An Activity To Work On Self-esteem In The Classroom

Do you want to work on developing self-esteem with your students but you don’t know how? Next, we propose a very effective activity.

The concept of self-esteem refers to subjective perception and self-assessment, both personally and socially. To develop a good level of self-esteem, you have to love yourself and accept yourself as you are. But this is not always easy, especially in childhood and adolescence, when one is forming their own character.

For this reason, in the following lines we are going to recommend an activity to work on self-esteem in the classroom. In this sense, it must be taken into account that, at certain ages, friendships and the opinions of other equals become very important. Therefore, it is convenient to work on self-esteem in a joint way, with the whole class.

Factors that influence the development of self-esteem

As we have already mentioned, self-esteem is the subjective assessment that one makes of himself. In the case of being positive, it carries a feeling of:

• Confidence.
• Capacity and personal worth.
• Respect for oneself.
• Appreciation and consideration for oneself and its qualities.

All of this is essential for optimal evolutionary growth and development. But  the formation of a good self-esteem does not depend only on oneself, but several factors also influence, such as the following:

• The own perception of the capacities, quality and personal characteristics.

• The assessment of one’s own achievements or objectives.
• The own comparison with respect to other people.
• The appreciation received from other people. In childhood, the perception of care and affection by the family is especially important. In addition, in preadolescence and adolescence, feeling loved and appreciated by friends is also highly valued.
• The experiences lived.
• The opinion that others have about yourself.
• The interpretation or comments that others make about one’s behavior or behavior.

Therefore, to work on self-esteem in the classroom with children, it is convenient to make them see what other classmates think about them and what is their own reflection on the matter. So, do you want to know an activity to achieve this goal? Next, we explain it to you step by step so that you can easily put it into practice.

An activity to improve self-esteem in the classroom

Before starting the activity, explain to the children what self-esteem consists of in a simple, clear and understandable way. Once they have understood the meaning of this concept, the following steps must be followed:

1. Each student is given a blank page. At the top of it they should write only their name.
2. Each of the children hands the page to the partner on the right. Said partner should write something positive about the student in question, be it qualities, physical characteristics, abilities, skills, etc.
3. When the teacher says “change” , the children must pass the page back to the child on the right, in this way, they receive the page from another of the classmates in which they have to write positive characteristics of that person  whose name appears on the top.
4. This procedure is repeated as many times as necessary, so a chain is formed between the students until each of the pages reaches its owner with the compliments and compliments written by the rest of the classmates.
5. Each child reads the positive characteristics that appear on their page, reflects on them, circles those that surprise them and underlines those with which they agree.
6. Finally, a debate is created in the classroom in which the positive evaluations that the children have made among themselves are discussed.

Now that you know about this interesting activity to work on self-esteem in the classroom, we hope that you will put it into practice soon with your students so that they can appreciate all the incredible qualities that each one of them possesses, even if they have not yet realized them.