Learning Objective:

After learning what self-talk is, how to use it, and when to use it, and writing about a time they
felt like they were not enough, students will provide at least one positive thing they could have
said to themselves.

State Standards Addressed: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.2.8

Recall information from experiences or gather information from provided sources to answer a
question.

Instructional Procedures:
1. Anticipatory Set:
Teacher words / actions Student words / actions

Instruct students to sit at the rug Students sit at the rug in their designated
spots

“Ok I am going to act out a scenario and I

want you all to pay attention to my words
that I am saying. In this scene I am in
elementary school and I am a second
grader. I just got my math test back, and I
didn’t do well on it.”

Put pigtails in your hair, stand on your

knees, put a bow in your hair, and hold a
fake math test that has a lot of answers
wrong.

Talk in a kid voice and say “I did bad on

my math test. Ugh. I am so dumb. I will
never be good at math.” and start to cry.

Now go back into teaching mode and ask

the class “ok so what were some words “That you are stupid and are never going
that I was telling myself?” to be good at math”

“Ya and are those positive words to say to “Negative”

myself or negative words?”

“Exactly! And how would it make you

feel if you were saying these mean things “Sad...not happy…”
to yourself?”
 “Right, so the words that we say to
ourselves and about ourselves have a big
effect on how we feel. If you are saying
mean things to yourself then you’re not
going to feel good. Ok, now I am going to
re-enact that same scene, except this time
I am going to use different words to talk to
myself.”

Act out the same scene but this time when

you look at your bad grade on the test, say
“I didn’t do as well on the test as I thought
I would, but that’s ok because I am still
learning! I will do better next time! Just
because I didn’t do as well as I wanted
this time, doesn’t mean I am dumb. I am
smart! I can do better next time!”

Go back into teacher mode and say “ok so

what are some words you heard me say to Students give examples of words you said
myself”

“Exactly! And if you were to say those

words to yourself, how would that make “It would make me feel better about not
you feel?” doing well… it’ll make me feel good…
it’ll make me feel more confident in
myself…”

“Right! So when we talk nicely to

ourselves, then we will feel a lot better.”

“The way we talk to ourselves makes a

big impact on how we feel.”

2. Perceived Objective and Rationale:

“So, today we are going to learn when and how to use positive self-talk.”

3. Input:
Teacher words / actions Student words / actions

Present google slides (click here to access)

4. Modeling:
Teacher words / actions Student words / actions

Bring out the full body mirror.

“So one way to give yourself positive

self-talk that works really well is talking
to yourself in the mirror and using ‘I am’
statements or ‘I can’ statements. Ok so
watch me first, and then after I go, I am
going to have you all get in a line and you
are going to tell yourself your own “I am”
or “I can” statements in the mirror.”

Demonstrate walking up to the mirror and

say “I am smart. I am kind. I can do Students pay attention
anything I put my mind to.”

Display the slide with the sentence starters

on the board from your google slides
presentation

Tell students that they will form a line and Students get in line and follow directions
when it is your turn at the mirror, you will
say 3 positive things about yourself. When
you are done, come sit back down on the
rug, but sit in their designated spots for
community circle time

Call students by row on the rug and have

them form a line.

Once all students are sat down and ready, “It made me feel good… it made me feel
go around the circle and have students confident…”
explain how that activity made them feel.

5. Checking for Understanding (informal assessment):

Teacher words / actions Student words / actions

When students are saying their statements

to themselves, check for understanding by
ensuring the students are saying positive
things to themselves and not negative
 things.

6. Guided Practice:
● “Ok, so now we are going to go back to our tables and I am going to give you paper that
will look like the pages in your writing journals.”
● Call students by row and hand papers to students as they get up.
● Project your paper onto the overhead so students can see what you are doing.
● “So for this writing task, I am going to have you think about something that made you not
feel good. Maybe somebody said something mean to you, maybe you didn’t do as well as
you wanted on a test, maybe you lost a soccer game… But I want you to think of a time
when you felt not good enough. You are going to write a sentence about it. Give the
students the sentence frame, “I felt discouraged when ______________.”
● Provide an example for them by filling in the blank yourself
● “Now I want you to think of at least one positive thing you could have told yourself when
this happened.”
● Give the students the sentence starter “However, I know that I am ________.
● Provide an example for them by filling in the blank

7. Independent Practice:
● Students will fill in the blanks and complete their sentences. They will then draw a
positive picture of themselves.
● Teacher will assess these after class.

Closure:
● Have students join you at the rug when they are finished
● “Wonderful job today everyone! It is not easy to talk about your feelings, so I am really
proud of everyone for doing that today. What is something you learned from today’s
lesson?”
● Recap what students said

Differentiation:
● Provided sentence starters for ELs
● Acted out concepts for ELs
● Allowed students to draw picture to help express themselves
● Allow students to speak in native language when they talk in the mirror