By Adia Dawn, NCSP, LSSP: ACE Academy Director of Counseling & Assessment
November 18, 2020
The relationships that are built between educators and students at ACE facilitate the development of healthy self-esteem within the school walls and beyond. Social-emotional learning is one of the many components of educating gifted and twice-exceptional students at ACE Academy. Building relationships and trust with students allows them to engage in a rigorous curriculum while feeling supported, accepted, and safe.
What’s the difference between Self-Confidence and Self-Esteem?
Self-confidence: How we feel and think about our skills, talents, and abilities. We can know in our heads that we are good at something, or that we have a particular skill or ability, but struggle with feelings of self-worth. Sometimes there can be a gap between “knowing” we matter and “feeling” we matter.
Self-esteem: How we feel about ourselves as people. Having a good sense of self, or self-esteem usually means we also have a certain amount of self-confidence as well. There is often less of a “gap” between our feelings of who we are as people and our feelings about our skills, talents, and abilities.
Why is self-esteem important for gifted children to develop?
Self-esteem and positive self-concept lead to a variety of positive outcomes. Children become more willing to take risks and try new things.
They learn to recognize and feel proud of their strengths. They develop the ability to cope with mistakes and recover from “failures” with greater ease.
They can MAKE a mistake without feeling like they ARE a mistake. Self-esteem allows a child to be who they are, and persist in the face of challenges.
How does self-esteem develop in children?
Children’s basic needs need to be met in order for them to develop a positive sense of self, or self-esteem. This means they need to feel safe, cared for, loved, and accepted for who they are.
Children need to have opportunities to try new things in an environment that feels safe, nonjudgmental, and supportive.
When a child is praised for their effort over their talents or abilities they often feel encouraged to try harder even when things do not come easily. This can lead to a greater sense of accomplishment toward their goals.
Highlighting their strengths and focusing on growth a child has made can lead to helping them develop a more positive sense of self. This strategy also supports the development of more positive behavioral outcomes in children.
Children need opportunities to contribute in a meaningful way. When they help others and see that what they do matters to someone else this can boost their level of self-esteem.
How ACE works to build self-esteem in students within our community:
Adults as Role Models: Educators and faculty serve as role models, highlighting the lessons learned from mistakes or “failures” that we make.
Praise: Our approach includes focusing on providing student praise of effort and progress toward goals, over outcomes.
Independence: At ACE, students are allowed independence in a variety of aspects surrounding their education that leads to greater success or opportunities to grow.
Service: Educators often provide students opportunities to help others in a meaningful way through group leadership, teacher support, or other more creative activities.
Relationships: Students and educators build strong relationships beginning in our lower school that facilitate feelings of acceptance, safety, and empowerment of who they are as people.
When a child begins to develop self-esteem in one setting, such as the school, their increased feelings of self-worth and confidence can often be observed across multiple settings. This is known as generalization. This means when they are faced with a situation where they may not feel fully safe or supported, a child will begin to trust they can persevere or try something new.
Stay curious,
-Ms. Dawn