How To Know Yourself
Short but Sharp: Using Videos to Expand Your Mind
Session
4 session
Resource Type
Video
Age Group
Owlet
Introduction & Hook 7 minutes
Visual: Slide with the title ‘How To Know Yourself’ and a thought-provoking image (e.g., a person looking into a mirror, a compass).
Teacher Notes: Welcome students and introduce the topic of the lesson: understanding ourselves better. Explain that this is a fundamental skill for navigating life. Mention the video they will watch is part of a series called ‘Short but Sharp: Using Videos to Expand Your Mind’. The goal is to get them thinking about what makes them, them.
Activities:
Quick Write/Think-Pair-Share (3 mins): Ask students to quickly write down or just think about one thing they know for sure about themselves (e.g., ‘I like pizza’, ‘I am good at drawing’, ‘I feel shy sometimes’).
Introduction (4 mins): Introduce the lesson’s focus: ‘Knowing Yourself’. Explain that it’s not just about remembering facts about your life, but understanding your feelings, values, and what’s important to you. Briefly mention that today’s video will explore why this is important and how we learn about ourselves.
Video Viewing & Initial Reflection 10 minutes
Visual: The video ‘How To Know Yourself’. A slide with key questions to consider while watching (e.g., ‘What does it mean to ‘know yourself’?’, ‘How do others influence how we see ourselves?’).
Teacher Notes: Ensure the video is ready to play. The video discusses the importance of knowing your worth and values, how external opinions can sway you if you don’t, and how early experiences shape identity. Be prepared to pause briefly after the video for initial reactions. The key message is that knowing yourself helps you trust your own judgement and not rely solely on others’ opinions.
Activities:
Watch Video (6 mins): Play the video ‘How To Know Yourself’. Encourage students to listen carefully and think about the questions displayed.
Initial Reaction (4 mins): After the video, ask for immediate thoughts or feelings. ‘What was one idea that stood out to you?’ or ‘What did you find interesting or confusing?’ Facilitate a brief open discussion to gauge initial understanding.
Exploring External vs. Internal 15 minutes
Visual: A slide with two columns: ‘External Opinions’ and ‘Internal Feelings/Values’. Maybe images representing a crowd vs. a single person thinking.
Teacher Notes: This section delves into a core concept from the video: the difference between relying on external opinions (the crowd) and trusting your internal sense of self (your own values/judgements). Use the visuals to help students differentiate these ideas. The activity encourages personal reflection before group sharing.
Activities:
Individual Reflection (5 mins): Ask students to think about times when they felt influenced by what others thought or said (external) versus times they felt confident in their own feelings or choices (internal). Provide prompts like: ‘When have you done something because others were doing it, even if you weren’t sure?’ or ‘When have you felt strongly about something, even if others disagreed?’
Pair Share (5 mins): Have students turn to a partner and briefly share one thought or example from their reflection. Emphasise that sharing is voluntary and they can share as much or as little as they feel comfortable with.
Class Discussion (5 mins): Bring the class back together. Ask volunteers to share (if comfortable) examples of external vs. internal influences. Discuss how the video suggested that knowing yourself helps you rely more on your internal compass.
Group Activity: Scenarios & Self-Knowledge 13 minutes
Visual: Scenario cards or a slide listing different scenarios. A slide with guiding questions for group discussion (e.g., ‘How might knowing yourself help in this situation?’, ‘What external pressures might be present?’, ‘What internal feelings or values are important here?’).
Teacher Notes: Divide students into groups of at least 3. Provide each group with a scenario (or let them choose from a list). The scenarios should be relatable situations where knowing oneself is beneficial (e.g., choosing a hobby, dealing with peer pressure, reacting to criticism, deciding what to post online). The goal is for groups to apply the concepts from the video to practical situations.
Activities:
Form Groups & Distribute Scenarios (3 mins): Divide the class into groups (3+ students per group). Provide each group with a scenario card or display scenarios on the screen.
Group Discussion (8 mins): Groups discuss their assigned scenario using the guiding questions. They should think about how the character in the scenario could use self-knowledge to navigate the situation, considering both external pressures and internal feelings/values.
Group Share (2 mins): Ask one or two groups to briefly share their scenario and their main conclusions about how self-knowledge helps.
Wrap-up & Takeaway 5 minutes
Visual: A slide summarising key takeaways (e.g., ‘Knowing yourself = understanding your worth & values’, ‘Don’t let others’ opinions completely define you’, ‘It’s a journey!’). Maybe a final inspiring image.
Teacher Notes: Bring the lesson to a close by summarising the main points. Reiterate that knowing yourself is a process and takes time. Encourage students to continue thinking about their own feelings, values, and how they react to the world around them. Connect back to the Owlypia challenge if applicable, highlighting how self-knowledge is valuable for critical thinking and forming independent judgements.
Activities:
Review Key Ideas (3 mins): Briefly review the main concepts covered: what it means to know yourself, the influence of others, and the importance of trusting your own internal compass.
Final Reflection (2 mins): Ask students to think about one small step they could take this week to get to know themselves a little better (e.g., paying attention to how a certain activity makes them feel, thinking about why they like or dislike something). No need to share, just a personal thought.
Assessment Quiz
Multiple Choice Questions
Question 1:
According to the resource, if a student is unsure of their own values, how might they most likely react when friends make fun of a hobby they want to try?
Explanation: The resource states that without knowing who we are, we are helpless before the court of public opinion and tend to trail public opinion slavishly. This means someone unsure of their values would likely abandon their own interest in favour of fitting in with friends’ opinions.
Question 2:
Based on the resource, if someone lacks a stable sense of their own worth, how might they react to receiving excessive praise?
Explanation: The resource explains that lacking an independent verdict on one’s worth makes a person unnaturally hungry for external praise. They become prey to rushing towards whatever idea or activity the crowd happen to love, indicating a dependence on external validation.
Question 3:
The resource suggests that knowing who you are is often a legacy of early experiences. Which situation best illustrates how a positive early interaction, as described in the resource, helps build a child’s identity?
Explanation: The resource highlights that identity is built when someone takes the trouble to study us with immense fairness, attention and kindness and then plays us back to us in a way that makes sense. Validating a child’s feelings, as in this option, is given as an example of these innocuous life-saving small steps that help a child connect with their own emotions and build a true portrait of their identity.
Question 4:
According to the resource, if someone realises later in life that they don’t truly know themselves, what is suggested as a way to begin correcting this problem?
Explanation: The resource explicitly states that to correct the problem of lacking a stable identity later in life, we need to seek out the help of a wise and kindly other person, perhaps a good psychotherapist, who can study us closely, mirror us properly and then validate what they see. This process helps us learn to study how we really feel and take seriously what we actually want.
True/False Questions
Question 1:
The resource suggests that if you don’t have a strong sense of who you are, you are less likely to be affected by what other people think of you.
Explanation: The resource states that without knowing who we are, we are helpless before the court of public opinion and tend to trail public opinion slavishly. This means someone unsure of their identity is actually more likely to be affected by others’ opinions.
Question 2:
According to the resource, everyone is born with a natural ability to fully know their own identity from the start.
Explanation: The resource explicitly says, “No one is born with an independent ability to know who they are. We learn to have an identity because, if we are blessed, in our early years, someone else takes the trouble to study us…”
Question 3:
The resource implies that knowing yourself well helps you trust your own feelings and values more than always following what the crowd is doing.
Explanation: The resource explains that knowing yourself helps you feel increasingly solid inside, trusting ourselves more than the crowd, and not always swaying in the wind, which means relying more on your internal compass than external pressures.
