Social Awareness
Family Resources on
Understanding the Perspectives of Others
Project and Purpose
By explicitly teaching social-emotional learning skills while honoring diverse identities, creating a sense of belonging, and promoting student agency toward personal growth and social impact, the teacher better creates a classroom environment that fosters well-being for self and others.
If the lesson is used in the classroom: The goal of this lesson was for students to practice taking the perspective of others and play a game to practice perspective taking.
In class students discussed perspectives and played a game called “O’ Silly Creature” which helped students understand perspectives by drawing a creature that another student described.
Getting Ready for the Conversation
Being able to see the perspective of others helps us be more empathetic as well as helping get along with others we may not know well. This lesson helps students see things through the perspectives of others.
Conversation Starters and Practice at Home Activities
Ask your child to tell you how they can take the perspectives of others and talk about their drawings from the “O’ Silly Creature” game.
Discuss the following questions:
- Who is someone in the community or neighborhood who you sometimes do not understand or do not get along with? Why is it so hard to get along with this person? Tell how this person would describe you.
- As a family, can we do a better job thinking about the perspectives of others in the community or neighborhoods?
- Can taking the perspective of others help develop stronger friendships? Why or why not.
School to Home Resources on Understanding the Perspectives of Others
In this lesson, students will define and explore social-awareness through understanding the perspectives of others. Students will draw and compare their own interpretation of a picture, in order to learn that everyone thinks differently.
Format
This 25–35 minute lesson is designed for flexibility. It can be taught in one day or over the course of a week.
- Warm Welcome
- Feelings Check-in
- SEL Skill Spotlight
- Active Engagement
- Closing Connection
