GRIT and Safe Environs

Can ya believe that it's been literally years since I have last explored this space?  Back then, I was a doe-eyed, greenhorn teacher-in-training without any real classroom teaching experience, in the antebellum period before I began student teaching.  It is now March 2015, and a lot has changed.  I have been running an after-school program for Eastern Michigan University for almost three years.  My site is in the very middle school where I substitute taught for the first time, where the kids chewed me up and spat me out and prompted me to put the district on my "DO NOT CALL" list.  I train in Brazilian Jiujitsu.  I salsa dance.

I digress.

Of course, new activity here infers an underlying purpose.  A function.  Myself and my fellow site coordinators are tasked to reflect on our experiences with grit on a semi-regular basis.  They insisted Edmodo, but I thought it was the perfect opportunity to relight the blogging fires.  I'll be posting here and linking my responses.

The prompt is:

In what ways is grit infused (or in what ways can it be infused) with the goals you already have and aim to achieve when providing a safe environment? Reflect on this daily, every few days, weekly, whatever works for you., and share your musings with the rest of the group as well as respond to others' musings.

Considering that we've been bringing in a lot of new students lately, grit and establishing a safe environment is paramount.  I will admit that I feel that we could do a little more at my site to introduce the idea of "grit" to our newer students, and make grit a more central part of our work.  It isn't currently part of our everyday lexicon.  However, I will say that grit is an attitude that my staff and I have to adhere to when creating a safe environment at program.  We have rules and expectations and procedures and consequences that we try to communicate to our students and, when necessary, enforce.  It isn't always the most pleasant task trying to explain to an upset student the consequences of their actions, both personal and social.  On the personal level, inappropriate behavior can damage their reputation with others and develop pattern of counter-productive responses to conflict ("No, Christopher, just because somebody said something rude to you, you do not gain the privilege of retaliation").   On a social level, developing positive relationships with the people around you is an essential skill in society.  How you speak and act with others directly affects how you interact with one another, and positive interactions are necessary to get ahead in life (No, Christopher, it doesn't matter that 'you don't care.'  It's really important to realize that others definitely do.")

Oftentimes, disruptions do not have the best timing.  Transitions in between program activities or in the midst of doing beginning of the day announcements require personal attention, and if a disruption occurs, it is much easier to ignore it and carry on, than to drop what you are doing and address it.  The currents of program flow are sometimes stronger than our duty to positively develop our youth.

Can anyone offer quick and easy ways to address inappropriate behavior and instill a sense of grit within staff members (and site coordinators) who, at this point in the year, can be feeling a little burned out?