What does it mean to know oneself? How does one become self-aware? Furthermore, how do you teach it?
The search for who we are and what makes us “us” is almost a right of passage and one that we may go through several times throughout our lives. In fact, Socrates believed that self-knowledge is crucial for individual growth.
I’ll go one step further and say that self-knowledge is crucial for professional growth as well.
"Stanford rates soft skills like self-awareness as one of the pillars of managerial capabilities that predicts managerial effectiveness and leadership success. It suggests that IQ and technical skills are far less important to leadership success than self-awareness. In a world of unprecedented business complexities, leaders, besides explicit knowledge, need an inner compass of self-awareness to walk the tightrope of leadership.”
Self-awareness can be a challenging topic for young adults because this is the time when they experience so many firsts, including independence and an increase in responsibility. The safety net is just a little farther away. And uncertainty in one’s self is almost certain.
To spark interest and engage students in my liberal arts classes, I created a series of activities where students reflect on several famous quotes that center around self-awareness, which are all included in the Know Thyself Mega Bundle.
There are four sets of these activities that can be purchased separately, but I bundled them together as well. Each product has three famous quotations including Maya Angelou, Aristotle, and John Jacque Rousseau with striking images and one blank page as well. Students reflect upon the quotations and figure out how it relates to their own lives.
Each set of quotations comes in both print and Google Slides versions,
so you may incorporate them however you want!
This bundle makes it perfect for in-person, blended, or fully remote courses!
Besides the quotations themselves, I have included a brief explanation of each quotation, a link to the questions for students to use interactively through Classroom™ or other online platforms. To help teachers see how it can be implemented, I also included 5 student examples.
While learning about what philosophers say about self-awareness, students are able to connect to the content in a very authentic way.
Not only is this product perfect for introductory philosophy courses, but it can be applied to other academic settings and content! Find any character in a book or historical figure who is on a journey of self-discovery or a character that has revelations of who they thought they were and who they discover themselves to be. Off the top of my head, Scout from To Kill a Mockingbird comes to mind. In that summer of luring Boo Radley and Tom Robinson’s trial, Scout discovers more about herself and grapples with the ironic and sometimes backward ways of others’ behaviors.
And that is just one example! Just think of the many ways this resource could be incorporated into your lessons!
I sincerely hope you find this resource useful. It has always been a popular activity in my classroom and I know it will effectively engage your students, too!
HOW I USE IT IN MY CLASSROOM:
During the spring semester I taught 100% online! I uploaded the digital file and had students choose which quotation they wanted to work with. After they completed the assignment, I reviewed some of the quotations, and their authors, and then I invited students to share their thoughts with the class during GOOGLE MEET. This assignment is now one of my favorites - I cannot believe the responses I get. If we ever get back to normal, you can print and complete this as an in-class assignment or go the digital route!
