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SELF-AWARENESS 9th-12th GRADES
Self-Awareness Competencies
9th-12th Grades Indicators of Self-Awareness
1. Demonstrate an awareness of own emotions and the complexity of different emotions.
● Identifies personal emotions as valid, regardless of how others expect them to feel.
2. Demonstrate an awareness of personal qualities and interests.
● Identifies the skills and credentials required to enter a profession and to begin to prepare accordingly, setting realistic goals based on personal qualities, interests, strengths, and limitations.
● Utilizes interest to gain additional experience toward mastery of a skill or concept.
3. Demonstrate an awareness of own strengths and limitations.
● Demonstrates confidence based on an accurate self-assessment of strengths.
4. Demonstrate a sense of personal responsibility and advocacy.
● Demonstrates an ability to take responsibility for one’s choices.
● Recognizes the level of control one has over situations in life.
● Identifies and describes knowledge and skills one can use as a responsible citizen to improve and advocate in the community.
5. Identify external and community resources and support.
● Identifies school support personnel and adult role models and knows when and how to use them.
● Identifies organizations in the community that provide opportunities to develop interests or talents.
● Assembles/creates constructive support systems that contribute to school and life success.
SEL Academic Integrated Strategies for Self Awareness
9th-12th Grades
● Assume the best; students want to learn content, procedures, and behavior.
● Focus on a safe, welcoming class climate; use that verbiage with the class.
● Greet students individually at the threshold.
● Tell individual students you missed them when returning from an absence.
● Call students by name, correctly pronouncing students’ names.
● Acknowledge students’ ethnic and cultural backgrounds.
● Display a variety of cultural examples in your room decor.
● Circulate among student seating arrangements during work time.
● Pepper in gratitude all day for students following expectations and noticeable improvements.
● Teach procedures explicitly, rehearsing often, praising progress.
● Hold classroom meetings as needed for critical discussions.
● Ask students to journal about a time when they reassessed an event and felt completely different at the end.
● Discuss historical events with students and how misinterpretation triggered a negative event.
● Have students write an acrostic poem in which each letter of an emotion’s name would represent a reason for feeling that way (e.g., G in guilt could start the phrase “Gave away my friend’s secret.”).
● Ask students to reflect and analyze in journals or in pair-share how their thoughts and emotions affect decision-making and responsible behavior.
● Talk with students about body language and the message it portrays.
● Ask students to reflect on a time they had to consider the feelings of others. When students are involved in a conflict, help them to understand how the other person feels.
● Have students create gratitude journals to acknowledge and appreciate the kindness of others.
● Have students role-play a customer service situation with a rude/angry customer. Discuss the outcome of acting on different responses.
● Conduct a morning meeting for seniors and discuss helpful strategies for handling potential conflict between college roommates or co- workers.
● Highlight students for character qualities in addition to academic and athletic achievements.
● Have students develop picture books about character and personal qualities to be shared with preschool and kindergarten students.
● Ask students to develop postsecondary, career, and lifestyle success plans.
● Conduct a school-wide college and career fair.
● As a writing assignment, have students develop resumes along with a cover letter to “sell” their qualifications.
● Have students’ research career and college interests and learn about specific job responsibilities. Then, have students write a cover letter for the job detailing how they can perform the responsibilities.
● Have students compose a resume for a dream job.
● Teach students job interview skills and invite members of the business community to conduct mock interviews with students.
● Encourage the use of student planners in which students track their school, home, and/or community responsibilities each week.
● Have students develop long- and short-term goals, a timeline that outlines the possible choices to achieve the goals, and potential outcomes for each choice.
● Ask students to interview an adult who they admire to find out how that person feels about their personal responsibilities and successes.
● Have students design a public service announcement to inform others of a way to promote or advocate for a community need or program.
● Have students write a creative story describing life in a world with no responsibilities.
● Assist students in participating in community service projects aligned to a career interest.
● Make a community map to show students organizations that provide support services.
● Assign students a research project about what community resources are available and applicable in specific situations. Include information about the educational or workplace training required to serve in those professions.
●As a writing assignment, have students write about the people they turn to for support and how they support them.
SEL Direct Instruction Resources for Self Awareness
Curriculum Resources
9th-12th Grades
Strand 1: Health Foundations and Protective Factors of Healthy Self
Standard HII.HF.1
Standard HII.HF.2
Standard HII.HF.3
Standard HII.HF.4
Standard HII.HF.5
Strand 2: Mental and Emotional Health
Standard HII.MEH.1
Standard HII.MEH.2
Standard HII.MEH.3
Standard HII.MEH.4
Standard HII.MEH.5
Strand 3: Safety and Disease Prevention
Links
Standard HII.SDP.1
Standard HII.SDP.2
Standard HII.SDP.3
Standard HII.SDP.4
Standard HII.SDP.5
Standard HII.SDP.6
Strand 4: Substance Abuse Prevention
Links
Standard HII.SAP.1
Standard HII.SAP.2
Standard HII.SAP.3
Standard HII. SAP.4
Standard HII. SAP.5
SEL
- Taking Responsible Risks
- Project-based Learning Activity (Growth Mindset)
- Post-Assessment
- Critical Thinking Skills
- Setting Challenging Goals
- Balancing Obligations
- Time Management Skills
- Organizing with Multiple Sources
- Communicating My Needs
- Project Based Learning Activity (Learning Strategies)
- Unit Assessment
- Post-Assessment
- Communication
Health Lessons
9th Grade
o Coping with Anger
o Coping with Anxiety
Pure Edge Brain Breaks
Training Manual
Pure Edge Brain Breaks Training Manual
Strategies for educators and learners to support social, emotional, and academic development through mindful movement and rest.
● Arrival: Engaging in a Mindful Minute offers learners a chance to check in with themselves at the start of the day.
● Large Group/Circle Time: Simple breathing exercises will visually hold attention in the large group setting.
● Small Group: Small group offers time to give feedback and answer questions.
● Refocus Between Lessons: Bring in a little movement and breathing as a brain break to re-energize learners.
● Before Testing: Use mindful breathing exercises to help learners focus and relieve testing-related stress.
● Lining Up: Help learners stay calm during the transition to and from the classroom.
● Recess: Refocus and calm down after recess.
● Create a Calming Center: Have a Breathing Ball available for learners to access in a quiet area.
● Departure: A gratitude activity is a great way to start off or wrap up the day.
- B-Body: Listen, your body is trying to tell you something.
- R- Reflections and Thoughts: Thoughts are just thoughts.
- E- Emotions: Surf the Waves of your emotions.
- A- Attention: Attention to body, thoughts, and feelings is good stress reduction.
- T- Tenderness: Take it as it is. Learn to be kind to yourself.
- H- Healthy Habits of Mind: Finding ways to practice mindfulness in your life reduces stress and increases inner strength.
- E- Empowerment: Gain the inner edge.
