Courage

It takes courage to learn something new. I know it takes a lot of courage for my students at their young ages because they have faced failures and disappointments so much. Many students do not have a strong emotional support system to help them face these obstacles so they shy away from learning new things.

Many believe that being courageous means that you have to be a superhero with superpowers. Maybe courage is a superpower, and all people have it, but most don’t know how to develop it.

How can I help my students have the courage to face new things that come into their lives?

First I need to help them define the word courageous.

According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, Courage means mental or moral strength to venture, persevere, and withstand danger, fear, or difficulty.

One way I can help them is by sharing everyday stories of people who do courageous things every day. I can have them look in the news to find everyday people who have done something courageous.

People who have terminal illnesses and who are fighting every day to stay alive are also great examples of courage. Despite how miserable they feel, they continue to fight, and I have seen how hard it is. It is much easier to give up but many of them don’t.

I have a friend, P. that is very courageous. She’s had a few rough years dealing with personal matters and has decided to start a new chapter in her life. She is going to move to a new place, get a new job, and work on her personal happiness. I know this wasn’t an easy decision for her and I’ve watched her plan to make this happen. In spite of her doubts and fears, she has pushed forward to making her dream happen and I’m so proud of her. It is hard to start over but her desire to be happy has given her the mental strength to persevere. She is definitely a great example of courage.

To face failure takes courage.

I have a crafting group that is taking January to try something new. The goal is not to succeed at what they are trying to do but to just try it. It can be new crafting techniques, or cooking, or anything in their life that is new to them.

I would have students ask their parents to name something new that they tried recently. Students can also ask other teachers or even friends with this question. In class, they can discuss the different things that people have tried. They can also share if the person succeeded or didn’t.

This would be a great exercise for students to do. They need to find one thing that is new to them (that is not illegal or dangerous) and give it a try. It would be fun to have this discussion in class and teach students how to support each other with encouragement. There may be some students who have done something already that someone hasn’t done before and is going to try. I would explain to them that this is a lesson in courage and how I am so proud of them for giving this a try. At the end of the month, we will discuss how things turned out.

What is something new that you have tried? Did you succeed? Please share.

Photo by Oliver Cole on Unsplash

Teaching Brave

In Raising overcomers: How to teach your kids to do hard things, Katie Westenberg shares,

“You love those kids like crazy and if you’re anything like me, you tend to let them off the hook too easy at times. But that is not parenting brave. Parenting brave requires the very same thing of us that we are trying to train in our kids, making decisions not based solely on what is right in front of us, but with the end result in mind. In this case that would be responsible and capable adults.”

I realized that this applies to teachers too. Teaching brave requires us to do many things in order to teach our students to do hard things. Sometimes doing the right thing can cause anxiety but in the long run it will be worth it if my students learn to face up to and accomplish hard things.

I need to encourage and cheer on effort but I need to let my students fail. I don’t need to sugar coat their failure and automatically give them an A because they tried. From our mistakes, we learn the most. I need to help my students learn why they failed. Maybe they really didn’t study hard enough. Maybe they studied but had trouble remembering the key concepts. If this is the case, I need to help them find strategies that will help them remember these things. Maybe they need to try to do something a different way because it might be the process that is causing the bad result.

As a teacher, I need to have higher expectations from my students and not give them excuses. Allowing them to have excuses just makes them weaker and not stronger. If there is an obstacle in their way, I need to find a way to help them overcome the obstacle. Then they need to work on overcoming it. If I do it for them, then I am the one who has overcome the obstacle and not them.

I need to expect them to take responsibility for their actions. When they don’t do the things that are expected, they should face the consequences. Of course, I will make sure that they understand what their responsibility is and the consequences if they fail to do their duty. Only with consistency, will they learn that taking responsibility for things is something they can control. I do not need to keep reminding them or begging them to do things. I should expect things to get done just as my boss expects me to do my job.

How do you teach students to do the hard things? Please share.

C is for Courage

It takes courage to be a teacher.

In today’s society, being a teacher can have a pretty negative connotation and not everyone is cut out to be a teacher in the face of such adversity

Among the negative stuff flying around, there are still many good teachers out there who make a positive difference and deserve a medal in courage. These teachers are:

1.     Teachers who are willing to put up with unwanted, unnecessary, and unearned parents’ verbal abuse because some parents don’t like their baby being reprimanded in any way.

2.     Teachers who are lied about by angry students who haven’t gotten their way.

3.     Teachers who are buried under mounds of paperwork just so they can make a difference in a student’s life.

4.     Teachers who go to work early and stay late even though they aren’t paid extra to do so in order for students to have a rich experience in the classroom.

5.     Teachers who go to extracurricular events to support the students even thought there are times that teachers even have to pay with their own money to get into these events.

6.     Teachers who spend their summer vacation going to classes or seminars in order to stay current on best practices in the classroom.

7.     Teachers who suffer from inadequate leadership but stay in the situation because the students need somebody.

8.     Teachers who see a frustrated student and refuse to give up on them.

9.     Teachers who spend their personal time researching ways to enrich their classroom lessons.

10.  Teachers who are willing to give their best so that the student can succeed.

So the next time you see a teacher, give them a pat on the back and some sincere encouragement because not only do they need it but because they deserve it!

What would you add to my list? Please share.

Courage and Collaboration

(Today’s post is for the letter C in the A-Z challenge.)

Teaching takes courage.

It takes courage to think that I know something that is worthy enough to share with others.

It takes courage to realize that I have the ability to make a difference in someone’s life.

It takes courage to be willing to show others that I also make mistakes.

It takes courage to admit that I don’t know everything about anything.

It takes courage to show that I am still learning.

It takes courage to collaborate with others.

When I first became a teacher, I was terrified. I wanted to teach so badly but I was so scared. It takes time to build up confidence so I’m glad I gave myself time. I had to allow myself to make mistakes but also collect successes. I still get scared now but I know it is well worth the effort.

Collaborating involves relying on other people.

Collaborating involves making you vulnerable to others.

Collaborating involves giving up complete control over everything.

Collaborating involves using other people’s strengths.

Collaborating involves team building.

Collaborating involves brain storming.

Collaborating involves keeping an open mind and believing that anything is possible.

I always was a control freak. I like to be in charge of my classroom and what takes place. Collaborating with others involves giving up some of this control. Teamwork takes lots of give and take in order to be successful. When I began collaborating with others, I was surprised and thrilled in how it opened up the world to me. I was inspired and motivated by others. Suddenly, I realized that I was not all alone and I didn’t have to be all alone. I no longer felt isolated. My ideas blossomed into real projects. Students were more engaged and successful in my classroom.

Image: 'courage in persecution'
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Teaching Takes Courage

In The Courage to Teach from Angela Maiers Educational Services, Inc., Angela Maiers states,

“The heart of teaching is the teaching of the heart. In order to teach, we need courage to overcome our fears. Consider and reflect on the following statements of courage.

I have the courage to…

• ask brave and genius questions
• learn new, complex things and relish in the journey of the unknown and yet to be discovered
• yield trust and control to students by listening, honoring, and recognizing their unique contributions.
• engage in discussions that challenge our deepest convictions and ignite our hidden passions
• play with purpose and passion
• know YOU MATTER!”

I remember when I first started my student teaching. It suddenly hit me. What was I doing? Did I honestly think that I had anything in me to teach others? Was this a vision of grandeur? Maybe a power hungry moment? Then I had to be bold, gather my courage, and begin my teaching career.

It takes courage to know that as a teacher, I have a great influence on someone else’s life. It may be a good one or it could be a terrible one but I have that power in me to affect someone else for the rest of their life. I need to be able to find the right words and questions that will help them live productive adult lives.

It also takes courage to know that I don’t know everything. It is alright if I learn some new things from my students. It is alright to even let my students know that I don’t know everything. It takes courage to learn new things and open up to possible failures. My students will learn that I am making an effort to learn and they will also learn from me how I handle the results. If I fail, will I try again or will I give up. It takes courage to have my students observe my behavior and learn from it.

It takes courage to not always be in control. Sometimes it is good for students to learn control but have me there as a safety net in case something goes wrong. I remember when I had my first student teacher in my class and how hard it was to let him have control. I wanted to jump in and keep him from making mistakes but I realized that was how he was going to learn and remember not to do it again. When my children were little, I wanted to do the same things but it wasn’t healthy for them and it wasn’t right. The same works in my classroom. It is really hard for me because I know I am such a control freak!

Connecting with others online has really caused me to think about my beliefs and practices. I read many blogs and have built up my personal/professional learning network. I have learned new things that are really exciting! I’ve also learned things that I didn’t agree with or wasn’t my cup of tea. I believe this connecting has helped me grow so much in my personal and my professional life. But I have to admit, connecting was scary and hard for me. I’m pretty shy and scared of messing up. But slowly and with the help of my new “friends,” I have gotten more comfortable with connecting and sharing. Blogging was really scary for me when I started this almost five years ago. I was putting out my personal thoughts and ideas. I didn’t know if anyone would read them, or care. And then what if they disagreed with me or thought what I said was stupid? I bit the bullet and got up my courage to do it anyway and I’m glad I did.

I have many different hobbies and interests but I’m always thinking about the connection of them with teaching/learning. I love to hike, garden, travel, read, and knit but there are so many ways that I can connect them with my teaching which I also love.

Having the courage to teach has taught me that I do matter. I matter to the students I teach. By realizing that I matter to them, helps me realize how much they matter to me. They influence my life in many ways as much as I hope to influence their lives.

What do you think about Angela’s statements? Please share in your comments or write your own blog post (but please leave the link in the comments so I can read it).

Image: 'Courage'
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