Self-Love in the Secondary Classroom
How often do we feel empowered to name & celebrate what we love about ourselves? At times we can find ourselves in environments that dim our light or cause us to second guess our worth and who we are. This happens more frequently that some would care to admit.
Even as adults we find it challenging to name our worth and our strengths. To be clear, I am not talking about the names & labels given to us by our families, communities & society in general… I mean the names & descriptions we give ourselves.
I’ve been thinking a lot lately about this idea of self-love & self-celebration.. With this on my mind & with Valentine’s Day being right around the corner, we so easily forget to think about ourselves and the type of self-love needed to be equipped to love others.
I put together a resource with that guides students to brainstorm not only who they are, but what they love about who they are.
The brainstorming sheet gives a categorized list for students to read through. They can check off aspects on the list that are aligned with who they are. Providing this list gets students thinking about themselves in ways they maybe haven’t before. At the bottom, they are encouraged to list out the aspects they love most and add as many additional aspects that weren’t included. I’ve included a glossary that will help with understanding some of the concepts that may be new.
In the end, students will get an I AM web, where they will cut and paste all of the things they LOVE that make up who they are.
So frequently, when asked to describe ourselves we immediately go straight to what we do and not to who we are. I listened to a Ted Talk recently “Let Curiosity Lead” by Yara Shahidi and I can’t let go of the question she asks: “….who are you? Because what we do is only a fraction of who we are.” She also speaks about the value in being curious and exploring more than just one thing.
OUR BIG KIDS NEED TO CUT & GLUE & CRAFT TOO!
