Circle of Courage: A Model for Wellness and Self-Care
Purpose/Rationale
This was a unit of study that emerged in those early, desperate weeks in Spring 2020, when we were engaging in "learning from home" during the COVID-19 Pandemic.
I had actually planned to do a unit of study on this to address the curricular competency: "Practice effective strategies for healthy school/work/life balance." Even though my initial plans were quite different from this (and planned for a different point in the course), it seemed like a logical and pedagogically-sound decision to make the appropriate adjustments to have this as our first "virtual unit of study" at a time when we all needed to adjust and required a bit more "self care" in our lives.
As a framework, the Circle of Courage is one that I am very familiar with, and it is simple and straightforward enough that I was confident that students would be able to make sense of it without a great deal of difficulty. Simply put: I knew my students and I could "hit the ground running" with this, and it would address a very real and pressing need as we all adjusted to this "new normal."
I had actually planned to do a unit of study on this to address the curricular competency: "Practice effective strategies for healthy school/work/life balance." Even though my initial plans were quite different from this (and planned for a different point in the course), it seemed like a logical and pedagogically-sound decision to make the appropriate adjustments to have this as our first "virtual unit of study" at a time when we all needed to adjust and required a bit more "self care" in our lives.
As a framework, the Circle of Courage is one that I am very familiar with, and it is simple and straightforward enough that I was confident that students would be able to make sense of it without a great deal of difficulty. Simply put: I knew my students and I could "hit the ground running" with this, and it would address a very real and pressing need as we all adjusted to this "new normal."
Process
For this "virtual unit of study," I alternated between "instructional days" (on Mondays/Wednesdays), "self-care days" (Tuesdays/Thursdays), and "group self-care" on Fridays.
On "instructional days," I presented students with a different "Circle of Courage" element (Belonging, Mastery, Independence, or Generosity), examples of what this element looked like in-practice, and why it was a "necessary need."
On "self-care days," I asked my students to use their scheduled "Career-Life Education" block with me to engage in an activity that would help them fulfill whatever the assigned "need" was (for example, if we discussed "Belonging" on Monday, they would do something on Tuesday that would help them nurture their relationship with a friend or family member). The students were then tasked with "journaling" about their experiences (what they did, what the experience was like, how it made them feel, etc.) and include a "selfie" of themselves engaging in the activity. On these days, I would have an open "Zoom Meeting" during that block for students to stop by for "office hours" if they needed help.
On "group self-care Fridays," students voted on a "group activity" that we could do together that address one or more of the Circle of Courage elements that we were working on that week.
The primary summative assessment for the course was for students to design an "E-Portfolio" of their different learning experiences in the course (to address the competencies related to networking, digital profiles, etc.). For this unit of study, students were tasked with including a page/entry where they were to write about the importance of self-care in achieving an effective "work-life balance" (especially in circumstances in which we found ourselves in that moment) and write about the framework for "self-care" that they found the most useful (we looked at a few, such as the "Circle of Courage," Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs, and others).
On "instructional days," I presented students with a different "Circle of Courage" element (Belonging, Mastery, Independence, or Generosity), examples of what this element looked like in-practice, and why it was a "necessary need."
On "self-care days," I asked my students to use their scheduled "Career-Life Education" block with me to engage in an activity that would help them fulfill whatever the assigned "need" was (for example, if we discussed "Belonging" on Monday, they would do something on Tuesday that would help them nurture their relationship with a friend or family member). The students were then tasked with "journaling" about their experiences (what they did, what the experience was like, how it made them feel, etc.) and include a "selfie" of themselves engaging in the activity. On these days, I would have an open "Zoom Meeting" during that block for students to stop by for "office hours" if they needed help.
On "group self-care Fridays," students voted on a "group activity" that we could do together that address one or more of the Circle of Courage elements that we were working on that week.
The primary summative assessment for the course was for students to design an "E-Portfolio" of their different learning experiences in the course (to address the competencies related to networking, digital profiles, etc.). For this unit of study, students were tasked with including a page/entry where they were to write about the importance of self-care in achieving an effective "work-life balance" (especially in circumstances in which we found ourselves in that moment) and write about the framework for "self-care" that they found the most useful (we looked at a few, such as the "Circle of Courage," Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs, and others).
Reflection
All things considered, this was a very effective unit of study for a variety of reasons, most of them pertaining to the pressing need for self-care and work/life balance at that particular moment in our lives (at a time when our usual "go-to strategies" for fulfilling those needs might not have been accessible to us).
At the time, most of these students were in Grade 10. However, even in the Grade 11 and Grade 12 years, the "Circle of Courage" principles maintained a presence in many of my students' vocabulary long after that unit of study had passed (including in how they identified a particular need that they had not been paying attention to that was getting them into a bit of a "funk"). It was pleasant and unexpected surprise to see that students had remembered some of these principles (that they had not just disappeared into the "fog of 2020").
Self-care and work/life balance is a very important concept that even adults struggle with from time to time. I feel that this unit address a very important need for my students at that time during the pandemic and also provided them with a simple, tangible strategy they could use to address these needs.
At the time, most of these students were in Grade 10. However, even in the Grade 11 and Grade 12 years, the "Circle of Courage" principles maintained a presence in many of my students' vocabulary long after that unit of study had passed (including in how they identified a particular need that they had not been paying attention to that was getting them into a bit of a "funk"). It was pleasant and unexpected surprise to see that students had remembered some of these principles (that they had not just disappeared into the "fog of 2020").
Self-care and work/life balance is a very important concept that even adults struggle with from time to time. I feel that this unit address a very important need for my students at that time during the pandemic and also provided them with a simple, tangible strategy they could use to address these needs.