Being Bold – taking risks

1. A person is said to be ‘bold’ when they take a risk. All people take risks some of the time. In many cases the risks are ‘physical’ – that is, a person risks hurting their body. But sometimes a person risks having their feelings hurt, not their body. For example, you might enter a competition and end up feeling disappointed that you did not win. But you had to risk losing in order to have the chance of winning. Working in threes, see if you can come up with: two examples of ‘physical’ boldness two examples of what people call ‘emotional’ boldness, i.e. risking having your feelings hurt 3. one example of both physical and emotional boldness Being Bold – taking risks

2. 7 volunteers from the whole group will be asked to explain to the rest of the group one of the examples that their trio came up with. (Before this happens, each trio must decide which person takes which example.) All those willing to take the risk of being one of the 7 will be given paper to write their name on, and put into ‘the hat’, and 7 names will be picked out by chance. As each name is chosen, the person has to explain their example, and then choose a suitable place on a line/rope across the floor from: ‘very risky’_________________ to _________________‘not very risky’. C. The rest of the group discuss whether they agree with the choice of place (giving reasons why). Being Bold – risk assessment

3. As a whole group, discuss: 1. How many of the group have taken a big physical risk that seemed worthwhile? (Explore a few examples.) 2. How many of the group have taken a physical risk that did not seem worthwhile? (Explore a few examples.) 3. How many people have taken a risk with their learning, in the classroom or elsewhere, and think it was worthwhile? (Explore a few examples.) Being Bold – own choices

4. For further whole group discussion: 1. Boldness that is foolish is called ‘recklessness’. Would you say that boldness is ‘foolish’ if it turns out to be just ‘not worth it’, or could there be other reasons for calling it foolish? 2. Can you get better at deciding when a risk is reckless? If so, how? 3. Can other people help you to take risks that are good to take and not reckless? If so, how? 4. Can you say which is better - taking too few risks in life, or too many? Being Bold – not reckless

5. As a whole group, think again about each of the examples, and discuss where they should be on line/rope that now goes from: ‘worth the risk’ _____________ to ________________ ‘not worth it’. B. In each case that would be ‘worth it’, discuss and decide the benefit of taking the risk, i.e. what exactly would make it worth it. In pairs, think again about times when you have taken risks in the classroom – for example, asking a question – and decide whether your learning benefited from it. D. Then agree on 2 ways in which each of you might try to be bolder in your learning. Being Bold – benefit