Everyday superhero – practicing your signature strength

Prep work

• Reflect on what your own signature strength is. 

Competences/activities to be practiced first by the teacher

• Exploring  your values  (activity 3.5.2)

Steps in the activity

1. Who is your superhero?
2. Making each other superheroes
3. Feeling strong
4. Practicing your signature strength
5. Imagine a super world

Step 1: Who is your superhero?

(10 min)

1. Ask the learners who their favorite superhero is and what their strengths are. If they focus on physical strength or supernatural skills such as flying or climbing walls, you can add examples of ‘soft’ strengths (values) such as loyal, courageous, patient, loving (ex: the mother of Harry Potter), caring, kind and curious. 
2. Ask the learners if there is someone in their life who is like a superhero to them. Invite them to share how/why. 
3. Write down all the strengths that all the learners share, so they show clearly on a screen/board.

Step 2: Making each other superheroes

(15 min) 

1. Give every learner a paper, and ask them to write “I think you are…” at the top of the page and tape it to their back. This is their superhero cape. 
2. Give every learner a coloured pen. The learners move slowly around the room and write strengths on each other’s backs (on the paper). The learners walk and write in silence, and you can put on music to make it more fun. 
3. Before starting to write, establish the rule that it is only allowed to write actual strengths (positive words). If the learners need ideas, they can look at the list of strengths on the screen/board.
4. When the learners are done walking and writing, ask them to sit, look at their paper/superhero cape,  and circle the strengths they want to practice. If they find that one of their strengths is missing, they can add it to the paper themselves.

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Learners are turning each other into superheroes by writing strengths on one another’s capes. Photos by Carmelo Zamora at REAL School Budapest and Marte Maurabakken/Climate Creativity.

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Step 3: Feeling strong

(10 min) 

1. Start with a movement game with the objective of having fun and feeling strong in our bodies. Demonstrate the game with another teacher or a prepared learner before explaining the rules.
   1. Divide the learners into groups of two (A&B)
   2. Learner A stands still, while learner B puts their hand softly on top of A’s head. A follows B’s hand movements. When B puts the weight of their hand on A’s head, A moves down towards a squat position. When B lifts their hand, which removes the weight of the hand, A comes back up. Do this for ca. 3 min before you ask the learners to switch roles. 
2. Invite the learners to share how they felt doing the movement game.

Step 4: Practicing your signature strength

(10 min) 

1. Ask the learners how they want to practice their signature strength. These should be simple things they can do every day for a week. For example, they can practice courage by trying out something new, like eating a new type of food; kindness by helping a sibling; patience by watching the sunset with a parent (if it is before bedtime for the younger learners). 
2. Encourage learners to practice every day for a week (and follow up every day by asking what they did and if they could feel any change before and after). 
3. End the exercise by inviting everyone to get up on their feet and do a superhero pose.

Step 5: Imagine a super world

1. Introduce the idea of a “super world” where everyone practices their strengths. This would be a utopian world that fully embodies our moral ideas. 
2. Invite the learners to draw an image of their utopia where they show how the world would look if the strengths they have been practicing were actually practiced by everyone in the whole world all the time. For example: How would the world look if everyone was kind and responsible?

Dos and Don’ts

Do

• Make sure you offer support to learners who are unsure what to write on each other’s ‘capes’. For example, you can give ideas of what you think learners could write and/or explain that spelling is not important in this game. You could give the learners the option to draw instead of writing, if needed. 
• Ensure that all learners get a minimum number of strengths written on their paper. One way to ensure this is by asking learners to draw a certain number of boxes/lines on their papers and make sure all boxes/lines are filled.

Don’t

• Don’t say that someone the learners mention is not a superhero, just move on if a learner is making jokes. Invite learners to explain why they think someone is a superhero, but don’t force them to list strengths, it is OK not to find the right words. 
• In the end, when learners are invited to do a superhero pose, don’t comment on their pose being “too weak” or “too timid”, their ways of expressing themselves are all OK (as long as it is not causing harm to others).

Adaptations

• Offer multiple ways to participate. Learners can describe strengths using drawings, stickers, photos, or emojis instead of written words. Some may prefer to share verbally or with assistive technology.
• Use pre-filled word banks or visuals. Provide a printed or digital sheet with illustrated strengths or emojis learners can choose from, especially helpful for those with dyslexia, autism, or limited writing skills.
• Structure the “cape” activity with smaller groups. For learners who are overwhelmed by large, noisy settings or struggle with unstructured peer interactions, conduct the cape-writing in groups of 3–4 with adult facilitation.

We invite you to adapt this activity to the specific needs of your learners, including by taking into account their neurodiversity. When adapting tools and activities for neurodivergent learners, please note it is not about treating others how you want to be treated, but how they want to be treated. Ask, listen, and stay open to different ways of learning and engaging. 

References

This activity was designed by Climate Creativity. 

Galloway, R., Reynolds, B., Williamson, J. (2016). Strengths-Based Teaching and Learning Approaches for Children. In: Fan, S., Fielding-Wells, J. (eds) What is Next in Educational Research?. SensePublishers, Rotterdam. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-6300-524-1_19

Hiemstra, D., Van Yperen, N.W. The effects of strength-based versus deficit-based self-regulated learning strategies on students’ effort intentions. Motiv Emot 39, 656–668 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11031-015-9488-8

Brownlee, Keith, Edward Peter Rawana, and Julia MacArtthur. “Implementation of a strengths-based approach to teaching in an elementary school.” Journal of Teaching and Learning 8.1 (2012).