Within the CASEL Framework, self-awareness is an understanding of one's own emotions, feelings, and thoughts and their impact on behavior. These activities and resources could be used to bring self-awareness lessons to your students. According to Move This World, self-awareness includes identifying and expressing emotions, mindfulness, and self-esteem and self-confidence.
Google Tool to Use: Google Search
Mindfulness is a mental state which focuses on a person's awareness of the moment, which can help reduce stress. The easiest way to open a meditation app is doing a Google search for "Breathing Exercise." Students will be prompted to move through the breathing in/out steps for a full minute.
Reflection journals are a great way for students to organize their thoughts and feelings and provide students and an opportunity to think about their day-to-day experiences. These reflections can lead students to problem-solving or a stronger understanding of themselves. Consider having a year-long reflection journal. Post the template to Google Classroom & have students use it throughout the year. With each entry, add a new slide or go to a new page in the Doc. Each week, you can post some sample journal entry prompts on the board and have students choose one to add to their journal (or they can just write on their own without a prompt). Make it a class routine to encourage reflecting on one's experiences.
Within self-awareness, students learn to describe how they are feeling. Teaching emotion-based words is a way for students to accurately express how they're feeling. With this Jamboard, you can have students share how they're feeling at the start of the class. Before diving into an activity, they can choose to log into the Jamboard and move a circle by an emotion they're feeling. If you want to meet with students based on their answers, you can see who moved each circle by going into the revision history.
Revision History: Click the three vertical dots by the "Share" button and select "See Version History"
A bio poem is a way for students to focus on their identities. This activity pairs writing with self-discovery. Students follow a formula for composing a poem about themselves. As an additional component, you could have students create a video of their bio poem if they feel comfortable through FlipGrid or Screencastify. It's important to know the comfort level of your students with sharing. As a result, giving them choice in how they share their poem is beneficial.
Google Tool to Use: Google Forms
Daily check-ins are great for self-awareness. Students can identify the emotion(s) they are experiencing each day. Post a Google Form to the top of your Google Classroom. Students can complete it every day (if they would like). If you're teaching new emotions, you can add these to the Form so students can accurately select their emotions. Give students an optional space to add details.