The best students aren’t fearless. They’re just more curious than they are scared.

Nobody confident-looking is without nerves; they have simply got something pulling harder in the other direction. Wanting to know how a thing works can be stronger than the fear of looking stupid asking about it, and when that is the balance, you put your hand up despite the nerves rather than in the absence of them. The fear does not have to go away first.

Notice what you want to know badly enough to risk a bit of embarrassment. Use that one as your question in the next class. Courage here is not a trait you either have or do not; it is what happens when curiosity weighs more.