Myself Through the Mirror
Updated: Oct 6, 2022
Reflecting on the Self
As we wrap up our last week of September focusing on individuality, the children worked on discovering the concept of self-reflection. What better way to end the month with a focus concept that allows the children to reflect back on their learning. We began our work with a discussion on what they believed self-reflection was. While this is a very abstract concept, the students were diligent and persistent in conquering the life skill. I posed to them the question: "when you look at yourself in the mirror, what do you see?" The goal of this prompt was to push them to ponder beyond the physical characteristics we see to transform into the internal attributes we place upon ourselves. We received responses such as powerful, strong, and fast. To further practice this, the students worked on their own self-reflection worksheet where they were asked to contemplate on their behavior and rank it based on how well they engage in the actions, or whether they struggle with it.
To visualize what self-reflection is, in a meaningful and relatable way. The children were given a chance to watch a Despicable Me clip where they saw Gru reflect on his past actions as a dad and how he was able to improve upon his parenting through this self-reflection.
Making connection to Gru's improvement based on his self-reflection, the children were given the prompt to think about one thing they are really good at and something they need to work on. Rather than stress our strengths and weaknesses, we used the terms really good at and need to improve on because placing the term "weakness" creates the negative connotation that it is a fixed characteristic that cannot be improved upon. Focusing on including details to this activity, the students placed their notecard on the board for them to refer back to for our Wednesday activities.
To end our practice on self-reflection, the children participated in a 36 Questions Dice Game where they rolled dice which provided a pensive question for them to contemplate on. These questions were quite abstract and complex; however, it pushed the children to really think about themselves and reflect on what their answer would be. While a simple game, the students were truly engaged as it provided them ample time to decompress and think about themselves and all the attributes encompassing who they are.
SMART Goals
On Wednesday, we took a closer look at the areas that we need to work on.
How do we improve in these areas? By making SMART goals!
Writing down goals is the first step to reaching them. Brainstorming on ways to achieve the goals, that fit the SMART model, was a challenge at times. We talked about unrealistic goals and vague goals. We evaluated each step, and came up with new ways to support their plans to meet their goals. We will self-reflect next month to see our progress!
