ABOUT THE PROGRAM
Becoming Courageous has been developed over the last 9 years, beginning with the Masters of Education program at Simon Fraser University. Starting with the master's year, I have developed a series of lessons which aim to teach the core elements of courage.
Each element of courage (Notice, Pause, Contemplate, Act, Reflect) has its own group of lessons, where the elements are broken down into individual skills. There is also a lesson that introduces courage, and a lesson that concludes the program. Although it is not absolutely necessary, I encourage you to teach these skills in the order given.
At the end of each lesson is a creative activity, as well as a list of activities that you can use to further explore each topic. It is useful to keep these activities in mind when a concept needs reinforcing, which can happen at any time.
Many of the lessons are based on ideas that have come from well-known thinkers. I encourage you to explore these topics in more depth. To make this easier for you, I have included references in each lesson.
I offer this program to you here with the hope that you can use it on your own journey of becoming courageous.
ABOUT HEIDI
I am an elementary school teacher living in the beautiful Comox Valley on Vancouver Island. For the past 9 years, I have been inquiring and teaching about courage. I love to spend time with my family and outside, in nature.
Education:
B.ed University of Victoria
M.ed Simon Fraser University
What Inspired Me To Do This
I have always been inspired by courageous people, and even as a small child, I always hoped to be a courageous person myself.
As I gained experience teaching, I noticed that some children seemed to be able to tackle new skills and ideas with confidence, whereas others struggled to even attempt to learn new things. This difference was not attributable to differences in ability, but rather differences in willingness to try. I called this willingness to take risks, and engage with your heart, courage.
I wondered if courage was something fixed, or something that could be taught. I endeavoured to find out.
Nine years and hundreds of students later, I can say with certainty that courage resides in all of us, just waiting to be nurtured so it can show itself to the world. It has been my privilege to help students discover the courage that lives within them. I would like to share my ongoing study of becoming courageous with you, and I invite you to join me.
BOOKS THAT HAVE INSPIRED ME
