Strengths
Gym
“Know and grow inner strengths”
A three-level course for young people designed to enable students, teachers, and others to learn about, recognise, build upon, and use their character strengths more.
Strengths Gym was developed jointly by psychologist Dr Carmel Proctor and teacher and education researcher Dr Jenny Fox Eades. Research findings demonstrate a significant increase in student life satisfaction and well-being from participation.
Physical book
Hard copies of Strengths Gym are available via Lulu and Amazon. You can request permission to use our content with PLS Clear.
eBook
Strengths Gym is also available as an eBook on Lulu and on Kindle at Amazon. You can request permission to use our content with PLS Clear.
About The Book
What is a strength?
A strength is a way of thinking, feeling, or behaving that is either innate or which has developed early in life. Our strengths are our areas of greatest potential growth, the areas where we will excel. Working on your strengths is always more effective and rewarding than fixing your weaknesses and in order to fix your weaknesses effectively, you need to be using your strengths.
One of the key insights of positive psychology is that we get more of what we focus on. This course looks at personal well-being from a positive perspective, providing opportunities to consider prudent and considerate behaviour, a healthy lifestyle, and good relationships. It does this through a focus on the behaviour we do want rather than on the behaviour we don’t want. In particular, it allows behaviour to be looked at in the light of the strengths we already possess – and would benefit from using more.
The course has broad applications outside of education, such as clinical and therapeutic settings, and is suitable for individual and group work. The materials can also be adapted for use with various age groups and abilities.
The Course
The course provides a flexible, easy-to-use lesson format to support planning and is designed to encourage intrinsic motivation and satisfaction among students. The course has broad applications beyond education, including clinical and therapeutic settings, and is suitable for both individual and group work. The materials can also be adapted for use with various age groups and abilities.
Each lesson explores one of 24 ubiquitous strengths of character or virtues. Each lesson contains Strengths Builders and Strengths Challenge exercises designed for classroom use, paired work, or solitary work. We have adopted a menu format for the sessions so that you can choose activities that you feel will suit your class or student(s) and ensure learners have a variety of activities over the weeks. At the same time, all the activities will contribute towards a focus on the strength presented in a given session.
Level 1 – Designed to teach the strengths presented and to help students understand their meaning
Level 2 – Students find out more about the strengths and use them themselves
Level 3 – Further development of strengths and a deeper, more philosophical understanding of each strength
For ease of use and presentation, several course features have been placed here online and are to be used in conjunction with the Strengths Gym Manual. The course levels are designed to help learners better understand their strengths and foster a positive outlook on life.
Suggestions of Songs, Films, Quiet Moments and Funny Moments, additional student activities, and links to YouTube clips have been provided for each of the 24 character strengths here on the Strengths Gym Teacher’s Manual Additional Content page.
One of the key aims of Strengths Gym is to help students become more aware of their strengths – in themselves, in other people, and in the world around them. This can lead to increased self-esteem, academic achievement, and ‘prosocial’ behaviour (e.g., better teamwork, improved social skills).
Strengths Gym Course Wheels
For teachers or others working with younger students, within restricted curriculum time, or with individuals who require more time to progress through each level of the course, Strengths Gym can be adapted into three groups of eight lessons. These have been configured into three Strengths Gym course wheels organised by character strength and virtue type:
- Wisdom & Knowledge – Thinking Strengths
- Courage – Emotional Strengths
- Humanity – Interpersonal Strengths
- Justice – Prosocial Strengths
- Temperance – Moderation Strengths
- Transcendence – Meaning Strengths
The course wheels serve as visual aids to assist teachers and students. See Figure 5 for suggested use.
Know and Grow Inner Strengths – Strengths Gym Course Wheels
What’s inside
Why Strengths Gym?
What is a Strength?
Some Principles Behind Strengths Gym
Strengths-Spotting
Using Strengths Gym
Students and Teachers
Philosophy for Communities/Children
Autonomy
Level 1
Know and Grow Strengths
Level 2
Personal Strengths Use
Level 3
Spotting Strengths in Others
Introduction to Strengths Gym
Strengths Gym is an innovative and fun way to encourage children to learn about and grow their inner strengths of character. Character strengths are our greatest sources of potential growth. Their development not only protects us from the negative effects of stress but also enables personal growth and well-being.
Strengths Gym is based on the VIA Classification of character strengths. Therefore, there is one lesson for each of the 24 VIA strengths.
Strengths Gym is intended to be a flexible program. Therefore, for each strength, there is a variety of activities to choose from. Activities also vary in how long they take to do. For example, some activities can be completed in minutes or seconds, whereas others may take hours.
Each lesson includes strengths exercises, in-class activities, philosophical discussion questions, a story demonstrating the strength, and real-world homework exercises.
Strengths Gym is based on a three-level learning process. The first level is designed to facilitate a general understanding of strengths and the development of a strengths vocabulary. The second level is designed to facilitate strengths identification and use of one’s own strengths. The third level is designed to facilitate the recognition and identification of others’ use of strengths.
All exercises and activities included in Strengths Gym can be completed solitarily, in pairs, or in groups.
Chapters
Pages
Strengths Gym looks at personal well-being from a positive perspective, by focusing on the strengths children already possess and would benefit from using more. The material presents a wide range of specific teaching strategies that can be immediately applied in various settings. Children learn to apply their own personal resources and develop their potential for the benefit of themselves and the community. The lesson plans can be used in general teaching or individual settings.
About the author
Dr Carmel Proctor, PhD
Carmel has a PhD in Psychology from the University of Leicester, UK, an MA in Measurement, Evaluation, and Research Methodology from the University of British Columbia, and a BA in Psychology from Simon Fraser University. Carmel is also a Chartered Psychologist and Associate Fellow (AFBPsS) of the British Psychological Society (BPS).
Carmel is a registered Counselling Psychologist with the Health and Care Professionals Council (HCPC) and an Accredited Member of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP) and works as a Psychotherapist in Guernsey.
Dr Carmel Proctor