer lies in a blog post I wrote almost a year ago.  Assets.  Our humans, our citizens, our adults and our kids need more developmental assets. Period.  The more you have, according to the Search Institute research, the more likely you will avoid high-risk behaviors like violence and suicide.  What I notice about the majority of the assets is they are related to connection - connection with others, connection with school, connection with activities, connection with spirituality, connection. I believe the shooter possessed very few, if any, assets.  Very few, if any, connections.

Don't believe me?  Look at the asset list for the highest age group - 12-18 year olds.  Do you think the shooter possessed more than five of those?  Five out of forty?  Come on.  That's a human whose soul is starved, lost and unvalued.

While the FBI works on its profile for a shooter - be it a school shooter, theater, mall, post office, whatever shooter, I think I know what the profile is.  A human with few, if any, assets.

We can't change history, but we can learn from it and influence the future.  One asset.  One connection at a time.

Download the assets lists here and figure out how you can contribute to the assets of others.  I realize there is no "adult" asset list, but I think the age 12-18 year old list could be modified to fit the adult age range.  If you haven't read my initial post on the developmental assets, read that, too, to understand them here.  If you are still stuck what to do, try following this blog post about emotional bank accounts.  That's an easy one you can do on a daily basis with every single person you come into contact with - man, woman and child.

Be safe, Upcyclists.  Give your families a hug, kiss and cuddle from me.

With a heavy heart,

Jen

PS - I know the question will come up, what about humans who can't embrace the assets?  What about those who just cannot connect?  I think this article and blog post from a mom of a mentally ill child speaks to the need for increased mental healthcare and support in the US.  For those humans who just cannot connect, we will need to implore more.   And if you do read her post, I found the comments others left fascinating and thought-provoking.

Assets: How many do your students have?

At a recent AEE conference, I was introduced to a gem.  A gem on student (heck, human) development. As a practical person, mom and educator, I appreciate succinct information backed by research.  If you can summarize that research in a chart, table or checklist, all the better. 

Let me introduce you to the Search Institute.

Search Institute meet amazing blog visitor (or follower).  Blog visitor (or follower), meet the Search Institute.

The Search Institute is a non-profit organization dedicated to understanding what kids need in order to thrive and grow .  Through studies involving 2.2 million kids (now, that's a sample size!), the Search Institute realized that the more assets a student has, the less likely they are to engage in at-risk behaviors and the more likely they are to be successful, thrive and grow.  To me, it is like a checklist for successful development.  All new parents at their child's birth should be given a pack of cloth diapers, a giftcard to Starbucks and a checklist to plan how they will help their child thrive and grow.

The asset checklists are divided by age group starting with age 3 years and going all the way to 18 years.  They are available in English and 14 other languages.  Evidently, the Search Institute is uber-diverse and brilliant, too!

Some of the bummer news: Out of the 40 identified assets, the average female student encapsulates about 20 assets, while their male classmates about 17 assets.  Of course, I felt eagerly inclined to count up little O's assets.  Whew, I counted 39 assets.  You know I am unbiased.

Here's the great news:  It doesn't matter which assets your students have, what's matters is how many assets they have.  Hooray!  As educators (and/or parents) we just need our students to rack up those assets.

Take a look at the main Developmental Assets Tools page.  The (brilliant) Search Institute has offered all their rationale, research findings and checklists.  Consider downloading the asset checklist for the age group you work with most often.  Then, apply that checklist to a challenging student, a student at-risk or just your average student.  From there you will have a clearer understanding of how to nurture them and cultivate more assets.  By the way, for upper elementary, middle and high school grade levels, you might have the students check off their own assets and plan their own unique ways to acquire more.

Though it is still winter in most parts of the northern hemisphere, I liken this asset post to planning your spring flower garden.  Identify which flowers will be annuals and decide which new flowers - which new assets - you need to plant and grow.

All the best,
Jen