Step Up Your Courage

Introducing the session, explain that the focus will be on developing courage in social settings and situations. Split the group into teams of three, in which they will work for the duration of the activity. 

First, ask them to think of a situation in which they wished they had the courage to act in a social situation. This could be a recurring situation of moderate intensity – something that could serve as a practice scenario for the group later in this session. 

Then, within their group of three, they will take turns interviewing each other in a role-play format. Each student will assume one of three roles during each round:  

• Interviewer
• Note-taker
• VIP

The interviewer is asking the VIP for the moment they wished they had the courage to act. Meanwhile, the note-taker observes and writes down the key elements of the conversation, as well as keeps track of time. Distribute the Conversation Format handout with guiding questions to the journalists and the note-takers to document the interview. The VIP will use the notes in Step 4.

Each turn within the group takes 15-20 minutes. Once the interviews and discussion with each VIP are concluded, they switch roles; the VIP becomes the note-taker, the note-taker becomes the interviewer, and the interviewer becomes the VIP. 

On the floor, set up a scale of numbers (from 1 to 10) for each group of students. Ask the students to assess where they stand on a scale from 1 to 10 regarding their perceived courage in relation to their challenge, described in Step 1.

Within each group, each student takes 5 minutes to:

• Reflect on where they would place themselves on the scale, considering the level of courage they feel they showed in their situation.  

• Think about a future goal of being more courageous. Based on the scale, they should identify what they need to reach the next number, focusing on small, achievable steps.

The interviewer assists by asking guiding questions using the Grade Your Courage Skills handout.

In their groups of three, students work in rounds of 5 minutes each. You can keep track of time for the students.

In each round, the VIP reflects individually on what they need to reach the next step they defined on the scale, using the Exploring Next Steps handout. The interviewer and note-taker respond by offering advice on tactics, resources and other ideas that could help.  

After 15 minutes, give students 5 minutes to revisit their handout individually and write down which ideas and practices they would like to keep for the next step.

Students will re-enact their situation, integrating the ideas they gathered from the discussions and reflections in the previous steps.  

Each student will have 15 minutes to replay their scenario, embodying the courageous person they aspire to be. 

The student who plays the main character performs their role, while the others take on their parts as actors. The actors should aim to create learning opportunities for the main character. They can experiment with different approaches and replay the scene, or parts of it, multiple times in varied ways.

To conclude the session, ask everyone to stand in a circle. Each student will take turns stepping forward and completing the following sentence: “In order to be more courageous in social situations, I will… [intention].”

Finally, ask all students to take a moment to reflect individually on their experiences and write down their thoughts in their notebooks.

Assessment as learning aims to strengthen the learning process and the development of metacognitive skills. It empowers students to direct their own learning and to become independent, critical self-assessors.

Self-assessment and peer assessment

Self-regulated learning

Reflective questions