Mandy Gonzalez, of Hamilton, In The Heights, and Wicked fame, released her debut album in October, Fearless. She is known as the “Fearless Squad Mother,” and encourages all of us members of her #FearlessSquad to come together and be fearless. The interesting part about this is that she doesn’t mean to never experience the emotion of fear. Her intention is that it’s completely acceptable to feel fear, but to find the way to face fear and quite literally fear less.
The first time I heard this song, I knew I had to make a lesson plan from it. I wanted to use this opportunity to educate my students on self-esteem in the speech room. I began my lesson by asking my students if they could tell me what fearless means. Some of them gave me a definition. Some of them told me they didn’t know. I explained to them that to me, being fearless means being unafraid to try something new. I asked them first how they were fearless in their daily lives; at home, with their families, in the classroom. I then narrowed it down to a specific question: How are you fearless in the speech room?
The students met me with always feeling safe in the speech room, and that they didn’t have to be brave in here. So I asked them, what makes you feel brave in the speech room? I was met with so many fantastic answers, that my students and I turned it into a poster. And because I’d never have my students do something I wouldn’t do, I added to the poster myself. Below is the outcome of my lesson, which is now hanging on the wall in the speech room.
Thank you, Mandy Gonzalez, for inspiring my students and myself. If you haven’t picked her album up yet, what are you waiting for? My challenge for the week is for you to write down the ways that you are fearless. I can’t wait to see what makes you fearless in comments!
Keep playing with words and see what your message creates!
–Stef the StageSLP
Speech To Stage 