"C" is for Courageous

     When taking notes to write this post, I composed a list of "C" words that mean a great deal to me as a person, teacher, and leader.  However when reviewing the list, "Courageous" is the one word that I could not link with another that has such meaning for our students and teachers.  In order to support risk-taking within our classroom we should be courageous when developing lessons or setting up our classroom layout, and we need leaders that support these courageous behaviors because it can support critical thinking, a growth mindset, and inspire learning.
     This school year my youngest daughter started the fourth grade and over the summer she was very excited to learn that she had Mrs. A.  My older daughter began middle school and when we asked her about Mrs. A, she explained several "out of the box" ideas and different teaching methods that she heard her friends speak about in the past.  We were intrigued and could not wait for open school night to see how this teacher was inspiring children.  When we entered the classroom, it was not "normal" and you could see that some parents where skeptical.
     Mrs. A began the night by stating, "Well, we are trying something new this year, as you can see there are no desks, and I have no idea if it is going to work."  Wow, what courage!!  She then shared a student created video explaining how the classroom would work for the year.  Rather then using desks, each child has a wheeling office chair, a portable table top, access to technologies, and resources; providing flexibly for the students to group together when needed throughout the day.  She explained that the classroom is "theirs" and they control the learning.  Mrs. A's risk-taking behavior is inspiring my daughter each day and she loves going to school, she is becoming more social, solving problems differently, and engaging in real world activities.  We recently have noticed that she improved her perseverance and we attribute that growth from Mrs. A's courage.
     This example may seem drastic and overwhelming; however, we can take small steps to enhance our bravery!  I can empathize with the notion that a particular lesson has worked in the past, so why do I need to change anything?  I have a friend who is a recently retired history teacher and when Smartboards were being placed into the classrooms during his last two years, he had it removed and refused to use them.  At first someone may say "You can't teach an old dog new tricks" or "He's set in his ways" or even worse "He's retiring, and does't care to give students the best experience."  Well in fact his courage to maintain person-to-person engagement was his priority; bringing his students together to debate issues, and take their own risks in solving real historical problems.  His classroom was always engaging, full of energy, and the students used their courage to follow his lessons.  They were brave in taking the learning journey where it can be difficult, scary, and frustrating; and, he used his content area to allow students to push through the difficulties of learning.  As teachers it is so very important that we model courage because it directly impacts the level of engagement of our students.
     These courageous behaviors have the "trickle down effect," so when we have leaders who are willing to take risks with teachers, and teachers who are courageous in applying new ideas; then, our children can develop a growth mindset though their courageous learning.  Be courageous, our children view each of us as heroes and we can be brave for our children when planning learning goals.