by Julie Braumberger, SEL4OH Leadership Team Member and Director of Education, Mind Body Align
What does “SEL” really mean? After years of working across age groups as a social and emotional educator, I’ve learned that the answer to that question depends entirely on who you ask. For some, SEL is a program. For others, it’s a poster on the wall or a box to check. That’s exactly why we need a clear, grounded definition. It must be simple, practical, and deeply rooted in what actually works for students and teachers. As part of SEL4OH’s Back to Basics series, I’ll be focusing on the core competency of self-awareness, as defined by CASEL. Together we will explore what it is, why it matters, how it can be taught across all developmental levels, and how to integrate it into the classroom.
What is Self-Awareness?
According to CASEL (2020), self-awareness is “the ability to understand one’s own emotions, thoughts, and values and how they influence behaviour across contexts. This includes capacities to recognize one’s strengths and limitations with a well-grounded sense of confidence and purpose.” A clear and easy definition from the Berkley Greater Good Science Center (2025) says that “Self-Awareness is simply the ability to be aware of one’s inner life. This includes emotions, thoughts, behaviors, values, preferences, goals, strengths, challenges, and how these elements impact behavior and choices across contexts.”
Self-awareness means knowing who you are, how you feel, what matters to you, and how those things affect the way you act. It includes being able to name your emotions and thoughts, noticing what you’re good at and what you find hard, and understanding the special things you contribute to your community, like your culture, language, and personality. It also means noticing how your identity and background can shape how you act in different places, like at home, school, or with friends. When you build self-awareness, you grow confidence and learn how to make thoughtful choices that fit who you are.
Why Self-Awareness Matters
Self-awareness is foundational because it acts as the gateway to all the other SEL competencies (self-management, social awareness, relationship skills, responsible decision-making). Without knowing themself, students will struggle to regulate behavior, understand others, form healthy relationships, or make wise decisions. Research highlights multiple benefits of strong self-awareness. For example, Greater Good in Education points out that students who develop self-awareness and self-management skills show better academic performance, stronger relationships with peers and teachers, greater well-being, and less engagement in risky behavior.
It gets better. When students are able to label their emotions, recognize triggers, and understand how their thoughts and values influence actions, they are better positioned to manage those emotions, focus attention, and engage meaningfully in learning. In other words, self-awareness supports attention, regulation, and learning readiness.
From a school culture perspective, emphasizing self-awareness helps build a climate of reflection, metacognition, and agency. When students understand their internal world, they are more likely to engage consciously in learning, collaborate respectfully, and take ownership of their growth.
In short, teaching self-awareness is not “soft” or optional. It is a key lever for powering academic success, behavioral growth, and social-emotional development.
Tips for Teaching Self-Awareness at Different Developmental Levels
Here are practical ideas for how educators can scaffold self-awareness across early childhood, elementary, and secondary grades.
Pre Kindergarten / Kindergarten – Grade 3
- Use simple language to name emotions and connections to body sensations: “My face is hot becauseI’m feeling mad,” “I’m hopping up and down because I feel excited,” “My tummy feels funny because I’m nervous.”
- Use visual emotion charts, feeling faces, and short emotion check-ins (e.g., “What’s your weather like today?”).
- Introduce a “Pause and Notice” routine: before starting an activity, ask students to take 3 deep breaths and ask themselves: How do I feel right now? What do I need?
- Read aloud stories focusing on characters noticing their feelings/thoughts and making choices based on them; afterwards, prompt discussion: “How did the character feel? What did they do with that feeling?”
Upper Elementary (Grades 4–6)
- Expand the vocabulary of thoughts, values, and identity: e.g., thoughts like, “I’ll never get this,” or values like, “I care about fairness.”
- Use journals or reflection prompts: “When I feel ___, I often think ___, I do ___, and I wish I could ___.”
- Use role-plays or scenarios: “If I feel nervous about presenting in class, what thought might run through my head? What could I say to myself instead?”
- Connect emotions/thoughts to behaviour: Ask “When I felt angry yesterday, what did I do? Was that helpful? What could I do differently next time?”
Secondary / Middle & High School
- Use goal-setting and reflection: “My goal is ___, because it matters to me (value) and supports who I am becoming. What thoughts will help me? What emotions might arise, and how might I handle them?”
- Have students keep an “emotion-thought‐action log” for a week: note when a strong emotion arose, what thought accompanied it, what action followed – then discuss patterns.
- Encourage peer-reflection and feedback: e.g., “I noticed when you said ___ you sounded frustrated. What were you thinking? How did that affect your behaviour?”
- Build growth-mindset and self-efficacy: Help students see past successes/failures as data, not identity (“I’m not good at math” → “I’m developing my math skills, this is hard but I have strategies”).
Integrating Self-Awareness Into Academics
Self-awareness doesn’t live in a vacuum—the most powerful practice is to embed it in academic content, not just during stand-alone SEL time. Here are strategies to integrate self-awareness into reading, writing, math, science, social studies, and more.
Reading & Language Arts
- While reading a character-driven story, prompt: “What is the character feeling? What thoughts might they have? How does that influence their behavior?” Then follow: “What might you feel or think if you were in that situation?”
- Use writing journals for reflection: “Today I learned ___ about myself when…”, “One strength I used was…”, “One challenge I want to work on is…”
Math & Science
- Use “think aloud” where students verbalise their thought process: “I’m thinking this way because… I feel stuck here because…” This builds awareness of thoughts and emotions in problem-solving.
- After a challenging task: “How did I feel when I got stuck? What did I think? What did I do? Next time what might I do differently?”
Social Studies / History
- Use reflective tasks: “What value or belief would I want to carry forward from this unit? How does that matter to me and to my community?”
- During project work: “What emotions or thoughts came up when I looked at this topic? How did that affect how I approached the research/work?”
Classroom routines and structures
- Build regular “check-in” routines at the start of class: e.g., “What emotion am I bringing? What thought is on my mind? What will help me be ready?”
- Use exit tickets: “Name one strength you used today and one challenge you encountered. What did that tell you about yourself?”
Final Thoughts
In a climate where SEL is sometimes misunderstood or trivialized, returning to the basic competencies, starting with self-awareness, helps ground us in evidence, intentionality, and meaningful practice. Teaching students to know themselves, to think about how their inner world shapes their actions, and to build confidence in their identity and purpose is no less important than teaching them multiplication facts or writing skills. It is foundational to their ability to learn, grow, relate, and contribute.
From kindergarten through high school, we can and should build opportunities for students to notice, reflect, and act on their internal life. Then, weave those opportunities into everyday academic work.
For SEL4OH schools, districts, and educators: starting with self-awareness means we’re not just doing SEL as an “add-on.” We’re designing classrooms where students become attuned to themselves, and thereby are better equipped to engage in academic tasks, collaborate with others, regulate themselves, and make responsible choices in their lives.
Stay tuned for the next blog in the SEL4OH Back to Basics series, where we’ll explore another core competency and continue offering clear, research-based supports for integrating SEL effectively.
