Extension Activities
Self-Awareness | Grades 9-12
Learning Goal 1: Demonstrates an awareness and understanding of own emotions.
Go back: Core Ed.
Go back: Intervention Ed.
Benchmark 1: Distinguish emotions one holds from how others expect them to feel.
Take it further — integrate!
In pairs, small groups, or individually, ask students to reflect on journal prompts about how others may expect them to feel in certain situations and how that may be different from how they actually feel.
Benchmark 2: Describe how external events or internal thoughts can trigger multiple emotions.
Take it further — integrate!
In pairs, small groups, or individually, ask students to reflect on journal prompts about how others may expect them to feel in certain situations and how that may be different from how they actually feel.
In response to literature, ask students to think about what the author is thinking about or responding to, and how it appears to be triggering multiple emotions in the author at the same time.
Benchmark 3: Describe how changing their interpretation of an event, for example through self-talk, can change how they feel about it.
Take it further — integrate!
Share a time as a teacher when self-talk helped change the way you felt about a situation, e.g., “I was frustrated because my friend hadn’t called me when she said she would, but then I reminded myself how busy she was, and that it wasn’t personal, and I calmed down.”
When students appear to be experiencing emotions that may interfere with their progress, ask dialoguing questions that help them identify opportunities to use self-talk to calm down, e.g., “I can tell you’re angry about what he did, but what could you say to yourself to help you calm down?” or “What could you say to yourself to remind yourself that it’s important to wait until you’re calm to decide what to do?”
Benchmark 4: Self-reflect to assess whether the intensity of their emotions “fit” a given situation.
Take it further — integrate!
When students appear to be experiencing emotions that may interfere with their progress, ask dialoguing questions that help them identify opportunities to use self-talk to calm down, e.g., “I can tell you’re angry about what he did, but what could you say to yourself to help you calm down?” or “What could you say to yourself to remind yourself that it’s important to wait until you’re calm to decide what to do?”
Benchmark 5: Understand that identities and heritage practices shape the way one views, understands, and interprets emotions.
Take it further — integrate!
When discussing characters in literature or historical figures or leaders, ask students (in pair shares, small groups, or in individual responses to journal prompts) to reflect on how the character or figure’s identity/heritage may have shaped their views and how they interpret their emotions. How is this different from the student’s experience?