Confidence, the mini-lesson

Mondays we have advocacy. I also forget about that and end up having to plan something super quick. Today- I had a genius idea that just came out of nowhere (well not really it came from the TV) bullying. Bullying has become a huge issue at my school and even though my advocacy kids are really good kids, I thought I should still talk to them about bullying. I literally googled "how to talk to middle schoolers about bullying" on my phone. Brilliance, pure brilliance. It had a step by step guide on how to do it. I added some things... like while I was reading the step by step guide I gave them all a half piece of paper and prompted them to write about a time you were bullied, you witnessed someone being bullied, or you bullied someone. Most of them got to writing really quickly, but some were actually quick to question me, "Misssss won't you get mad if we say we have bullied someone?" I told them it could be anonymous if they wanted (a lot of them ended up putting their names on it) and I would not be mad, I just wanted them to be honest with themselves. While they were writing I whipped out a poster board and started writing all the stuff I found on this website.

One of the key points was to instill self-confidence. PERFECT, I needed to introduce this word to them. I was fearful of this introduction, however, because I did not want to hear that no one knew what this word meant.

No one knew what it meant.

I don't even remember what they actually said when I asked, "Do you guys know what confidence is?"

Their responses sounded like a different language because they were so, beyond, off.

Luckily, I had dictionaries in my classroom, and I had them look up the definition, instead of just telling them what it was. One of the definitions that a student offered up was "belief in yourself and your abilities." Right away multiple students shouted out, "that's just like our pledge!" Oh my gosh, I could not have asked for a better connection.

Here is our class pledge:

I am a young adult with hope. I am talented, smart & capable of success. I have dreams for the future & I will climb to reach those goals & dreams everyday. I believe in myself and in my ability to do my best. I am intelligent. I am capable of greatness. I can learn. I will learn. Today, I will listen. I will speak. I will see. I will think. I will feel. I will reason. I will read and I will write. I will do all these things with one purpose in mind: to do my best. I am too smart to waste today.

Everyday we read this pledge as a class, and it has gotten to the point that they have it memorized.

I asked them if they really meant these words when they said them everyday, and one student said yes, followed by this profound quote:

"I do believe in myself, I just didn't know that's what confidence meant."

So, to answer my previous question, I guess it is possible to be confident even if you don't know the meaning of the word.

Herein lies the problem... their reading levels are so low. They don't know basic definitions.

I almost find this to be better than them not having confidence in themselves though, we can teach them how to read, but it's up to them to be confident.

Caroline