Introduction

You'll need the following book for this section.  Talk to your teacher or local librarian about accessing this.   You may even find a copy online.

What is self-image and how does it become shaped and define us?

Self-image is how YOU perceive yourself. It is a number of impressions that have built up over time. What are your hopes and dreams? What do you think and feel? What have you done throughout your life and what did you want to do? Your self-image can be very positive, giving you confidence in your thoughts and actions, or negative, making you doubtful of your capabilities and ideas. How we perceive ourselves is shaped by how we interact with our world and allow our mind to shape the perception of those interactions. Throughout this unit, we will explore how:

• language constructs personal, social, and cultural identity (self-image)
• we exchange ideas and viewpoints to build shared understanding and extend our thinking (of ourselves)

If you project a positive self-image, people will be more likely to see you as a positive, capable person. However, it can be very difficult to control our thoughts as our mind does not distinguish between reality and perceived reality. We have an internal voice. In some people, that internal voice can be too critical and harsh, leading to low self-esteem. In others, it may be so weak that they don't notice when they are mean or insensitive to others. Take a moment to look at the power of our mind.                          

Preview

Get ready to learn by thinking about this:

How has your self-image been shaped by your cultural identity, social interactions and internal voice? 

So, what things have shaped self-image and how do you feel about yourself?

Overview of Lessons:

• 1. Read/view a variety of texts about self-image.
• 2. Complete the activities in the learning guide and submit.
• 3. Complete a reading project.
• 4. Take a short test to show your understanding.
• 5. In the writer's workshop, you will go through the writing project to create your own persuasive essay.

    Learning Targets

By the end of this lesson, you should be able to:

• use writing and design processes to plan, develop, and create engaging informational texts for a variety of purposes and audiences.
  
• understand how to deal with cyberbullying.
• correctly punctuate and use conventions.
• construct meaningful connections between self, text, and world.
• take part in the writing process to plan, draft, and revise an informative piece of writing.

3.1 How Do YOU Define Yourself

Throughout this unit, you will be challenged to investigate your own self-image and ensure you have created a positive one. Let's begin by looking at a video by Lizzie Velasquez who discusses how she suffers from a rare disorder which prevents her from gaining weight and has caused blindness in her right eye. She has been cyberbullied and labeled “the world’s ugliest woman”. As a result of her upbringing and positive outlook on life, she decided to turn things around and create her own definitions of beauty and happiness.

Lizzie asks the audience to consider what defines them. Is it their backgrounds? Friends? Families? She reminds us that if we can find happiness within, and be the drivers of our own lives, bullies will always lose and you will be victorious! If you project a positive self-image, people will be more likely to see you as a positive, capable person.

Open your Learning Guide and complete Activity 3.1 as you watch the video.

Positive Self Image

How positive is your self-image? Answer these true or false statements and find out. Give yourself 1 point for each question you answered with a "true".

1. My glass is always half-empty, not half-full.
2. I'm always apologizing for things.
3. I'm always telling myself I "should" be doing this or that.
4. I constantly criticize myself.
5. What other people think about me dictates how I feel about myself.
6. I am critical of my mistakes and relive them over and over.
7. I always let the people who care about me down.
8. I feel like I have the weight of the world on my shoulders.
9. A partial failure is as bad as a complete failure.
10. I bend over backwards to please others.
11. I am not sure I have done a good job unless someone else points it out.
12. It's hard for me to forgive and forget. 
13. I have to work harder than others for relationships and am afraid that the relationships I have will fail. 
14. If I don't do as well as others, it means that I am not as good as them.
15. If I can't do something well, there is no point in doing it at all.

Results:

0 - 4: You have a generally positive way of thinking and should feel good about yourself. Keep it up!

5 - 8: You may be struggling with some negative emotions. Take time to review your good qualities.

9 or more: You can be very critical of yourself. Challenge yourself to change your way of thinking!

3.2 Personal Inventory

You are going to complete a personal inventory during this lesson to help you achieve better self-understanding. 

Open your Learning Guide and complete 3.2 Personal Inventory.

Improving your self-image, like improving any skill, takes time and practice. Developing good self-esteem involves encouraging a positive (but realistic) attitude toward yourself and the world around you and appreciating your worth, while at the same time behaving responsibly towards others. Self-esteem isn't self-absorption; it's self-respect.

By working from the inside out (focusing on changing your own way of thinking before changing the circumstances around you), you can build your self-esteem. As we've seen, the power is in our mind! The goal of this positive thinking is to give yourself a more positive self-concept while seeing yourself honestly, accepting yourself, and removing the internal barriers that can keep you from doing your best, training your mind to think differently!

After you've completed the inventory, review what you've written and ask yourself what you've learned about yourself. Are you happy with your skills and attributes? Is there an area you need to work on?

3.3 Positive Thought Strategies

There are many ways a person can change negative thoughts and self-criticism to more realistic and positive thoughts. Focusing on all of them at once may be overwhelming, but focusing on a few at a time and reminding yourself of these positive approaches regularly can change your self-esteem.

Read the positive thought strategies below and choose several that would help you most. 

• Avoid exaggerations.
  Correct your internal voice when it exaggerates, especially when it exaggerates the negative. Try to avoid thinking in extreme terms ("I always make that mistake" or "I'll never get that promotion.")
• Nip negative thoughts in the bud.
  Sometimes putting a stop on negative thinking is as easy as that. The next time you start giving yourself an internal browbeating, tell yourself to "stop it!" If you saw a person yelling insults at another person, you would probably tell them to stop. Why do you accept that behavior from yourself?
• Accentuate the positive.
  Instead of focusing on what you think are your negative qualities, accentuate your strengths and assets. Maybe you didn't ace the test you were studying for, but maybe your hard work and perseverance led to a better grade than you would have had. Maybe you felt nervous and self-conscious when giving a presentation at work, but maybe your boss and coworkers respected you for getting up and trying.
• Accept flaws and being human.
  Maybe you did get nervous and blow that presentation at work - so what? Talk to your boss about what went wrong, try to address the error in the future, and move on. All people have flaws and make mistakes. Your boss, coworkers, friends, family, postman, congressman, and favorite movie star have all made mistakes. They've forgiven themselves; so can you.
• Accept imperfections.
  Perfection is a high goal to aim for -- you don't need to start there or even end there. Make doing your best your ideal -- what more can you realistically do? Focus on what you've gained from the process and how you can use it in the future. Avoid focusing on what wasn't done or 'should have' been done differently. Allow yourself to make mistakes and then forgive yourself. Try laughing instead of criticizing.
• Don't bully yourself!
  "Should have, could have, would have ... " Try not to constantly second guess yourself, criticize yourself for what you "should" have done better, or expect too much from yourself. Don't put standards on yourself that you wouldn't expect from others. It's great to want to do well, but expecting yourself to be perfect (which is impossible) and then punishing yourself when you fail is a vicious cycle. Using expressions like "I should have" is just a way of punishing yourself after the fact.
• Replace criticism with encouragement.
  Instead of nagging or focusing on the negative (in yourself and others), replace your criticism with encouragement. Give constructive criticism instead of being critical ("maybe if I tried to do ____ next time, it would be even better" instead of "I didn't do that right.") Compliment yourself and those around you on what you have achieved ("well, we may not have done it all, but we did a pretty great job with what we did".)
• Don't feel guilty about things beyond your control.
  You are not to blame every time something goes wrong or someone has a problem. Apologizing for things and accepting blame can be a positive quality, if you are in the wrong and if you learn and move on. But you shouldn't feel responsible for all problems or assume you are to blame whenever someone is upset.
• Don't feel responsible for everything.
  Just as everything is not your fault, not everything is your responsibility. It's okay to be helpful, but don't feel the need to be all things (and do all things) for all people. This is taking too much of a burden on yourself AND limiting those around you. Let others be responsible for themselves and their actions -- you shouldn't feel responsible for their happiness.
• Do feel responsible for your feelings.
  Just as you can't "make" other people happy, don't expect others to "make" you feel happy or good about yourself. In the same way, they shouldn't make you feel guilty or bad about yourself. You create your own feelings and make your own decisions. People and events may have an affect on your emotions, but they can't dictate them.
• Treat yourself kindly.
  People often feel more comfortable treating themselves in ways they wouldn't consider treating others. Do you criticize yourself with terms like "stupid" "ugly" or "loser"? Would you use those terms to describe a friend? Remind yourself that you deserve to be treated as well as you treat others. Do something nice for yourself sometimes -- either in thought (give yourself a compliment) or action (treat yourself to a nice dinner or new book.)
• Give yourself a break.
  You don't need to be all things to all people or please everyone. Give yourself permission to decide you're doing the best you can. Remind yourself when you're doing things well -- don't wait to hear it from someone else.
• Choose the brighter side of things.
  You can choose how to interpret comments and events, so try for the more positive interpretations. If someone says, "You look good today," don't ask yourself "What was wrong with the way I looked yesterday?" Accept compliments graciously (don't ask yourself why you haven't been complemented on something else or why you haven't complemented you before.) Look at temporary setbacks as opportunities for growth.
• Forgive and forget.
  Try not to hang on to painful memories and bad feelings - this is a surefire way to encourage negative thoughts and bad moods. Your past can control you if you don't control it. If you can, forgive past wrongs and move on. (Don't forget that forgiving yourself is an important part of this process, too!) If you have a hard time forgiving or forgetting, consider talking through your emotions with a good friend or counselor, but try not to dwell. It's important to work through things, but you can't let the past determine your future.
• Focus on what you CAN do, not what you can't.
  Avoid "can't" thinking or other negative language. If you say something often enough, you may start to believe it, so keep your statements positive, not negative. Don't be afraid to seek help in accomplishing things, but remind yourself that you don't need approval from others to recognize your accomplishments. Focus on what you're able to do. Remind yourself of all your capabilities and positive qualities.

Open your Learning Guide and complete 3.3 Positive Thought Strategies.

Pep Talk from Kid President to You

We all need a little encouragement every now and then. Kid President, knowing this, has put together a video you can play each morning as you wake up or to share with your friend who needs a kick in the right direction.....or yourself! 

3.4 Cyberbullying

How others treat us and speak to us shapes our self-image. Youth today have different struggles to overcome, one of which is cyberbullying. Cyberbullying occurs when someone uses his or her cell phone, instant messaging, e-mail, chat rooms, or social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter to harass, threaten, or intimidate someone. If we allow our minds to believe the things being said to us, we can easily get wrapped up into holding a negative self-image of ourselves. Watch the following videos on how to stop cyberbullying.

Open your learning guide and complete activity 3.4.

FORUM: How to be an Active Witness

Did you know that 39% of Canadian youth have either experienced or witnessed cyberbulling?

What do you do if you witness cyberbullying? Research shows that witnesses to bullying can be just as damaging as the perpetrator. This is especially important with cyberbullying as there are countless "invisible" witnesses online. 

Here is a list of things you can do that kids who have been targets of bullying say usually make things better:

• spend time with the victim
• talk to the victim and encourage him or her
• help him or her get out of the situation (watching and laughing is just as bad as being the bully)
• give advice
• distract the bully
• help  tell a trusted adult
• tell an adult you trust

Now go to the FORUM:  Cyberbullying on the front page of the course and answer the questions on cyberbullying and becoming an active witness.  Then respond to another student's post.

1. Do you know anyone who has been bullied online? Have you ever been bullied online? What effects can cyberbullying have on the victim?

2. How is cyberbullying different from other forms of bullying? Why do you think some people bully others online?

3. What is the best way to take away a bully's power over you? What is the worst way to react to cyberbullying?

4. How does it make you feel when you see someone else being bullied? Does bullying behavior make the bully more or less popular?

There are TWO activities in a FORUM:

1. Start a new discussion topic by clicking on Add a new discussion topic.
2. Reply/Respond to someone else's discussion topic by clicking on their topic and selecting Reply.  Try using the following prompts to guide your response to another post.  "I wonder…"  "I know…"  "I can…"  Don't just agree or disagree.

3.5 Short Story - The Sneetches

The Sneetches is about two types of creatures, those with and those without stars on their bellies. The star-belly sneetches think they are the best and look down upon sneetches without stars. The plain-belly sneetches remain depressed and oppressed as they are not allowed to associate with their star-bellied counterparts, until Sylvester McMonkey McBean comes along with his Star-on and Star-off machines. The story takes us on a journey about discovering that a positive self-image comes from within.

3.6 Deeper Thinking: Sharing Stories

The selections you have read or viewed in this unit look at different perspectives on self image.

Complete the last activity in the Learning Guide, Activity 3.6, to think about how these shared stories have impacted your perspective on self image. 

Submit your Unit 3 Learning Guide in the dropbox: Unit 3 Learning Guide

Then carry on to "Unit 3 Reading Projects".