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SEL- Self Awareness Planner for 3rd/4th

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Grade Student Group
8-Session Lesson PLan

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EDSC 531- Theory & Practice/ Groups in Schools

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Dr. Melissa Chan-Nauli
Presented by: Jackeline Gaitan
Amy Krumpholz
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Beatrice Mackay
August 10, 2023
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Table of Contents

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TITLE A - (AMY)
1 - Name and type of group
2 - Goals and rationale of group
3 -Literature review regarding population served

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4 -Pre/Post Test for group evaluation
TITLE B - (BEATRICE)
5 - Identification of Participation, Mindset and Behavior Data
6 - Alignment with ASCA Mindset & Behaviors
7 & 8 - Leader training and goals

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9 & 10- Group Format & Technique
11- Expectation of group members
TITLE C - (JACKELINE)
12- Rules and roles of participants
13 - How Confidentiality will be achieved
14- How you will determine who to include and exclude:

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questions to ask
TITLE D - (JACKELINE’s Lessons)
15 & 16 - Lesson 1
17 & 18 - Lesson 2
19- Lesson 3

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TITLE E - (AMY’s Lessons)
20 & 21 - Lesson 4
22 & 23 - Lesson 5
24- Lesson 6
TITLE F - (BEATRICE’s Lessons)
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25 - Lesson 7
26 & 27 - Lesson 8
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Name and Type of Group - page 1

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BUILDING

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SELF-AWARE
STUDENTS

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Small Group Counseling

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Goals and Rationale of Group - page 2

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What is self-awareness?

● Self-awareness is the ability to understand

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one’s own emotions, thoughts, and values
and how they influence behavior across
contexts.

Self Aware Students Are Able To:

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● Identify their emotions
● Recognize their strengths and limitations
● Develop awareness of their thoughts and

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behaviors

What are the goals of this group?

● Demonstrate an awareness and

understanding of own emotions TITLE E

● Demonstrate awareness of how our

emotions affect our thoughts and behaviors
● Demonstrate awareness of personal rights
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and responsibilities
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Literature Review: RULER and Elementary Students

Served - page 3

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RULER is an evidence-based approach to social and
emotional learning (SEL) developed at the Yale Center for
Emotional Intelligence.

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RULER is as much about developing a growth mindset about
emotions as it is a set of organized skills that can be
learned. These skills, rooted in emotional intelligence

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theory, are referred to as the “RULER Skills”. They include
our ability to (a) recognize our own emotions and those of
others; (b) understand those feelings and determine what
experiences caused them; (c) label our emotions with a
nuanced vocabulary; (d) express our feelings in accordance
with cultural norms and social contexts; and (e) regulate our TITLE E
emotions by using helpful strategies for dealing with what
we feel and why.
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Evidence shows that RULER enhances individual academic

performance, the quality of learning environments and
improved self-awareness. (Brackett, et. al., 2019)
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Pre/Post Test for Group Evaluation - page 4

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1. I can identify my emotions.

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2. I understand the mood meter.

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3. I am able to label my emotions
with accuracy.

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4. I understand that my emotions
affect my behaviors and thoughts.

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Identification of Participation, Mindset, and

Behavior Data -page 5

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Participation Data:

Who: 6-8 third & fourth grade students

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What: Eight-session SEL small group

Where: School counseling office

When: Mondays from 9:00 to 9:40 am beginning

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October 15, 2023.

Mindset & Behavior Data:

● The percentage of students who can identify

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their emotions.
● The percentage of students who can identify
their emotional states using the Mood Meter.
● The percentage of students who can label their
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emotions with accuracy.
● The percentage of students who can
understand that their emotions affect their
behaviors and thoughts.
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(Springer et al., 2021)

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Alignment with ASCA Mindset & Behaviors - page 6

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ASCA Student Mindset & Behaviors:

Student Mindset Standards:

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•M1. Belief in development of whole self,
including a healthy balance of mental,
social/emotional and physical well-being.

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Student Behavior Standards:

•B-SMS 1 Responsibility for self and actions

• B-SMS 2 Self-discipline and self-control

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• B-SMS 7 Effective coping skills

• B SS- 5 Ethical decision making and social

responsibility
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(American School Counselor Association, n.d.)

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Leader Training and Goals - page 7

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Leadership Training:

Our small group lessons are based on the the

R.U.L.E.R. Approach. RULER is an acronym for

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Recognizing, Understanding, Labeling, Expressing,
and Regulating.

The RULER approach was founded by Yale

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University Center for Emotional Intelligence
(YCEI). RULER is a evidence-based SEL program for
pre K-12 students that school counselors can use.

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School Districts will have to seek a partnership
with YCEI, to license the RULER lesson plans and
provide RULER training courses to school
counselors via their online training program called

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Coursera.
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(RULER, 2019)
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Leader Training and Goals (Cont’d) - page 8

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SEL-Self-Awareness Goals:
1) To help students identify their

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emotions.
2) To help students link emotions to their
thoughts, feelings, and behaviors.
3) To help students understand their

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emotional states using the Mood
Meter.
4) To help students understand how

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emotions may impact others.
5) To increase student overall
self-awareness.
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(RULER, 2019) (Mood Meter)

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Group Format & Technique - page 9

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Group Format: The space designed for
small groups should be conducive to
promote privacy and connection.

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Therefore, physical space for group
sessions should not be held in a large
room with windows. School counselors

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should avoid wedging furniture
between students which creates
feelings of distance and intrusiveness.

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Rather, seek to hold small group
sessions in smaller rooms with
seating closer to each other. This
group format is most optimal as it will
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promote better intimacy, safety,
student participation, development
and growth.
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(Springer et al., 2021)

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Group Techniques - page 10

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Basic Group Techniques to build Self-Awareness:

1) Warm-up activity (i.e. ice breakers, get to know

you questions etc).

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2) Promote student-to-student feedback (i.e.
share and discuss with the partner next to
you).

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3) Promote student to continue learning outside
of the group (i.e. group homework, worksheets
etc.)
4) Assisting students by “linking” their

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responses (point out common theme among
members).
5) Encourage students to “draw-out” (i.e.
creating a list to share).
6) Asking effective questions vs less effective TITLE E

questions (thought provoking questions that

deepen their responses).
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(Springer et al., 2021)

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Expectation of Group Members - page 11

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Ground Rules for Student Expected
Behavior:

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1) What is said in groups stays in
group.
2) Be respectful to everyone.

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3) Follow directions.
4) Listen when someone is
talking.

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5) Share and take turns.
6) We are a team– make sure to
cheer each other on!
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7) Try your best!
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Rules and Roles of Participants -page 12

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Attending groups on time and regularly.

Being prepared for group session with all necessary

supplies.

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Completing all assignments and projects on time.

Organizing their time well.

Respecting themselves and others.

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Doing their best.

Taking Initiative as Active Participants

Asking and answering questions.

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Letting students share their different approaches and
thinking processes for solving problems

Problem-based learning – work in small groups to come up

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with solutions to issues
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How Confidentiality Will Be Achieved- page 13

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Maintaining the confidentiality of verbal information and
written records is a fundamental policy of schools. Group
counseling stresses the importance of protecting the rights
and privacy of children, their families, and our teachers.

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Young children still need to develop a sense of judgment
about the difference between information that can be
shared about their peer's families. Very often, young
children are the source of much gossip and much
conversation about the private lives of their families or

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other students.

Before beginning the group counseling sessions, we will

require parents to sign a Consent Form and Small Group
Counseling Parent Agreement Form including the group

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session curricula and goals, allowing parents to decline
participation.

Besides, we will inform the students that we are committed

to protecting their privacy in a simple and
easy-to-understand way, using a friendly vocabulary to TITLE E
ensure students respect the privacy of others and allow
them to ask questions and share their concerns regarding
this matter.
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How to Determine Who to Include and Exclude:

Questions to Ask - page 14

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Groups are conducted on various topics and are scheduled
as determined by student needs. To determine who to
include and exclude to participate in Group Sessions, the
following stakeholders can refer students to a group

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session anytime during the school year.

● Administrators
● Teachers
● Parents

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Suppose they feel a student could benefit from additional
self-awareness and social-emotional support. In that case,
the stakeholders can refer students to complete a form
and return it to the School Counselor.

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Students may be excluded in case the parent decides to
decline participation.

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 Lesson 1:
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-page 15

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Objective: This lesson helps students develop their
understanding of the importance of the emotion concepts and
vocabulary to follow. While teaching the Introductory Lesson,
counselors will explain how to complete the Community Circle

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Core Routine. This routine helps develop and sustain
community. Once it has been taught in this first lesson, it can
be regularly used throughout the remaining group sessions
while explaining to 6 to 8 3rd and 4th grade students how we
experience emotions in our bodies and minds.

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Key Learning Events:

During the first lesson, students will consider the ways

emotions influence their lives by calling on past experiences of

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emotions that have dictated their thoughts or actions. Next,

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students will construct meaning of the term “emotion” by
considering their own understanding and comparing it to the
provided definition. To learn that emotions are quick
responses to things that happen in our surroundings or in our

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heads. Emotions often cause changes in our thoughts, the
way our bodies feel, and our behavior.

Last, students will develop an understanding of how emotions

cause shifts in their minds, inside their bodies, on their faces,
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and on the outside of their bodies by working in circles to

complete the Table for Lesson 1.
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Lesson 1: Table for Lesson 1
-page 16
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Lesson 2:
- page 17

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Objective:

Students will learn to recognize their emotional states and plot

themselves on the Mood Meter.

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Key Learning Events:

During this small group lesson, students will receive a formal

introduction to the Mood Meter and begin practicing plotting

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themselves.

They will learn that the RED quadrant is home to emotions that
feel unpleasant and have lots of energy like angry and scared.

The BLUE quadrant is home to emotions that feel unpleasant

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and have low energy like sad and lonely.

The GREEN quadrant is home to emotions that feel pleasant and

have low energy like relaxed and calm.

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The YELLOW quadrant is home to emotions that feel pleasant
and have lots of energy like excited and brave.

Students will learn to ask themselves how pleasant they feel

and what their energy level is in order to identify their
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emotions.
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- page 18
Lesson 2:
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Lesson 3:
- page 19

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Objective:

During this group lesson students will notice changes in how they think
and feel when their emotions shift.

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Key Learning Events:

During this lesson, students will learn to focus inward and listen to
changes in their bodies and minds to help them develop greater self
awareness of their emotions. Counselors will ask students to sit up

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straight, close their eyes, and place on hand on their chest above their
heart and the other on their stomach. Counselors will ask students to
take a few deep, focused breaths as they reflect on a time when they
felt scared, worried, or nervous. Counselors will encourage students to
scan their bodies and consider what they notice about their hearts,
stomachs, faces, shoulders, thoughts, etc. While students are reflecting,

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teachers may aid them in activity those anxious or scared feelings by
playing applicable music, such as the Jaws theme song. After 2 minutes
of reflecting, teachers will ask students to turn and talk to a partner or
record in a journal what changes they noticed in their bodies and
thoughts.

Students will repeat the activity, this time recalling a time they felt TITLE E
calm, content, or serene. Counselors will play calming music such as
classical or jazz.

Again, students will discuss with a partner or journal about the changes
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they noticed in their bodies and minds. Counselors will conclude the
lesson by leading a discussion asking students to share their takeaways
from the activity
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Lesson 4: “Ruler Skills”

-page 20

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Objective: All students will be able to distinguish and explain
the five potential ways to regulate emotions.

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Key Learning Events: During this lesson, students will review
the RULER skills and how to use the Mood Meter to develop
and practice each RULER skill.

Counselor will create a poster for students that explains

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the acronym of the word: RULER. Counselors will lead
students in a Mood Meter check-in with the focus of using
the tools to practice each skill. Counselors should model
using the Mood Meter to respond to the following questions,
then ask students to practice doing the same with a

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partner.
• R: Where are you on the Mood Meter?

• U: What is causing you to feel this way?

• L: What word would you use for your feeling?

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• E: How are you showing this feeling?

• R: Is how you’re feeling how want to feel? How can you shift on the mood meter?

Next, Counselor will explain that all the RULER skills work
together to help us regulate our emotions. Students will
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learn that regulation requires us to use a strategy.

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Lesson 4: “Ruler Skills”
-page 21
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Lesson 5: “Ready, SET, Regulation”

- page 22

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Objective: All students will be able to identify and articulate
emotion regulation goals for different, general situations.

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Key Learning Events: During this lesson, students will be
presented with scenarios from each of the quadrants of the
Mood Meter and create an appropriate regulation goal for
each. The counselor will craft scenarios for each quadrant

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that will seem realistic and familiar to their students. For
example, one scenario may ask students to problem solve
for an individual who is in the red because they were teased
by another student at recess. Now, they have to go in and
pay attention in math class.

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In small groups, students will consider these scenarios and
decide on an appropriate goal.

After all small groups have completed the assignment, the

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Counselor should lead a full class discussion comparing the
various answers. The Counselor should make it clear that no
answer is more correct than another and we always learn
from our peers perspectives.
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Lesson 5: “Ready, SET, Regulation”
- page 23
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Lesson 6: “Moving the Mood”

- page 24

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Objective: All students will be able to design and apply
emotion regulation strategies for regularly occurring
situations.

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Key Learning Events: During this lesson, students will act as
advice columnists as they offer emotion regulation advice to
advice-seekers. Students will read some real-life published
advice columns and note what makes them successful.

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Next, they will respond to a letter by trying to name the
quadrant of the Mood Meter they believe the letter’s writer
is in, suggest an emotion regulation goal that identifies
which quadrant they want to move to, and a possible
strategy to achieve that goal. The Counselor should consider

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creative ways to publish these columns for other readers,
such as families or other students at the school.

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Lesson 7: “Everyone Feels emotions!”

- page 25

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Learning Objectives:

● Students will learn that people tend to default to certain emotions on the
Mood Meter.
● Students will identify cues that suggest which quadrant a person is living in.

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Lesson Details:

To illustrate this lesson:

● Pick an age appropriate book to read to students. One example of a SEL book
to read is “The Most Magnificent Thing” by Ashley Spires.

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● Have students consider the characters of the book and what quadrant of
the Mood Meter they are in living in at different parts of the story (beginning,
middle, end)..
○ You may reference the quadrants as the Red Quadrant, Yellow
Quadrant, Green Quadrant, and Blue Quadrant..
● Next, engage students by putting them into dyads or triads and asking them

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to share and discuss with their partners what behavioral cues helped them
understand which quadrant each character mostly lived in.
● Towards the end, have students share their thoughts with the entire group.
*Assist students in linking commonalities between character behavior cues
and quadrants they live in.

Materials Needed: Picture of Mood Meter, Age-appropriate Book (3rd & 4th grade

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level).
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(RULER, 2019)
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Lesson 8: “ My Emotions At School”

- page 26

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Learning Objectives:

● Student will learn to identify one emotion they feel at school.

● Students will also learn how their emotion may impact others.

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Lesson Details:

For this lesson:

● Remind students about the previous lesson called “Everyone Feels Emotions” in
which they identified behavior cues that signify which quadrant the story
characters lived in.

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○ The school counselor will be asking students: “In which quadrant do you
mostly live in during school?”and “How do you know?”
○ Tell students to share and discuss their responses with the person next to
them.
● Next, hand students an activity worksheet.
○ Tell students to plot their emotion into a quadrant they most live in at
school.
Prompt student to think and write about one advantage and one

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○
disadvantage to living in that quadrant at school.
○ Ask students to share and discuss their answers with a group peer.
○ After, ask students to think of one emotional regulation strategy they can
use to move to a more pleasant and low energy quadrant.
● To close the lesson: ask students to share with the whole group what quadrant
they most live in at school, what is one advantage/disadvantage, and what is one
emotional regulation strategy they can use to move to a more pleasant, low energy

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quadrant.
○ Make sure to link common themes among student responses.

Materials Needed: Picture of Mood Meter, Activity worksheet.

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(RULER, 2019)
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Lesson 8: “ My Emotions At School”
- page 27

(RULER, 2019)
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References

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American School Counselor Association. (n.d.). ASCA Student
Standards: Mindsets & Behaviors for Student Success.
Schoolcounselor.org.
https://www.schoolcounselor.org/getmedia/7428a787-a452-

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4abb-afec-d78ec77870cd/Mindsets-Behaviors.pdf
Brackett, M. A., Bailey, C. S., Hoffmann, J. D., & Simmons, D. N. (2019).
Ruler: a theory-driven, systemic approach to social,
emotional, and academic learning. Educational Psychologist,
54(3), 144–161.

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RULER Approach – Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence. (2019).
Rulerapproach.org. https://www.rulerapproach.org/
Springer, S. I., Moss, L., & Schimmel, C. J. (Eds.). (2021). A School
Counselor’s Guide to Small Groups: Coordination, Leadership,

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and Assessment (2nd ed.). Cognella. ISBN: 9781793521101

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