CATCA 2023

Teachers are some of our most important leaders! Based on her research, Brené developed Dare to Lead™ – an empirically based courage-building program, and adapted it for schools. It’s a game-changer for teachers as leaders at all levels. Covering the four teachable, observable, and measurable courage skills sets, Dare to Lead™ in the Classroom (Daring Classrooms™) covers:1. Rumbling with Vulnerability: The foundational skill of courage-building is the willingness and ability to step into the discomfort of being vulnerable. Without this core skill, the other three are impossible to put into practice. Our ability to be daring educators will never be greater than our capacity for vulnerability – leaning into risk, uncertainty, and emotional exposure.2. Living Into Our Values: What’s our North Star? What do we stand for? Research participants who demonstrated the most willingness to be vulnerable and brave anchored their behavior to a couple of essential values, not 10 or 15. Our core values give us courage and strength, especially when things are difficult.3. BRAVING Trust: It’s a must-have in our important professional and personal relationships, but trust tends to be a fuzzy concept. Understanding the seven evidence-based elements of BRAVING trust helps us to be specific and exchange feedback in meaningful ways that supports real change and enduring trust. 4. Learning to Rise: To push the reset button and be resilient, we must recognize emotion, look at the facts and truth of what really happened, discover the lessons to be learned, make changes, and go forward with more wisdom than before. Daring educators are self-aware, know how to have hard conversations, hold themselves and others accountable, build trust, lead with empathy and connection, take smart risks that lead to innovation, reset quickly after disappointments and setbacks, and give and receive feedback – especially when it’s tough.Building Brave Spaces for Students. We can’t always ask our students to take off the armor at home, or even on their way to school, because their emotional and physical safety may require self-protection. But what we can do, and what we are ethically called to do, is create a space in our schools and classrooms where all students can walk in and, for that day or hour, take off the crushing weight of their armor, hang it on a rack, and open their heart to truly being seen.We must be guardians of spaces that allow students to breathe, be curious, and to explore the world and be who they are without suffocation. They deserve one place where they can rumble with vulnerability and their hearts can exhale. And what I know from the research is that we should never underestimate the benefit to a child of having a place to belong—even one—where they can take off their armor. It can and often does change the trajectory of their life.

Let's be honest. Math can be super stressful for kids, parents AND teachers these days. Feeling like you can't do math leads to a lack of confidence, a feeling of hopelessness, and...a LOT of tears (from everyone involved)! But guess what? You don't have to be a math genius in order to inspire one! These 5 super secret (and super easy!) tips are guaranteed to turn that math frown upside down - for parents, teachers, AND their kids! This workshop emphasizes the idea that through teaching math, teachers can help students see themselves as creative, confident, and capable of anything. Ready to transform the way you approach teaching math? Let's do this!

Many of us became teachers for reasons of the heart. Inspired by passion for our subjects and helping people learn, but as the years go by, many of us lose heart. How can we regain the heart that inspired us from the beginning and in turn give heart to our students? Courage to Teach® provides educators with an opportunity for rest, renewal and re-engagement with their identity and integrity as teachers. This program offers educators a rare opportunity to step back and reflect on the role of the heart and soul in teaching, and gain insight and solidarity in a talking circle with other educators. Just as we experience nature’s cycle of renewal through the seasons, so we experience natural cycles of engagement and withdrawal, love and loss, creativity and despair in our personal lives and work. When we take time to slow down, quiet ourselves and reflect, to renew ourselves, and recall our commitments, important changes can happen within us and around us. As we are renewed, we in turn can contribute to the renewal of our professions, workplaces, communities. The Circles of Trust® approach uses poetry, evocative images, and a facilitated talking circle format to create space for rest and reflection and to foster a sense of hope and wholeness in the midst of the despair and broken heartedness experienced by so many in our world today. Circles of Trust® retreats help us to live more purposeful lives, do more courageous and meaningful work, and bring greater love and wholeness into our schools and classrooms.

This retreat series is grounded in the Circles of Trust® approach as described in Parker Palmer’s book, A Hidden Wholeness. For further information on the Circles of Trust® approach see: https://couragerenewal.org/courage-renewal-approach/

This is not a typical lecture style session, and will be facilitated primarily in a talking circle format. Participation in the talking circle is always by invitation, and never by demand, however please be aware that this experience is centered on opportunities to engage in personal reflection both alone through journaling and contemplation, as well as through sharing with others in pairs and the larger group.