Self-Awareness
Self-awareness is comprehending that the self is separate from others. Self-awareness develops gradually beginning at childhood when a person begins to identify and name their emotions, preferences, and strengths and weaknesses. Between the ages of 1-3, children start seeking increased independence. Those whose independence is supported develop the virtue of will while others develop dependency and low self-esteem. Between ages 3-6, children should be allowed to plan activities to develop their sense of initiative and feel secure in their abilities. Children who are denied this chance to develop a sense of guilt and forcefulness. Emotional self-awareness develops in children by the ages of 5 or 6 when they can experience more than one feeling at a time. At this time, children should learn how to regulate their emotions, the results of which are impactful on their social competence. Self-awareness develops into self-concept and self-esteem. As children interact with society, they assess themselves based on how other people react to them. If a child has healthy self-esteem, they tend to think highly of themselves in terms of ability and likability. On the other hand, those with low self-esteem have low confidence in their abilities. Adults should avoid ignoring, lying, and denying children’s emotions and adopt helpful ways of addressing children’s emotions.
Educator Role
The role of an educator is to be there when a child is developing self-awareness and create strategies and an environment where the child can build up their capabilities. An educator’s task is to observe and examine children’s self-awareness and positive self-concept through their artworks and by asking students to talk about their likes and dislikes. The educator is also supposed to foster the development of self-awareness and self-esteem. To promote the development of self-awareness in children, educators can use effective praise to acknowledge children’s efforts. Also, educators can invite children to elaborate on their experiences, use behavior reflections, and open-ended questions during class interactions. Educators also play a vital role in increasing children’s emotional development. This can be accomplished using books, stories, and songs to encourage discussions about emotions and to point out emotions experienced by characters in the stories. The educator’s role is also to help children cope with strong emotions. These strong emotions can be managed by acknowledging the emotion, refining information in case the strong emotion is a result of misinterpretation, and teaching children self-regulation. Educators should be careful to avoid the pitfalls in dealing with children’s emotions such as shaming
Summary Self Awareness & Educator Role
The development of self-awareness and positive self-concept is essential for children as they determine a child’s self-esteem and social competence. At a young age, society has significant effects on the emotional development of the child. At this stage, children grapple with novel emotional tasks, and they need support to have positive development. The educator’s role is to observe, assess, and foster the development of a child’s self-awareness, positive self-concept, and emotional development and learning.
Social-Emotional Learning (SEL)
Social and emotional learning is the process through which children and adults develop social and emotional competencies such as the ability to identify and control emotions, building positive relationships, and being responsible. SEL develops self-awareness, responsibility, self-management, social awareness, and relationship management. In preschool years the goals of SEL are to build awareness of personal identity, management of emotions and behaviors, foster an appreciation for diversity, communicate and establish relationships, and learn responsibility. This can be achieved through various strategies that involve creating activities for children that help in the development of empathy, positive behavior, communication, and relationship-building skills. The pyramid model is used for developing children’s socio-emotional learning. The model has four levels that focus on relationships, designing supportive environments, using social and emotional teaching techniques, and conducting thorough personal interventions. Each level has its objectives, which are collectively aimed at building a child’s social and emotional competence. This model is useful because it allows for parents and educators to work together to provide the right conditions for the social-emotional development of the child.
Educator’s Role
An educator should intentionally design and implement strategies that will guide children to achieve the goals of social-emotional learning. The goals of social-emotional learning can be accomplished through activities that ask children to identify their strengths, needs, and preferences. The educator can also ask the child to describe themselves or identify and recognize their emotions through class activities. Educators can also create strategies that develop the positive self-concept of a child.
Educators should use the pyramid model as a compass to promote young children’s healthy social and emotional development. In Level 1, the educator can communicate with families on the progress of their child and the strategies being used for social-emotional learning. In Level 2, the teacher can create a supportive environment that fosters confidence and a sense of security for the children hence allowing them to discover who they are, express themselves, and conceptualizing their ideas. In Level 3, an educator uses strategies such as modeling, rehearsing, routines and transitions, and providing feedback and acknowledgment.
Summary: Social-emotional learning and educator role
Social-emotional learning helps children and adults to develop social and emotional competencies such as the ability to identify and control emotions, building positive relationships, and being responsible. Social-emotional is vital because it leads to the development of a child’s overall social and emotional skills. The role of the educator is to work with parents to provide an ideal learning environment for children to develop their social-emotional skills using approaches such as the pyramid model.