SEL for Students: Self-Awareness and Self-Management
What Are They?
According to the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional, Learning (CASEL), social-emotional learning (SEL) is “the process through which all young people and adults acquire and apply the knowledge, skills, and attitudes to develop healthy identities, manage emotions and achieve personal and collective goals, feel and show empathy for others, establish and maintain positive relationships, and make responsible and caring decisions.”
Self-awareness and self-management are two of the five components that make up CASEL’s model of SEL.
Self-Awareness is simply the ability to be aware of one’s inner life–one’s emotions, thoughts, behaviors, values, preferences, goals, strengths, challenges, attitudes, mindsets, and so forth– and how these elements impact behavior and choices across contexts.
A student who is self-aware may notice her fearful emotional response as she is about to take a test. She may feel her heart beat faster and her stomach clench, making her thoughts race as she worries about failing the test. To get out of the test, she considers telling her teacher that she feels sick, but in the end, she recognizes that this behavior is a result of her emotions and thoughts running amok, and she accepts that these reactions can occur when she experiences anxiety.
Skills that develop self-awareness include:
- Identifying and analyzing one’s emotions, and how they affect others
- Understanding the relationship between one’s emotions, thoughts, values, and behaviors
- Integrating personal and social identities
- Identifying personal, cultural, and linguistic assets
- Demonstrating honesty and integrity
- Examining prejudices and biases
- Experiencing self-efficacy
- Having a growth mindset
- Developing interests and a sense of purpose
Self-management is the ability to navigate and shift in a healthy way one’s thoughts, emotions, and behaviors in order to make decisions and reach goals that benefit oneself and others.
A new sixth grader who is anxious about starting middle school remembers learning from her fifth grade teacher that when she is feeling scared, she can change how she feels by thinking differently about the situation. So, instead of dreading her new school, this student decides to view it as an adventure—one that might bring her new friends, wonderful teachers, and exciting opportunities.
Self-management skills include:
- Regulating and expressing one’s emotions thoughtfully
- Demonstrating perseverance and resilience to overcome obstacles
- Sustaining healthy boundaries
- Identifying and using stress management strategies
- Setting personal and collective goals
- Using planning and organizational skills
- Showing the courage to take initiative
- Demonstrating personal and collective agency
- Maintaining attention
- Using feedback constructively
- Practicing self-compassion
Ultimately, self-awareness and self-management are closely linked. For example, being able to stop and calm down when one is upset (self-management), requires skills like recognizing and labeling the emotions and considering how they might be affecting one’s behavior choices (self-awareness).
For a deeper dive into the science and practical school-based examples of this science in action, click on the following topics:
SEL for Students: The Basics of Emotions
SEL for Students: Emotion Regulation
SEL for Students: Emotions and Learning
SEL for Students: Emotions and Culture
Why Are They Important?
Overall, research reveals that students with social and emotional skills perform better academically, have stronger relationships with peers and teachers, experience greater well-being, and engage in less risky behavior. In addition, SEL skills positively impact education, employment, and mental health outcomes into adulthood.
More specifically, several components of self-awareness and self-management show the following outcomes:
“Emotion knowledge” is key to student success.
- Young children who can accurately read facial expressions of emotions and assign an appropriate emotion to a situation perform better academically, have fewer behavior problems, and demonstrate greater prosocial (kind, helpful) behavior.
- These skills continue to help them as the years go on: first graders who showed little knowledge of emotions were more likely to report feelings of loneliness, sadness, and anxiety in fifth grade.
- Teens who score high in emotional intelligence have greater academic success, fewer mental health issues, and better attitudes towards teachers and schools. (Note that beliefs about emotions vary by culture. Click here for more information.)
Managing emotions in a healthy way gives students a head start.
- Students of all ages who can regulate their emotions—or monitor, evaluate, and change their emotional responses—perform better academically, have stronger relationships with teachers and peers, experience greater mental well-being, and engage in less risky behavior. (Note that emotion regulation strategies and outcomes vary by culture. Click here for more information.)
Using self-control to keep studying instead of checking Instagram really matters.
- Students who exhibit self-control—or the ability to regulate thoughts, feelings, and actions when temptation strikes—have better grades (at every level), are more likely to graduate from high school and college, and have higher test scores.
- Self-control also leads to better interpersonal skills, higher self-esteem, and lower risky behavior.
A “growth mindset” benefits students’ academic and social lives.
- Research shows that students with growth mindsets related to intelligence tend to perform better academically.
- New research suggests that developing students’ social and emotional mindsets may increase well-being and happiness, boost social competence, reduce biases, and promote prosocial (kind and helpful) behavior. For more information, click here.
Goals bolster student achievement.
- Studies have found that “hope”—or the ability to achieve goals—is linked to greater academic achievement, creativity, and problem-solving skills, as well as less depression and anxiety.
- Students high in “hope” know how to create a roadmap to reaching a goal, including alternate routes when obstacles arise, and also have the belief, motivation, and confidence to achieve their goals.
Practices
Develop students’ intellectual humility through concept mapping
Foster a sense of belonging through peer interviews and by integrating the collected data into math instruction.
Students write a letter or poem to express their gratitude to something in the natural world.
Students learn how to comfort themselves during stressful times.
Foster well-being and inspiration through nature
Students identify the many ways that exist to express gratitude.
Students define gratitude and give an example of a time they felt grateful.
Students draw and write about ways they have acted with kindness towards others.
Expand students’ thinking through awe
Students learn to say “thank you” in American Sign Language and brainstorm non-verbal ways to express gratitude.
Students practice a mindful body scan and express gratitude for what their bodies allow them to do.
Experience awe through visual design.
Students feel the earth under their feet in this mindful movement practice.
Students go outside and experience mindfulness linked to elements of nature.
Students express gratitude through singing.
Students imagine their lives at 40. (Purpose Challenge Practice #5)
Relax your body and calm your mind before you sleep.
Introduce students to “Focus Power,” or the ability to sustain attention and ignore distractions when needed.
Introduce students to “Remember Power,” or the ability to keep track of, update, and use information over short periods of time.
Introduce students to “Stop and Think Power,” or the ability to control impulses and to “think before you act.”
Students practice and build executive function skills in whole-class games.
Students redirect their attention to their breath each time their minds wander.
Take a few minutes to relax your body and calm your mind.
Use drama as a way to motivate students to stick with boring or difficult tasks.
Students consider the intentions of characters in a story who are kind to others.
Students will identify the stereotypes they hold and consider the impact those stereotypes have on the fair treatment of athletes.
Use the Circle process to encourage students to safely and respectfully share their level of understanding on an academic topic.
Use the Circle process to build a sense of connection among students and staff by sharing moods, feelings, and moments of joy and pain.
Students develop courage by evaluating an idea or proposition and taking a stance on it.
Students will identify their personal biases and consider how those biases influence their ability to treat others fairly.
Students read a text slowly and reflect on its personal meaning for them.
Students explore their thoughts, emotions, or ideas by freewriting on a topic of their choosing, an academic-related question, or an ethical dilemma.
A routine for celebrating each student in your class
A routine for celebrating each student in your class
A routine for celebrating each student in your class
A routine for celebrating each student in your class
A routine for celebrating each student in your class
A routine for celebrating each student in your class
A routine for celebrating each student in your class
Students design a tattoo that symbolizes the things that matter most to them. (Purpose Challenge Practice #6)
Students grow their self-understanding through a contemplative art process that uses their own “scrapbook” of meaningful images.
Students brainstorm ideas for coping with anger as a first step to forgiveness.
A game involving balance and teamwork that helps build trust.
Help students (or staff) understand that mistakes are important for learning and growing our intelligence.
A discussion that uses scenarios to explore character and citizenship.
A discussion that uses scenarios to explore character and citizenship.
A discussion that uses scenarios to explore character and citizenship.
A discussion that uses scenarios to explore character and citizenship.
A discussion that uses scenarios to explore character and citizenship.
A discussion that uses scenarios to explore character and citizenship.
A discussion that uses scenarios to explore character and citizenship.
Students shift their beliefs about people’s ability to change.
Reduce student anxiety by changing students’ beliefs about social challenges.
Teachers and students converse with each other through letter writing.
Teachers and students converse with each other through writing.
Teachers and students converse with each other through writing.
Students identify their strengths to increase self-understanding. (Gratitude for Tweens and Teens Lesson 1)
Students reach out to trusted adults to ask what they think are students’ strengths and talents. (Purpose Challenge Practice #1)
A short but powerful number sense activity that shows students the visual nature of math, creativity in math, and that there are many different ways people see math.
Students experience drawing as a strategy that can help shift unpleasant emotions to calmer, more pleasant ones.
Students reflect on what it means to "bear witness" to something.
Students reflect on how the Earthrise photograph offered humans a new way to see the Earth: without borders or boundaries.
Students reflect on how the Earthrise photograph instills a sense of awe and wonder towards our planet.
Practice slowing down and bringing your full awareness to a sensory experience.
Broaden students’ thinking about a topic or skill, sparking curiosity, creativity, humility, and open-mindedness
Teachers will foster students’ moral identity through selective use of language in the classroom.
Students engage in prosocial (kind, helpful) actions for ten days and reflect on the impact of their actions on themselves and others.
Inspire students to practice intellectual humility by introducing them to what intellectual humility is, what it looks like, and why it is valuable.
Students explore and reflect on their values. (Purpose Challenge Practice #4)
Students reflect on why another person acted kindly towards them, and practice gratitude both verbally & in writing.
Students use writing as a tool to explore their emotions and challenges
Students think about a time when they felt close to someone in order to foster a sense of belonging and well-being.
In a group meeting, students share their feelings while also building their feelings vocabulary and emotion knowledge.
In a group meeting, students share their feelings while also building their feelings vocabulary and emotion knowledge.
In a group meeting, students share their feelings while also building their feelings vocabulary and emotion knowledge.
In a group meeting, students share their feelings while also building their feelings vocabulary and emotion knowledge.
In a group meeting, students share their feelings while also building their feelings vocabulary and emotion knowledge.
In a group meeting, students share their feelings while also building their feelings vocabulary and emotion knowledge.
In a group meeting, students share their feelings while also building their feelings vocabulary and emotion knowledge.
Students identify emotions related to gratitude.
Engage, motivate, and calm students by cultivating awe through sensory experiences.
Students discover what is meaningful to them and how it connects to their learning.
Students track their breathing as they trace up and down the fingers of one hand.
Students “finish” math problems by making connections between solutions to problems and everyday life.
Students practice turning complaints into gratitude statements.
In this circle activity, students practice mindful speaking and mindful listening.
A list of discussion questions to help cultivate students’ empathy.
A list of discussion questions to help cultivate students’ empathy.
A game to develop students' self-control by stopping themselves from moving or dancing when the music stops
Students think about the factors that encourage and discourage people to act when they confront suffering or injustice.
Students define gratitude and name things they’re grateful for.
Students cultivate moral reasoning skills and humility through a peer-feedback process focused on P.E. skills.
Students reflect on acts of kindness and how they often require intention and effort on the part of the person who does them.
A norm-setting activity to help create an environment for productive, positive, and equitable group work in math class
Students interview an older person about gratitude, deepening their own understanding of gratitude.
Students write five things they’re grateful for once a day for two weeks.
Students deepen their understanding of gratitude by “embodying” it.
Students take a mindful walk in nature, noting what they are grateful for, and create a collaborative art piece of their experience.
Students interpret and role-play a variety of quotes about gratitude.
A game to cultivate students’ focus and attention by listening carefully and remembering the right motion
Strategies to encourage and help students practice honesty
A game to develop students' memory and attention by remembering what you're supposed to do while doing a different motion.
Learn to comfort yourself in the ways you would comfort good friends.
Acknowledge the faces of everyone in your classroom or meeting to deepen a sense of group connection.
A game to build students’ focus and attention by practicing careful looking to find the object that another person is thinking of
Mentally cultivate kindness toward yourself and consider how you might be of service to others
Broaden students’ thinking and connection to something larger than themselves.
Use language that sparks helpfulness in students.
Students reflect on examples of the goodness of humanity.
Students explore what forgiveness is and what it is not.
Students hear and share inspiring stories compassionate risk-takers and then develop their own service project.
Students get a secret kindness buddy to do a kind act for during the week.
Students learn about forgiveness from book characters.
Foster our shared humanity by reflecting on the human life cycle.
Students listen to a song or piece of music and observe their responses.
Use stories to encourage students’ courageous behavior in school and at home
Foster students’ sense of interconnectedness through awe
Students walk silently around school, noticing people they are grateful for and telling them so.
Students extend kindness to themselves and others.
Mentally cultivate kindness toward yourself and others.
Students mentally send good wishes to someone who is important to them.
A magical game of tag that promotes inclusion and teamwork.
Students describe their ideal world and how they might contribute to creating that world. (Purpose Challenge Practice #2)
Students reflect on how their science learning is relevant to their lives.
Students learn that when someone does something kind, it takes time and effort.
Students reflect on a Viktor Frankl quote about why meaning in life is important. (Purpose Challenge Practice #3)
Students use photography or drawing to explore purpose and meaning in their lives.
Become aware of the movement of your breath through your body.
Students learn to notice sounds, their beginnings and endings, and the silent spaces between each sound.
Students learn to notice body sensations and release sources of physical tension.
A daily mindfulness and music appreciation practice for the whole school or a single classroom
A daily mindfulness and poetry appreciation practice for the whole school or a single classroom
Students pay close attention to the experience of seeing while observing an object.
Connect with your natural capacity to care for yourself
A practice to cultivate calmness, connectedness, and physical awareness.
Boost students’ growth mindset in math through a short video and discussion.
A game to build students' focus and attention by remembering when to use motions instead of words.
Students learn how their thoughts can affect them.
Grades K-3 students learn about the three parts of the brain that are involved with emotion regulation, attention, and learning.
A game to develop student's memory and attention by remembering what each person has said and repeating it in the correct order
Students take time to reflect on positive experiences, attributes, and/or aspirations.
Students take time to reflect on positive experiences, attributes, and/or aspirations.
Students take time to reflect on positive experiences, attributes, and/or aspirations.
Students take time to reflect on positive experiences, attributes, and/or aspirations.
Students take time to reflect on positive experiences, attributes, and/or aspirations.
Students take time to reflect on positive experiences, attributes, and/or aspirations.
Students take time to reflect on positive experiences, attributes, and/or aspirations.
Students identify ways that they have acted with kindness towards others.
A brief learning activity that demonstrates the many different ways people see math and builds students’ flexibility with numbers.
Tap into students’ questions and and encourage them to wonder about the world around them.
Students explore ways to overcome what keeps us from expressing our thanks.
Help students plan enjoyable activities as a form of self-care
Review and expand your classroom or school library with books that represent diverse backgrounds.
A process for helping students generate purposeful projects or endeavors
Students choose a quote about purpose and reflect on why it resonates with them. (Purpose Challenge Practice #7)
Create class community by brainstorming ways to stop put-downs.
Build trust and understanding among students by exploring questions of wonder.
Students practice kindness to increase their happiness
Lead a brief choral reading practice that fosters community and connection.
Help students calm themselves through a short coloring exercise.
Students cultivate practical wisdom by working through a moral dilemma and deciding on a course of action.
Students discuss the SEL skills touched upon during the activity in which they have just participated.
Foster students’ moral identity through story writing.
Students share their opinions and disagreements in healthy ways.
Students practice noticing body sensations and relaxing body parts.
Students learn to relax their bodies and quiet their minds.
Students briefly check-in with themselves and focus their attention on their breath.
Students practice appreciating the body’s processes in a deeply mindful way.
Students recognize the costs and benefits involved in a kind act. (Gratitude for Tweens and Teens Lesson 2)
Students look for the good in others by acknowledging each other’s strengths. (Gratitude for Tweens and Teens Lesson 3)
Students and staff lessen their stress by changing their outlook on a negative event.
Foster well-being and connection by contemplating the magnitude of the universe.
Use the Circle process to encourage self-care among staff and students in all dimensions.
Learn how to comfort yourself during stressful times.
Practice understanding and acceptance for yourself rather than self-criticism.
Students observe their breath while relaxing and tensing their bodies, and then practice shaking and freezing their bodies.
Students share stories about a time they felt grateful.
A game to develop students' memory and attention by remembering what motions accompany each phrase, and doing them correctly quickly
A game to develop students' self-control by doing the correct (silly) motion instead of the automatic one
A game to develop students' self-control by listening for a key phrase before doing an action
A game to develop students' self-control by managing how they sing a familiar song
Students explore real-world examples to help them identify peaceful ways to respond to discrimination.
A list of strategies for making explicit connections to SEL skills throughout the day in order to reinforce students’ practice of skills
Ways to use SEL for cultivating youth agency and civic engagement
A values-informed process to help students make the best possible ethical choices
Students build trust and inclusion through a quick and fun game that reveals their commonalities.
Strategies for parents and caregivers to show their children they love them by helping them to process their emotions
Students spend a day or two doing a variety of meaningful activities.
Strategies for parents and caregivers that teach their children how to practice to help them achieve their goals
A practice for parents and caregivers to help their child or teen plan enjoyable activities as a form of self-care
Help kids rethink prejudice and connect across differences.
Students learn how to think gratefully. (Gratitude for Tweens and Teens Lesson 4)
Students learn how the positive emotions from gratitude create a cycle of giving.
Students use mindful breathing to regulate their emotions.
Students learn to manage their emotions in a healthy way by identifying the people and places that influence changes in their emotions.
Students define and practice “good sense,” or the will and know-how to do the right thing.
Students record three good things that happened to them each day for a week.
Students cultivate courage, empathy, and compassion by sharing and listening to others comment on how others see them versus who they really are.
Students cultivate courage by making a commitment to engage in a courageous act.
Develop students’ intellectual humility by helping them to ask questions while thoughtfully evaluating evidence.
Students explore how every person has dignity and worth—even those who hurt us.
Students identify others' assumptions about them and then describe who they really are on the inside.
Students explore how groups, communities, and nations define who belongs and who does not, and how these decisions are made.
Grade 4-7 students learn about the three parts of the brain that are involved with emotion regulation, attention, and learning.
A game to develop students' self-control by waiting before doing a series of motions.
Students learn how kindness and gratitude strengthen friendships through Splat the Cat.
Students imagine what life would be like without certain things in our classrooms or schools.
Students explore and write about what makes a good life.
Students identify what gets in the way of expressing gratitude.
Students define gratitude and the many forms it takes.
A game to develop students' memory and attention by keeping track of objects in order to tell which one is missing
Students learn how our different backgrounds give us different perspectives.
Students examine how they face everyday moral dilemmas and consider who and what influences their reactions when conflicts arise.
Through stories, discussion, and creative presentations about true heroes, students foster their compassion for others and see brave community involvement as an admirable, heroic way of life.
A game to build students’ focus and attention by listening carefully to hear who stole the honey pot
Students explore, reflect, and write about being an upstander rather than a bystander.
A game to develop students' memory and attention by remembering a series of motions and doing them in the correct order
Students respectfully discuss their stance on a current event.
A game to cultivate students’ focus and attention by knowing when it is their turn and the right thing to say
Students learn to observe and accept emotions and body sensations.
“Until you make the unconscious conscious, it will direct your life and you will call it fate.”
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