Self-Awareness: SEL Competency #1

Issue 3: Self-Awareness: SEL Competency #1

Governor Mifflin Middle School believes that the development of self-awareness skills equips students to recognize their own strengths and weaknesses, empowering them with an essential piece of the framework for self improvement and healthy self image.

While Socrates may or may not have been the first to encourage one to "Know Thyself," he was certainly not the last. The topic of self-awareness has had its fair share of focus from researchers in the fields of developmental and behavioral sciences. Developmental research shows that self-awareness is crucial in  learning self-advocacy and resiliency, building positive self-esteem, monitoring and controlling emotions and behaviors, and developing a growth mindset. 

In examination of the CASEL SEL Framework, self-awareness can be considered the first of five competencies essential for the social and emotional development of school-aged children and adolescents. CASEL refers to self-awareness as "the abilities to understand one’s own emotions, thoughts, and values and how they influence behavior across contexts. This includes capacities to recognize one’s strengths and limitations with a well-grounded sense of confidence and purpose." As seen in the PBS video below, the development of self-awareness skills are beneficial in; Integrating personal and social identities; Identifying personal, cultural, and linguistic assets; Identifying one’s emotions; Demonstrating honesty and integrity; Linking feelings, values, and thoughts; Examining prejudices and biases; Experiencing self-efficacy; Having a growth mindset; and Developing interests and a sense of purpose.


Looking forward, with the predictions of such a highly competitive job/career market, it places greater stakes on schools and parents to have a more intentional focus on the development of social and emotional skills. Assisting with their self-awareness development will help them to get a leg up on the competition by improving critical thinking skills, decision making, leadership abilities, self-control, creativity, and overall perspective. 

In a 2018 article from the Harvard Business Review, What Self-Awareness Really Is, and How to Cultivate It, self-awareness has two components; internal self-awareness and external self-awareness. Each of these contributes to the emergence of one of four self-awareness archetypes, with the goal or reaching both high internal and external self-awareness.  

Understanding the benefits and importance of the development of our kids self-awareness skills, our next step is to actually help them do it. The following are tips from the article, SELF-AWARENESS: 10 SIMPLE WAYS TO TEACH KIDS TO BE SELF-AWARE. To summarize, we can help by:

1. Showing them what feelings look like - Help them name and identify different types of emotions.
2. Helping them identify the feelings of others - Utilize opportunities to help them name and identify different types of emotions in others.
3. Setting a good example - Model expressing your emotions in a constructive manner.
4. Empathizing with your child - When we learn to accept and welcome big negative feelings from our children, we help facilitate a positive change.
5. Ditching the blame-game - Rather than asking who did what, teach your kids to deal with the problem head-on from a proactive stance.
6. Letting them communicate freely - Be patient and show understanding when your child is talking with you.
7. Paying attention - schedule time to be fully present with your child. 
8. Nurturing their passions - Ask them to teach you what they’ve learned and schedule a time to research the topic online together.
9. Encouraging them to try new things - Ask them to reflect on what new things they want to try in a journal. 
10. Embracing a growth mindset - See previous post on growth mindset here!

At GMMS, we continue to work to help our students develop self-awareness so they can become the very best version of themselves, thus empowering them to become well-adjusted, productive members of society.


On the horizon and some additional resources!

Resources

Flex Period Schedule
Days 1 & 4 - SSR - Silent Sustained Reading - Learn More Here
Days 2 & 5 - iReady - Family Resource Page
Days 3 & 6 - SEL - Social Emotional Learning Schedule
* 3/2 - (Rescheduled from snow day) Dear Future Me - Students will use Future Me to write a letter to their future self.
* 3/5 - Handling Stress - Mindfulness Activity


As always, thank you for your continued support and partnership in education!

RE

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