Courage: A Specialist's Resource

This is Part Two of my COURAGE lesson post.  You can find Part One here.   I teach Kindergarten lessons every day and also have a rotation of lessons in upper and lower grades so I am ALWAYS looking for creative and fun ways to teach character traits, bullying prevention, social skills, and academic habits. I really strive to make my time with students memorable and meaningful while incorporating cooperative learning, art, literacy, and interactive discussion....whew!

For these courage lessons, I focused more on choices --- like doing the right thing even when others are not and trying new things--- rather than showing courage in the face of failure and making mistakes.  I used the video clip A Bug's Life for both the K-2 and 3-5 lessons, which many school counselors use.

Third- Fifth

My upper grades lesson starts out with a brief  A Bug's Life clip  as the hook. I ask the students to brainstorm what character trait they think was shown in the video clip. Then, I move on to the courage definition slide for pre and post data. Most of the time, older students have the definition down pat, but I like that it shows growth from my previous years' lessons focusing on that character trait.

Then, I introduce the Robert Frost quote:

We discuss what "taking the road less traveled" really means for students and then we talk about historical and current figures who would fit into that category.

Next is the fun part.  I put the students in teams and give them character dilemmas that could happen in elementary or middle school.  Each team has to come up with 3 or 4 possible choices for their assigned dilemma.  After we have finished, I show them an OPTIONAL video clip from Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade where Indiana Jones has to take a leap of faith and walk on a bridge that is invisible....if you are a child of the 70s or 80s, you will know what I am referencing! I happen to have this clip on a character education DVD that I have had for years, but you can also skip this part.

I made this pathway out of bulletin board paper and cut out feet so the class can share the different choices and pathways for each character dilemma previously discussed in their teams.  The person who makes the choice for each dilemma that is most courageous gets to wear the Indiana Jones hat. Gotta use props!!!

Finally, the students write specific ways they can show courage on "the road less traveled" at school and home on these footprints:

Kindergarten- Second

My primary grades lesson starts with the courage definition, as always, for my pre and post data. Then, we discuss historical, pop culture, and current figures who show courage. The discussion helps give students some context clues about what the definition could mean.

Next, we cut to the Bug's Life clip. I show it for less than three minutes so that I am following the Fair Use Copyright Law. After some discussion about Flick, Hopper, and the Princess, we apply courage to behavior at school (and a little at home) with pictures on the Smartboard.  I really emphasize trying new things such as food, sports, and games as a courageous behavior in this part of the lesson.  The kids come up to the board and interact with the Smartboard throughout our discussion.

Finally, the students create a work product comparing how Flick show's courage in the movie with how they show courage in their lives.  I included artwork and a descriptive sentence so it can be differentiated for different grade levels and students.

If you teach any specials at your school (like me!) or go into classrooms once a month (like me!), it's nice to have lots of different choices for character trait lessons.  I have added these resources to the Life on the Fly Store here in case they will be helpful to you.  All K-2/3-5 lesson plans, work products, and two Smartboard lessons are included with the Bug's Life Activity Packet.    Happy Counseling!  ~  Angela

Dare to Make Mistakes!

Sometimes I think that Pinterest has ruined us all.  We can now create the perfect birthday party, organize the perfect children's craft, create perfect home decor in six easy steps, and find perfect outfits for every season or occasion imaginable.  Does the average person stand a chance anymore?! Now, don't get me wrong, I LOVE PINTEREST, but I think the push to do everything perfectly is starting to seep down to our children. I have never seen so much perfectionism and anxiety in my students as I have this year.  I worry that students' self-esteem and love of learning is being dampened by high-stakes testing and the pressure to perform ALL THE TIME.

So, I decided to conquer this concern during the month of March as I planned my COURAGE character trait lessons. I have written about courage before in my Character Education Remix post here.   However, I usually teach it from the angle of standing up for yourself or making good choices even when others don't.  This time I wanted to really focus on showing courage in the face of failure, in the face of imperfection.

My lesson was created around the book Beautiful....Oops!  by Barney Saltzberg.  If you do not already own this book, RUN (do not walk) to your nearest bookstore or library and check it out.  Or, you can purchase it here.  I actually bought this book for my niece and my daughter and then decided it was perfect for school, too.  

I presented this lesson to Kindergarten and first grades but differentiated with some optional activities so I could add rigor to the first grade lessons.  It would also be great for second grade. I started with my pre-survey to see how many students already knew the definition of COURAGE.  Students vote for the answer they think is the best definition at the beginning and the end of the lesson so I can note growth in their character trait knowledge (data!). 

With my first graders, I added the optional activity of giving a riddle and asked them, "What do a slinky, microwave, silly putty, fireworks, potato chips, and chocolate chip cookies have in common?"  Anyone, Anyone.....??? The answer is they were all made by MISTAKE!  I had jigsawed an article about all of these inventions and gave one laminated section of the article to each of my table groups. The students read the short paragraph about their one invention and then summarized what had happened with the whole class.  I really wanted to incorporate some reading comprehension into the lesson and using a nonfiction piece of literature worked great! Depending on reading levels, I had to help some groups more than others, which is why this activity could easily be transferred to second grade.

Next, we talked about mistakes and had some discussion about what they are and how students feel about mistakes. This discussion was critical because I made sure students mentioned mistakes they have made at school like writing a number backwards, reversing letters, reading a word incorrectly in a book, etc.  I even had them give me a thumbs up or thumbs down to tell me if they thought it was OK or NOT OK to make mistakes. 

Finally, I read Beautiful....Oops!  I loved hearing the students gasp as they saw how a ripped page or holes in the book had been turned into something amazing and beautiful. Seeing the author's perspective of mistakes and discussing his attitude towards them was really eye opening for the students.  Afterwards, we practiced turning "mistakes" I had made on the Smartboard into something new and exciting (like this line that was turned into a hat, mountain, and mustache).  All the while I was emphasizing how important it is to LEARN from mistakes and how they allow us to be more creative, better problem solvers, and more mentally flexible.

My final work product was for ALL the students to get to turn a "mistake" into something beautiful. Here is one of five versions of the template I created for students to complete as well as some of the student work and WOW is all I can say! From princesses, to our school building, to oceans and elephants, they far exceeded my expectations for the creative things they could make from a line, squiggle, or right angle.   You will notice on the last student work picture that I had them add the sentence, "I drew a ___________________." underneath their completed pictures so they could incorporate writing.

 I do have my Beautiful....Oops Activity pack available at the Life on the Fly Store...check it out here! The lesson plan, Beautiful Oops templates, a link to the "invention" article, and an emailed link to my 8-page Smartboard lesson are all included with the activity pack. I have to say it is one of my most favorite lessons that I have ever taught!

DARE TO MAKE MISTAKES and enjoy! Happy Counseling! ~ Angela