•  the Weekly | 3.8

     

  • For Your Hands & Head: Student Self-Esteem

    This week's focus is on strategies & resources to use in your classroom that are aimed at helping students build their self-esteem. This is a collection I put together for one of your colleagues and includes some activities, some videos and some materials.

    Writing Ideas | Activities:

    • Have students write down what they want to hear on tough days. Collect the notes and hand them out when you see students need them. 
    • Give students the opportunity to tell you 10 things they like about themselves. Prompt them to state things they can do well, things they feel good about. Those suffering with low self-esteem will have difficulty with this task - you'll need to provide prompts.
    • Help them accumulate a collection of all of their accomplishments - the format could be up to you / them. This may include: trophies, awards, certificates, cards of appreciation, or other documents which in some way honor them. They don’t need to focus on just monumental accomplishments, but they can keep a list of more minor victories. Have them spend some time at least once a week looking at these accomplishments and congratulating themselves for this success. Build in opportunities in class to genuinely honor students for something.
    • Have them make a list of all the strengths they possess. They can keep the list and add to it as they recognize new ones. Develop and engage in safe activities in class that involve students sharing the strengths or things they appreciate about classmates. Be intentional about having them look at, add to, and highlight some of the things on their lists.

    Materials | Resources:

    I really like the article and the downloadable/printable worksheets on this site (find the short Table of Contents after the page's introduction and choose 7 Self-Esteem Activities for Teens in Middle or High School):

    ...and on this page on the same site:

    This site is geared for parents, but the strategies are applicable to classrooms:

    Also, great info & ideas here:


    Videos:

    3-Part Series for Teens on Self-Esteem (about 4 minutes each):



    Social media, self-esteem & teens:


    You Are Not Your Thoughts:

  • For Your Heart: The Adolescent Brain

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