What makes me special?
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Attachments
About this resource
Foster self-confidence and esteem in your students.
Following are classroom activities to explore this subject and a downloadable document in Attachments.
- Build student confidence;
- Improve student relationships; and
- Recognise positive and negative self-talk behaviours.
- For students to become familiar with the importance of self-confidence and esteem, and the role it plays in forming friendships.
Students will be able to:
- describe things they like about themselves;
- reflect on things they are good at;
- consider ways to make new friends and develop connections with other people;
- understand individual differences and contributions; and
- develop interview questions to administer to a peer in a follow up lesson.
Peer assessment
Students assessing other students’ learning, with a simple rubric or other instructions to guide feedback
Self-assessment
Students assessing their own learning, with a rubric or other instructions for guidance
Teacher observation
Teacher observation of student learning, with a simple rubric, tick-box or other protocol to record observations
Teacher questioning
Guided questioning from a teacher intended to prompt thinking related to the topic
Feedback
Commentary from teachers or peers on a student’s work. This could be spoken or written, with the goals of acknowledging success and providing guidance for improvement.
Inquiry and problem-based learning
Inquiry learning is focused on a question or questions that guide the learning goals for a unit or module. Problem-based learning is focused on a problem or problems that guide the learning goals for a unit or module. Questions and problems may be generated by the teacher, the students, or by teacher and students together.
Questioning
A variety of questioning tactics to generate discussion. This could include formal, guided questioning from the teacher to direct discussions, as well as informal questioning – teacher-student and student-student – to clarify knowledge and explore topics further.
Work in class independently
Students working by themselves in the classroom, with support from the teacher and available learning materials.
Work in teams or pairs
Student working with other students in the classroom, with support from the teacher and available learning materials. Student groups/pairs can be set by the teacher or formed by students themselves, depending on the needs of the learning task.
Work with family members
This activity involves working with a parent and/or carer, or other responsible adult in the student’s home environment.
The topics of communication and making friends can be explored in many curriculum areas. The sections most relevant to learning are:
- Personal and Social Capability (General capabilities);
- Critical and Creative Thinking (General capabilities); and
- Health and Physical Education.
Australian Curriculum links are made available to further support students to develop their skills, knowledge and understandings based upon the ‘Elaborations’. Use the links to provide further activities for students with homework tasks and activities.
Health and Physical Education: Health and Physical Education | The Australian Curriculum
GC: Critical and Creative Thinking
GC: Personal and Social Capability
Elaborations:
- assessing the impact of different relationships on personal health and wellbeing
- proposing strategies for managing the changing nature of relationships, including dealing with bullying and harassment and building new friendships
- practise skills to establish and manage relationships
- Kid President's Guide to Making a New Friend - YouTube
- Smartphone, laptop device or computer
- Alternative approaches for students with no smart phone or suitable computer device
Tips for navigating and using the resources
- This site is designed to be like a smorgasbord. You can use as many or as few resources as you like – choose what is relevant for you.
- Resources are presented as 'books' and consist of a series of pages; use the 'prev page' and 'next page' links located at the top of the page to move through the resource.
- Once complete, choose the 'What's next' prompt at the bottom of the page to move to the next resource.
- Find resources grouped in collections in the footer, for example: classroom activities, introduction to transition.
- Activities can be adapted according to teachers’ preferences and the needs of their students. Downloadable activities are in Word, PDF or PowerPoint so that you can edit them for your own needs.
Teachers may also consider how they want students to “keep” the activities they do in class, so they have them for reference at a later stage (at their secondary school or for future wellbeing reference).