Lesson Plan
Cultivating Self-Awareness
Students will develop self-awareness by identifying their strengths and areas for development, and begin to cultivate self-advocacy skills for personal growth and independent challenges.
Developing self-awareness and self-advocacy is vital for navigating the complexities of young adulthood, college, careers, and personal relationships. This lesson provides students with foundational tools for lifelong personal development.
Audience
12th Grade Student
Time
45 minutes
Approach
Interactive discussion, self-reflection, and practical application.
Materials
The Power of Self-Reflection (slide-deck), Understanding Your Personal Strengths (reading), and Self-Advocacy Action Plan (worksheet)
Prep
Teacher Preparation
15 minutes
- Review all generated materials: Cultivating Self-Awareness (lesson plan), The Power of Self-Reflection (slide deck), Understanding Your Personal Strengths (reading), and Self-Advocacy Action Plan (worksheet).
- Ensure access to projector/screen for the slide deck.
- Print copies of the Understanding Your Personal Strengths reading and the Self-Advocacy Action Plan worksheet for each student.
Step 1
Introduction: What is Your Inner Coach?
5 minutes
- Begin with a brief discussion: "What does it mean to be your 'own best coach'? How can you apply this idea to your school work, personal life, or future goals?"
- Introduce the lesson's objective: to explore self-awareness and self-advocacy.
Step 2
The Power of Self-Reflection
10 minutes
- Present the The Power of Self-Reflection slide deck.
- Facilitate a short discussion after each key slide, encouraging students to share initial thoughts on self-awareness and its importance.
Step 3
Understanding Your Personal Strengths
15 minutes
- Distribute the Understanding Your Personal Strengths reading.
- Allow students 10 minutes to read the material individually.
- After reading, ask students to reflect on 2-3 key takeaways about identifying personal strengths.
- Lead a brief whole-class share-out, focusing on how understanding strengths can build confidence and guide decisions.
Step 4
Developing a Self-Advocacy Action Plan
10 minutes
- Distribute the Self-Advocacy Action Plan worksheet.
- Explain the concept of self-advocacy: speaking up for yourself and your needs.
- Guide students to begin filling out the worksheet, focusing on identifying a personal goal and one way they can advocate for themselves to achieve it.
- Circulate and provide individual support as needed.
Step 5
Wrap-up and Next Steps
5 minutes
- Ask students to share one insight they gained about themselves or self-advocacy.
- Encourage students to continue working on their Self-Advocacy Action Plan at home.
- Remind them that being their own best coach is an ongoing process.
use Lenny to create lessons.
No credit card needed
Slide Deck
Are You Your Own Best Coach?
Discovering Your Inner Guide
- What does it mean to be your own coach?
- How can you apply this to your life (school, personal, future)?
Welcome students and introduce the concept of being their 'own best coach'. Ask them to think about what this phrase means to them.
What is Self-Awareness?
Knowing Yourself Deeply
- Understanding your emotions: How you feel and why.
- Recognizing your strengths: What you're good at.
- Identifying your areas for growth: Where you can improve.
- Understanding your values: What truly matters to you.
Explain that self-awareness is the first step in being your own coach. Define self-awareness clearly.
The Mirror of Self-Reflection
Looking Inward to Grow Outward
- Journaling: Writing down thoughts and feelings.
- Mindfulness: Paying attention to the present moment.
- Asking for feedback: Getting perspectives from others.
- Reviewing experiences: Learning from successes and mistakes.
Discuss how self-reflection helps build self-awareness. Provide examples of self-reflection.
Becoming Your Own Advocate
Speaking Up for Yourself
- Understanding your needs: What you require to succeed.
- Communicating effectively: Expressing your needs clearly.
- Setting boundaries: Protecting your time and energy.
- Seeking support: Knowing when and how to ask for help.
Introduce the idea of self-advocacy as the action component of self-awareness. Define it and explain its importance.
Your Coaching Journey Begins
Empowering Your Future
- Self-awareness + Self-reflection = Growth
- Self-advocacy = Taking action
- You have the power to guide your own path!
Summarize the key takeaways and reinforce the idea that this is a continuous journey.
Reading
Understanding Your Personal Strengths
Being your own best coach starts with truly knowing yourself. A huge part of self-awareness is recognizing and appreciating your personal strengths. These aren't just things you're good at in school; they are qualities, talents, and abilities that make you unique and help you navigate life.
What are Strengths?
Strengths are more than just skills. A skill is something you learn to do (like typing or solving algebra). A strength is a natural capacity or a deeply ingrained positive trait that energizes you and helps you perform well. When you use your strengths, you often feel more engaged, effective, and satisfied.
Examples of Personal Strengths:
- Creativity: Coming up with new ideas or solutions.
- Problem-solving: Figuring out how to overcome challenges.
- Empathy: Understanding and sharing the feelings of others.
- Leadership: Guiding and motivating a group.
- Resilience: Bouncing back from setbacks.
- Organization: Keeping things orderly and efficient.
- Communication: Expressing yourself clearly and effectively.
- Curiosity: A strong desire to learn or know things.
Why is it Important to Know Your Strengths?
- Boosts Confidence: When you know what you're good at, you feel more confident in tackling new challenges and situations.
- Improves Decision-Making: Understanding your natural talents can help you choose courses, extracurriculars, or even career paths that align with who you are.
- Enhances Relationships: Recognizing your strengths allows you to contribute positively to group projects, friendships, and family dynamics.
- Increases Resilience: Leaning on your strengths can help you overcome obstacles and cope with stress more effectively.
- Fosters Personal Growth: By leveraging your strengths, you can develop them further and apply them in various aspects of your life.
How to Identify Your Strengths
Sometimes, your greatest strengths are so natural to you that you might not even realize they are special! Here are some ways to discover them:
- Reflect on Past Successes: Think about times you felt proud of an accomplishment. What personal qualities did you use to achieve it?
- Pay Attention to What Energizes You: What activities make you lose track of time? What do you enjoy doing, even when it's challenging?
- Ask for Feedback: Talk to friends, family, teachers, or mentors. Ask them, "What do you see as my greatest strengths?" You might be surprised by their answers!
- Consider What Comes Easily to You: What tasks or challenges do you find relatively easy, while others struggle? This could be a sign of a natural strength.
By taking the time to understand and appreciate your personal strengths, you're building a strong foundation for self-awareness and preparing yourself to be your most effective self-coach.
Worksheet
Self-Advocacy Action Plan: Be Your Own Best Coach!
Name: ____________________________
Date: ____________________________
Being your own best coach means understanding yourself and then taking action to support your own needs and goals. This worksheet will help you practice self-advocacy!
Part 1: Reflecting on Your Needs and Strengths
-
What is one specific academic, personal, or future goal you have right now? (e.g., improve my grade in a class, manage my time better, prepare for college applications, learn a new skill).
-
Think about your strengths (from our reading or your own reflection). How can one or more of your strengths help you achieve this goal?
-
What is one challenge or obstacle that might stand in the way of your goal? (This could be internal, like procrastination, or external, like needing help from a teacher).
Part 2: Developing Your Self-Advocacy Strategy
Self-advocacy is about speaking up for yourself and your needs. How will you address the challenge you identified above?
- Identify ONE specific action you can take to advocate for yourself in relation to your goal and challenge.
- *Example: If my challenge is understanding a math concept, my advocacy action might be:
Reading
Understanding Your Personal Strengths
Being your own best coach starts with truly knowing yourself. A huge part of self-awareness is recognizing and appreciating your personal strengths. These aren't just things you're good at in school; they are qualities, talents, and abilities that make you unique and help you navigate life.
What are Strengths?
Strengths are more than just skills. A skill is something you learn to do (like typing or solving algebra). A strength is a natural capacity or a deeply ingrained positive trait that energizes you and helps you perform well. When you use your strengths, you often feel more engaged, effective, and satisfied.
Examples of Personal Strengths:
- Creativity: Coming up with new ideas or solutions.
- Problem-solving: Figuring out how to overcome challenges.
- Empathy: Understanding and sharing the feelings of others.
- Leadership: Guiding and motivating a group.
- Resilience: Bouncing back from setbacks.
- Organization: Keeping things orderly and efficient.
- Communication: Expressing yourself clearly and effectively.
- Curiosity: A strong desire to learn or know things.
Why is it Important to Know Your Strengths?
- Boosts Confidence: When you know what you're good at, you feel more confident in tackling new challenges and situations.
- Improves Decision-Making: Understanding your natural talents can help you choose courses, extracurriculars, or even career paths that align with who you are.
- Enhances Relationships: Recognizing your strengths allows you to contribute positively to group projects, friendships, and family dynamics.
- Increases Resilience: Leaning on your strengths can help you overcome obstacles and cope with stress more effectively.
- Fosters Personal Growth: By leveraging your strengths, you can develop them further and apply them in various aspects of your life.
How to Identify Your Strengths
Sometimes, your greatest strengths are so natural to you that you might not even realize they are special! Here are some ways to discover them:
- Reflect on Past Successes: Think about times you felt proud of an accomplishment. What personal qualities did you use to achieve it?
- Pay Attention to What Energizes You: What activities make you lose track of time? What do you enjoy doing, even when it's challenging?
- Ask for Feedback: Talk to friends, family, teachers, or mentors. Ask them,