EMS SEL Resources - Self-Awareness Resources

Self-Awareness Resources

Everything that irritates us about others can lead us to an understanding about ourselves.-Carl Gustav Jung
You can’t get away from yourself by moving from one place to another.-Ernest Hemingway
The greatest thing in the world is to know how to belong to oneself.-Michel de Montaigne
Every human has four endowments – self-awareness, conscience, independent will, and creative imagination. These give us the ultimate human freedom….The power to choose, to respond, to change.

Here is a great BACK-TO-SCHOOL Survey to help you get to know your students!!

24 Self-Awareness Activities

From SEL Check-In 1/23/23

Self Awareness/Social Awareness Attendance- When taking attendance in your class, consider tossing the old “here” and replacing it with a quick check-in question each day. An example could be- What is your favorite time of the day? Or On a scale of 1-10, how ready are you for class today? Another example might be- What is your favorite dinner food? OR On a scale of 1-10, how much are you looking forward to the weekend? You could also put up memes (see example). Rather than respond with “here” students will respond to their name with an appropriate response to the question. Thanks to Stacy and James for this idea!

24 EXIT TICKET IDEAS

A great way to help with out students' Self-Awareness is using exit tickets at the end of an activity or lesson. This post gives ready-made ideas for SEL assessment!

READY MADE SELF-AWARENESS ADVISORIES! Check out these pre-planned advisories to increase your students' self-awareness. Thank you to the Nova Team for collaborating on these!

Gratitude- the quality of being thankful; readiness to show appreciation for and to return kindness.

Did you know that showing gratitude can make you happier?? Check out these articles for more about the benefits of practicing gratitude and what you can do to get started!

28 Benefits of Gratitude

13 Gratitude Exercises and Activities

33 Self-Awareness Activities

for Adults and Students

VISUALIZE STRENGTHS IN ACTION

Consider ways to encourage students to visualize their strengths in action. Visualization helps us remember and rehearse our intended movements, and stimulates our motor cortex in a way that primes our bodies for action. When educators promote opportunities for students to identify their strengths, connect action to words (what does "brave" look like?), and visualize what they themselves look like as they demonstrate a particular strength, they help students develop motivation, awareness, and creativity in regards to acting on those strengths.

Consider this idea of having students create a "strengths business card" that lists:

A positive word or affirmation beneath their name
a bulleted list of their personal strengths
a photo collage of pictures or images that represent their strength(s) in action

Connect the business card to a mock employment process (similar to an interview): identify/describe a time when you demonstrated the strengths listed on your business card.

ex. I am terrified of heights, but I was determined to face my fear and prove to myself that the things I am afraid of do not control my actions. When I went skydiving, I demonstrated that I am brave.
ex. I am curious about human nature. When I meet someone who has different views than me, it's really important to me that I listen to them and their perspective, and ask questions to better understand.
ex. I demonstrate that I am organized through the way that I sort and contain my classwork. I have a "notes" section of my binder that I date in chronological order, and I keep all the classroom assignments that I get back from my teachers in a "done" section that is organized by subject.

HEY ELA TEACHERS! Are you teaching fiction writing? Why not create an Emotion Word Wall in your classroom? Yes, students can use this word wall to elaborate on feelings of the characters they create or read about, but they can also use this word wall to identify their own emotions as well! The more words we have to describe how we feel, the better we will be able to know ourselves and relate to others.

Self-Awareness Advisory Questions:

Say a phrase, using five or fewer words, that describes your day yesterday.
Finish this sentence: "The best news I've had in the past week is..."
Name one skill you have that no one in this group knows about.
Finish this sentence: "The next time we meet, we should..."
What is the main challenge you face in the first 10 minutes of the day?

10 Days of Gratitude

10 Days of Love

identity web

bucket filler

who am i

Journal/Survey Prompts:

I feel angry when…
I feel joyful when…
I feel unhappy when…
I feel hope when…
I wish I didn’t have to…
I enjoy…
I feel afraid when…
Something I’d like to change is…
If I were (name the person), I would…

I feel like no one loves me when…
I know I am loved when…
Something I find boring is…
I know I can trust…
I admire (name person) because…
I feel serene when…
I am most interested in….
I am annoyed when…
I disapprove of…
I am optimistic when