The Courage of Children: Boston and Beyond XXX

Jaden Harper
Teresa Dawson Knoess, Teacher
James P. Timilty Middle School
Courage means being brave during challenging times at school. Courage is
like a muscle. You need to develop it with small challenges that start early. Now
that I am in sixth grade, I can handle bigger challenges than I could in early
elementary school. I have built my courage “muscle” by flexing it.
The first challenging school experience that I remember vividly was when I
was in gym class. That was in 2018 in third grade, when I had to show everyone
that I could throw a basketball into the hoop, which was at least thirteen feet
over my head. Honestly, I was thinking “if” I could throw a basketball that
high. I lacked confidence, and I had the whole class staring at me. I was kind
of scared and intimidated at first, so I used deep breathing strategies to calm
myself down, and kept saying to myself, “I can do this!” I ran to the hoop and
said again, “I can do it,” and then I did it. This has been my strategy many
times since then, in many different challenges. I learned from that moment
that these strategies can help me rise to the challenge.
By the next year, I had learned that I needed to add working hard to my
recipe for building courage. In fourth grade, in 2019, when I was working
hard on a math problem on MCAS test day, I was with four other people in
the testing room. The math problem was complicated and was stressing me
out. At that moment, I remembered that drawing helps keep me calm, so I
took deep breaths, saying “stay calm” to myself, and began to draw out the
problem. I have held onto and repeated those strategies when working on
math problems many times since then. I practice these strategies about two
times a day so that I am “in shape” when a challenge comes along.
This year, when I am doing all of my classwork on Zoom and in Google
Classroom, there is the potential for me to become stressed and anxious by
the situation. This is really my third big experience where I have to face a
challenge with courage. I have learned that in addition to my other strategies,
listening to music on headphones and playing my favorite songs can help
me. I have also used positive self-talk. For example, if my pencil breaks, I
don’t stop working. I just get a new one and keep going. “You can do this!”
and “Don’t give up!” continue to be my favorite positive messages that I tell
myself every day.
The Courage of Children: Boston and Beyond
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