Unit One: Self-Awareness
Introduction
Social Emotional Learning is a strength-based process that begins at birth and continues throughout life. It is essential to improve academic performance, reduce conduct problems, eliminate emotional stress, establish and maintain relationships, and so much more. As an educator, do you ever wonder how you can effectively promote self-awareness within the classroom and also help encourage it at home? If your answer is yes, this is the mini-course for you! Take a deep dive into the definition of self-awareness for students and how you as an educator can help support them in this pathway to understanding one's self.
Learning Targets
By the end of these lessons, you should be able to:
🎯 Define the definition of self-awareness.
🎯 Understand the importance of self-awareness within school and home atmospheres.
Lesson One: Introduction to Self-Awareness
In order to properly implement self-awareness into the classroom, understanding self-awareness in a deep thinking way is crucial. Dive into lesson one to learn more about self-awareness: Lesson One: Introduction to Self-Awareness
K (know) W (wonder) L (learn)
In proper educator fashion, we will begin lesson one by creating a KWL chart about self-awareness. Keep this chart with you through all units to continue adding to it and adding new categories for the other important components in SEL.
Materials needed:
✅ Paper (chart paper, notebook, journal, lined paper, etc.)
✅ Writing utensil (markeer, pen, pencil, crayons) - however you want your chart to look like
Instructions:
- Set your chart up like this example ➡
- Complete the K (know) column with everything you already know about self-awareness.
- Complete the W (wonder) column with what you wonder about self- awareness.
- The L (learned) column will be completed after this unit is completed.
What is Self- Awareness?
When beginning to understand the true meaning of self-awareness, it is important to note that self- awareness is unique to each individual and can differ from person to person. However, when looking for a technical definition, self-awareness is the ability to understand your emotions, thoughts, values, and how they can impact your behavior.
Take a look at this video by Mister Brown. Take notes on what stands out to you, what questions do you have, and what makes your brain go ✨ WOW ✨ : Mister Brown - Positive Thinking/ Self- Awareness (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=upZ6MNeDSFc)
When I first watched this video, Mister Brown said something that stood out to me was that if we look for the positive in every day, it will change your mindset, your attitude, and your lifestyle. Take a second and reflect on a positive in your day in this moment!
In research done by California's Department of Education, developing self-awareness in students and also adults, is so integral to healthy and integrated identity development, building self-knowledge about purpose, values, and roles in the community, recognizing your emotions and maintaining a growth mindset, and lastly keping strong and fair relationships. Your next question might be, how do we teach this to students or integrate it into our classroom? Check out Lesson Two: Instilling Self- Awareness within the Classroom and Encouraging it at Home to found out!
Reflection
In this mini-course, reflection and collaboration are an important factor in becoming a skilled SEL educator. Use this link (Reflection Journal) (https://knilt.arcc.albany.edu/index.php?title=Reflection
_Journal&veaction=edit) to communicate and reflect with fellow participants on each lesson your complete. Under the section of what unit and lesson you completed, create a subheading beginning with your name (ex. Matilda Contreras - Reflection). Reflections should be about a paragraph long (5- 7 sentences) answering the question stated in each lesson under the reflection title.
What was the most important takeaway from this lesson?
Optional Readings about Self-Awareness
California Department of Education - Self Awareness (https://www.cde.ca.gov/ci/se/tselselfawaren ess.asp#:~:text=The%20abilities%20to%20understand%20one's,sense%20of%20confidence%20 and%20purpose.)
Physical and Psychological Self-Awareness (https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8521907/)
Lesson Two: Instilling Self-Awareness within the Classroom and Encouraging it at Home
In this lesson, you will add many different strategies to your teacher toolbox on how to implement self-awareness activities into your classroom. You will also learn different ways to help families at home also promote self-awareness. Check out lesson two: Lesson Two: Instilling Self-Awareness within the Classroom and Encouraging it at Home
Integration in the Classroom
Self-awareness is so essential for a successful experience in the classroom because it is not just beneficial to one's self but others as well. Which is great for classrooms! As students learn to improve their behavior and manage their emotions, they become more confident their abilities. This makes so much sense! Research shows that classrooms that practice SEL frequently, increase their abilities to manage stress and depression, and have better attitudes towards themselves, others, and school. So... how do we teach this?
✔ Talk about Self-Awareness often! One of my favorite ways to talk to my students about self-awareness is through read-alouds. Linked below are three of my favorite children's books teaching about self- awareness. Choose one book to listen to and take note of something that makes you say ✨ WOW ✨ and a question you have after listening.
- I Like Myself by Karen Beaumont (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6pJblJecPuk)
- The Same but Different Too by Karl Newson (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p9DB7IRNT6w)
- The World Needs More Purple People by Kristen Bell and Benjamin Hart (https://www.youtube.co m/watch?v=LviYLYVRScw) ⬅ (probably my favorite!)
How are you feeling right now? Do you need anything to keep making this learning experience comfortable for you? In order to teach students about being self-aware, they need to be able to think
about their own feeling, thoughts, and behaviors. Take a second and check out how you are feeling. How can you fix your current state, if you are feeling not positive, to keep moving on in this mini- course? Routine check-ins don't require too much time or work to integrate into your classroom schedule. Five minutes during your Morning Meeting is a great opportunity to integrate a daily check- in. Check these out:
This check-in charts can really be anything you want them to be! Make them relatable to your students. Have fun with them! These simple check-ins help promote self-awareness because it gives students an opportunity to sit and think about what is going on with them and how they might feel. It also gives you some insight as the teacher as well.
✔ The last strategy I would like to mention to you in this mini-course, are any type of activities/worksheets that are
"All About Me" - meaning the students. Students can share their interests with peers and find similarities amongst each other. Thus creating a positive classroom community with students who are self-aware. Choose one "All About Me" worksheets from this website to complete for Lesson Two.
Free All About Me Worksheets (https://www.printabulls.co m/education/all-about-me-worksheets/)
Reflection
In this mini-course, reflection and collaboration are an
important factor in becoming a skilled SEL educator. Use this link (Reflection Journal) (https://knilt. arcc.albany.edu/index.php?title=Reflection_Journal&veaction=edit) to communicate and reflect with fellow participants on each lesson your complete. Under the section of what unit and lesson you completed, create a subheading beginning with your name (ex. Matilda Contreras - Reflection). Reflections should be about a paragraph long (5-7 sentences) answering the question stated in each lesson under the reflection title.
What did you find surprising in this lesson?
Conclusion
CONGRATS! You have completed Unit 1 of this SEL mini-course. Complete the L (learned) column of your KWL chart and document a few things that you learned during this unit. Head on over to Unit Two Lesson 1 to learn about the next category of Social Emotional Learning: Unit Two: Self- Management.