Reflection

In our school environment we are lucky to be immersed in children’s literature. I admire the craftsmanship of the authors who, with ingenious language and characters, entertain and inspire their readers. The author JK Rowling became a household name with her series of Harry Potter adventures. She was invited to speak to students at their Harvard University graduation. The two main ideas in her speech were the benefits of failure and the importance of imagination.

After experiencing significant personal challenges in her life she believes that the benefits of failure allowed her to direct her energy to work that mattered to her. It taught her things about herself, made her more capable and self disciplined. She believes that she was wiser and stronger from set backs and that we know more about our strengths when we experience diversity.

Resilience is the ability to “bounce back” from stressful or challenging experiences. Being resilient doesn’t mean that a person doesn’t experience difficult life events, but rather that they are better able to cope with them when they do occur. Often resilience is built through the experience of failure. It is not necessarily a fixed trait, but something all people have the potential to develop.

JK Rowling’s second point was not in using your imagination to produce literature but the importance of imagination in trying to understand what it would be like to be in someone else’s shoes. Empathy is also a skill that can be developed. It is about understanding that others have different thoughts, feelings and experiences than our own. Empathy is the ability to imagine how someone else is feeling in a particular situation and respond with care.

There are many formative experiences that shape our students and us each day. These may be through messages in literature or everyday interactions with each other. Developing the qualities of resilience and empathy helps us build relationships and develop meaning in our lives.

Tina Badcock

Acting Deputy Principal