Unit Two: Self-Management
Introduction
Self-Management is the ability to be able to manage one's emotions. Why is this essential to a classroom? Picture this: you have a first grade classroom with 19 students and not a single one of them knows how to control their emotions. These students cannot work, learn, or play together because they cannot control and manage their emotions. Is this a productive and successful classroom? The answer is no! Complete lesson one and two to learn more about self-management.
Learning Targets
By the end of these lessons, you should be able to:
🎯 Identify ways to properly create self-management plans for students.
🎯 Explain why setting achievable goals are essential to student's self-management skills.
Lesson One: How to Create Goal Centered Self- Management Skills
The CASEL (The Collaboration for Social Emotional Learning) states that when one has proper self- management skills, there are able to achieve goals and aspirations. Thus including: manage stress, feel motivation, and are able to show resilience. Let's take a look at Lesson One: Creating Goal Centered Self-Management Skills and how we can help students create goal centered self-management skills.
Creating Goals
Creating goals within the classroom is essential to student success because it helps students stay focused, motivated, and engaged in their education. Self-management has seven skills that can help someone attain beneficial self-awareness: time management, self motivation, stress management, adaptability, decision making, goal alignment, and personal development. Setting goals within all seven skills can be fun and engaging for the students and educators. Let's take a shallow dive into an example goal for the most important skills at the primary level and how we can teach/apply them within the classroom!
Skill #1: Time Management
Keeping your space neat and free of clutter can enhance your concentration and efficiency.
✅ Goal: Transitions quickly and safely after activities.
⭐ Big Idea: 60 Second Cleanup - Teacher sets a 60 second (1 min) timer and students begin cleaning up around the room. There are two rules: everyone is helping and no talking. Based on the cleanup, you may need to adjust the timer length.
Fun and engaging 60 second timer - my first grade students LOVE these ones!
Skill #2: Self Motivation
It takes a certain level of personal responsibility to help you become more self-aware. Completely this fully online mini-course is taking a lot of self-motivation! Getting motivated and completing daily tasks is essential to working towards goals and fuel your sense of purpose.
✅ Goal: I will try my best and give all my effort that I am capable of doing today.
⭐ Big Idea: Daily Affirmations - Doing daily affirmations with your students can develop a strong mindset, reduce stress, build confidence, and boost academic performance.
Snoop Dogg has a catchy and fun affirmation song to sing and dance to with your students!
Skill #3: Decision Making
Being effective in decision making helps make a student be more independent, responsible, and have resilience.
✅ Goal: Students will be able to make positive and effective choices throughout the school day.
⭐ Big Idea: Role-Playing Scenarios - Decision-making activities can foster independence and responsibility. Reading scenarios that mock their daily life can help resolve conflicts with friends or
other experiences they might have. This can be done through read-alouds too!
In Recess Queen, students can talk about all the different vents that happen and how they can problem solve and make positive decisions.
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.
Where do you feel you succeeded? Where did you struggle in this lesson?
Independent Task
You just took a shallow dive into three of the key skills in self-management and how to create goals and activities geared to teaching those skills to students. Now it's your turn! Choose one of the four we did not exclusively look at and draft a goal and activity to teach to students. When you have finished, head on over to Lesson Two learn why self-management is so essential to building a positive classroom community.
Lesson Two: Why is Self-Management Essential for a Positive Classroom Community?
As students begin to develop self-management skills, they have an increase in ability to solve problems, make responsible decisions, and uphold positive relationships. These skills are beneficial for students' mental and emotional health and their academic success. After completing Lesson Two should have a good sense of how self-management can help create a positive classroom community!
Introduction
When unpacking this question, why is self-management essential for a positive classroom community?, I want you to picture yourself learning this mini-course in a room filled with noise from others, notifications on your phone, hunger pains, and unorganized materials. Just writing those examples, my brain is spinning and I simply could not focus. This is the same feeling students feel when there is not a sense of a positive classroom community.
In a blog written by Antoinette Morris, she aims to teach others more about the CASEL (collaborative for academic, social, and emotional learning) competency of Self-Management. She describes the impact it has on student academic outcomes, well being , and behavior management. Read through this blog and jot down a few of your key takeaways to discuss in your reflection post - Building Self Management Skills: Empower Your Students. (https://blog.teamsatchel.com/building-self-manageme nt-skills)
Morris lists four benefits in building self management skills in your students: academic success, healthy relationships, mental health and wellbeing, and life success.
Emotional Regulation Skills
By teaching our students emotional regulation skills, we can help them to manage their emotions effectively. This can be done through deep breathing exercises, mindfulness practices, and daily affirmations. Check out some of my examples below:
✅ Calming Belly Breathing for Kids (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KssedxpbLpg)
✅ 51 mindfulness Exercises for Kids in the Classroom (https://www.waterford.org/blog/mindfulnes- activities-for-kids/) - don't let the title be daunting, this is such a great resource to add to your teacher
tool box!
✅ Wellbeing Activity - Paper Fold (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Tbr0cIDZAQ)
✅ Positive Affirmations Meditation for Kids (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UBCw2iK1JOA)
Goal Setting and Planning
Helping students create realistic and meaningful goals can be more manageable and achievable compared to creating unrealistic goals. One of my favorite activities in creating goals in making an Action Roadmap. Doing this activity can ensure that students work on things they want to change, improve, or achieve. This could be shaped into being academic or SEL based. This article contains different strategies to help teach goal setting - along with an example of an Action Roadmap: Strategies to Achieve Goals (https://www.socialemotionalworkshop.com/help-elementary-students-a chieve-goals/).
Effective Time Management
Time management is crucial for self-management. Teaching students effective time management techniques like creating schedules, prioritizing tasks, and avoiding procrastination can help them develop organizational skills, staying focused, and consequently reducing stress in the classroom.
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 would you like to learn more about, related to this topic of Self-Management?
Conclusion
🎉 HAPPY DANCE🎉 You have completed Unit Two of this mini-course! Use this time as a mental check in. Do you need anything to keep going and be successful? If you do need something, go do/get it! Making sure that you are comfortable when learning for long periods of time is crucial to your success. When you're ready, head on over to Unit Three: Social Awareness. See you there!