Story Name: Discover who you are and the superpower of knowing yourself and use it to become better

Teacher’s Notes:

a.  Key Topic

Through the story the kids will receive valuable information about the concept and importance of self-awareness.  They will familiarize themselves with cultivating self-awareness skills such as knowing how their strengths, weaknesses, and personality affect their choices and the way they treat people in their lives.  The aim here is to make kids realize that when they are self-aware they are able to understand themselves in relation to the world around them.

b.  Concepts Introduced to the kids through the Story

• Knowing yourself and your feelings is important
• Discover what you are good at, your special skills and strengths, and put them to work for you
• Finding out what you are not good at can help you create a plan to become better

c.  Learning Objectives for the Kids

• Understand the concept and importance of self-awareness
• Discover the process of cultivating it for themselves
• Create conditions that will help them become self-aware

d.  Tips for Teaching through Storytelling

When teaching youngsters we need to use a slightly different approach than when teaching adults, meaning that youngsters relate better to visuals, examples and stories (real life examples/stories are even better) and interactive technology.  Also, young kids do not need a lot of jargon, they need a much simpler vocabulary that they can understand.  In addition, the teacher has to figure out a way to relate to the kids and there are a number of things that can be done in this direction from the type of clothes the teachers wear, to the language they use, the way they move about in the class, etc.

Storytelling is more than just reading the words of a story out loud.  It takes other skills as well.  It is important for teachers to use different tones in their voice when they are telling a story.  If the teacher’s voice stays at the same level it becomes boring!  The teacher will want their voice to go higher and lower, louder and softer.  Teachers should try to use different voices for different characters and make sure that they speak loud enough so that everyone hears them, and say the words clearly so that everyone can understand them.

Teachers should also have in mind that storytelling is not just words; it is motion as well.  They will have to move around when they tell their story; they should use their arms, legs, hands and their face to tell the story.  In addition, they have to make sure to maintain eye contact with their audience.  Eye contract is one of the most important non-verbal ways to connect with other people.  It helps keep the attention of the audience and it also conveys a sense of confidence and truthfulness.  It is best that teachers always look directly into the kids’ eyes; they will connect with them and keep their attention longer.

e.  In-class discussion after the storytelling

• Discuss the concept of self-awareness in relation to one’s strengths and ask the kids for some examples from their life.  Follow with a discussion of their examples.
• Discuss the concept of self-awareness in relation to one’s weaknesses and ask the kids for some examples from their life.  Follow with a discussion of their examples.
• Ask the kids the following questions and discuss their answers.  Usually there is time to take and discuss the answers of 2 to 3 kids.

• • How did Madya feel when she realized what had gone wrong in the tryouts?
  • Why do you think it is helpful to know our weaknesses?

The Story

Our friends at the Soccertopia Eagles Academy are having their weekly get-together today with their coach, Mr. Soccerball and they look forward to their chat.  All kids gather round and there is a lot of noise, chatter and laughter.  Madya though is very quiet, actually she looks a bit sad.  Her friends Lucius and Fiducius are trying to cheer her up by telling her jokes but she is not laughing and she looks like she is ready to burst into tears.

Mr. Soccerball notices that Madya is not her usual smiley, bubbly self and when the kids sit around and settle down, he says:  So, kids, what are we going to talk about today?  Can I make a suggestion?

-Yes, of course Mr. Soccerball, replied the kids, tell us, whatare we going to talk about today?

-Well, said Mr. Soccerball said, why don’t we talk about discovering who we are?  What do you think?  Is this something you would like to talk about?

The kids seemed a little confused and Lucius turned to Mr. Soccerball and said:  But I don’t understand how this works sir, how are we going to do this?

Mr. Soccerball looked at the kids and said:  Discovering who we are means knowing why we feel the way we do and what makes us feel that way; it means understanding what we are good at and what we are not so good at.

-And how will that help us sir? asked Madya rather sadly.  Is it going to change things?

-Yes Madya, it can really change things, said Mr. Soccerball, let’s see how.  I need someone to help me here.  How about it Madya, would you like to be my helper for today?

-I guess so, said Madya, what do I have to do?

-You can start by telling us how you feel right now, said Mr. Soccerball.

-I am not very happy today sir, I feel a bit sad, said Madya in a low voice.

-Why is that Madya? asked Mr. Soccerball.  What made you sad?

-Well sir, it has to do with what happened yesterday at the tryouts for the Supersoccer tournament team selection, said Madya.  I was not selected for the team and I really wanted to be part of the team.  I was dreaming about winning the game against the Soccertopia Devils and I wanted so much to be the top scorer of the game….

-I see, Mr. Soccerball said.  I understand why you feel the way you do, it is hard when you really want something but it doesn’t happen the way you want it.  Let’s take a look at why this happened.  Perhaps, finding out why you were not selected, will help you in the future when you are in similar situations.

-Mr. Soccerball, I don’t know why this happened, said Madya.  I have been practicing hard, every day and you keep telling me that I am good at it, that I am one of the best defenders.

-Hold it right there Madya, I think we are on to something here, said Mr. Soccerball.  Yes, I do believe that you are a great defender, and a valuable member of the team in that position.  But you tried out for a striker position, isn’t that right?

-Yes sir, I did, said Madya.  I figured it is a better position because you get to score goals and people cheer at you, when you do.

-I think I know what went wrong here, said Mr. Soccerball.  You have always trained and practiced as a defender.  And when you train as a defender you need to work on your strength and skills like tackling.  On the other hand, when you train as a striker you need to do a lot of running drills because being fast is important and also, as a striker you need to work on your ball technique.  See what happened here?

-I am not so sure sir, said Madya.  Just because I am a great defender it does not mean that I can also be a great striker?

– Not exactly Madya, replied Mr. Soccerball.  You have practiced hard to become a great defender and had you tried out for a defender position, you would most certainly make the team.  To become a great striker though, you need different skills like running fast and having a good ball technique.  You can get those skills by working on them and doing running drills and ball handling and shooting practice.

Madya’s eyes lit up and she said:  I think I understand now Mr. Soccerball.  We have to know what we are good at and if what we want to do, needs different skills than the ones we are good at, we will have to work on getting better at those skills.

-Now it is clear to me, said Madya.  This is what discovering who we are, is all about.  Knowing what we are good at and knowing what we are not so good at, can actually make us better!

-Yeah, said Lucius, because this way we can work on getting better at whatever it is that we are not good at.  Wow, this is really cool because it means that whatever we want to do, whatever we want to be, we can really do it.  All it takes is using our superpowers of consistency, discipline and good decision making.

-Exactly, said Mr. Soccerball.  And now we are adding one more superpower to our toolbox: the superpower of knowing ourselves, our special skills, strengths and weaknesses.  This superpower has a funny name kids, it is called ‘Self Awareness”, meaning knowing yourself.

All the kids were impressed with the name of this new superpower.  Madya was much happier now because she realized what happened and why she was not selected for the team.  Now she knows how to do things in the future because now she knows who she is and she knows what it takes to do anything she wants.  She happily turns to the rest of the kids and starts singing:

Knowing who you are

Can make you go far

And turn you into a star!

-That is right kids, said Mr. Soccerball.  Knowing yourself helps you become the star you want to be!