Building Self-Esteem In Young Learners

Gerame S. Roque

It’s a known fact that elementary level is the period in which pre-teens and teens experience their most formative years. What they learn, how they behave, and how they interact with others during this time can carry on into adulthood—whether positive or negative.

As educators, I believe we have the great opportunity to facilitate positive thinking and actions in our students, as well as help build their self-esteem, with us as their role models. Self-esteem is an incredible component of successful performance in life, so we, as their teachers, should be concerned about preparing them for the future. Furthermore, self-esteem is both a recognition of self-worth and a healthy love of the self. It is the ability to know the self and to take actions which preserve, improve, and foster the self and one’s relationships with others.

Before performing activities directed toward building our students’ esteem, it might be a good idea to know how they see and describe themselves. This will give us a foundational analysis of each student to assess and compare throughout the year.

In the past, I have tried our some activites to bring our the best in my students. One of these is encouraging them to think positively and praising their good attributes and qualities

To counteract peer pressure, another effective way to build students’s selfesteem is by encouraging him or her to a group. Students find common ground amongst themselves when they realize they have commonalities with others. By encouraging our students to form friendship with their classmates, we can help build their confidence in themselves as they have a group that will raise rather than putting one another down, which also results in a boost of self-esteem.

With the current pandemic, one activity that I could think of is to motivate our learners to

write letter to oneself. To be specific, students each write a letter to his or her future self, detailing whatever they wish, whether it details their life at the moment, a poem, or their future goals, among others. When the students receive the letter back again, they will be able to compare and contrast themselves after a year’s worth of change.

As final thoughts, promoting self-esteem in our students is a very important and beneficial way we can improve their lives. Certain activities can help to form lasting connections among students, improve team performance, and heighten students’ empathy levels for others, as well as serve as a means to decrease stranger anxiety through exposure.

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The author is Teacher II at Cabetican Elementary School Proper