EDAC 634 Program Design

Self-Esteem Awareness, Growth, and Maintenance

Humanist Learning

Nick Capozzoli

Claire Maxson

Angela McGee

Ball State University

March 4, 2017

Dr. Bo Chang

Program Design - Humanist Learning

Group Members	Roles	Commented On
Nick Capozzoli	Group leader for program evaluation. Compiling all data from the professional review and writing the evaluation paper.	Narrative Learning, Group 2 Self Directed Learning, Group 3
Claire Maxson	Group leader for program design, wrote initial draft of program design, designed program brochure, connected with professional reviewers.	Narrative Learning, Group 2 Self Directed Learning, Group 3
Angela McGee	Designed East meets the West handout, Developed ways to connect Western learning to Confucianism and the resulting influence both may have on self-esteem.	Experiential Learning, Group1 Feminist Pedagogy, Group 5

Introduction

Humanism focuses on the human potential for growth.  Nick, Angela, and I chose to focus on self-esteem in adult learners.  How a person’s self-esteem influences their learning but also how reflecting on one’s self-esteem could benefit the student in the classroom. "Humanism emphasizes that perceptions are centered in experience, and it also emphasizes the freedom and responsibility to become what one is capable of becoming" (Merriam, p. 282). We will use the idea of self-reflection and self-evaluation to measure student self-awareness in connection to self-esteem. Often students are aware of self-esteem but not necessarily the impact one’s self-esteem can have on persistence, motivation and reaching goals.  In Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, esteem is a psychological need.  How to go about raising one’s self-esteem can be difficult to pinpoint as what works for one does not work for all.  This is not necessarily because it is a difficult concept but because we don’t often stop to think about our self-esteem or how to nurture it.  By asking students to reflect on this and how past experiences may have shaped it, this will potentially help students build their self-esteem going forward. 

Rationale  

Four themes that came up in our research connecting self-esteem to the humanist approach were self-evaluation, self-acceptance, self-regulation, and self-expression. We began by exploring Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs to determine where self-esteem fit in the structure. What we found was people need to have a basic set of needs and resources met before they can begin to focus on improving their self-esteem. “One must satisfy lower level deficit needs before progressing on to meet higher level growth needs. When a deficit need has been satisfied, it will go away, and our activities become habitually directed towards meeting the next set of needs that we have yet to satisfy. These then become our salient needs. However, growth needs continue to be felt and may even become stronger once they have been engaged” (McLeod, 2007).  Once someone has a stable set of resources they can move up in Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs to esteem. A pictorial example of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs can be seen below. 

One element to achieving higher self-esteem in adults is their ability to develop metacognitive ways of thinking about themselves. Metacognition is the awareness and understanding of one’s own thoughts. When a person is aware of what they are thinking and why they feel a certain way, it gives them more confidence when making decisions or supporting ideas. “Metacognitive thought, that is, thought that can be directed by the thinker, is conscious, intentional, intelligent, logically or empirically falsifiable, and verbally communicable” (Fox & Riconscente, 2008, p. 378). This type of thought and action raises the person’s self-esteem, because it allows them to professionally articulate their ideas to colleagues, and support their viewpoints from a rational, intelligent argument.

We are also asking students to practice self-respect and encourage growth in their self-esteem through reflection and journaling.  “High self-esteem individuals are people who like, value, and accept themselves, imperfections and all. Importantly, they do not feel a need to be superior to others, and they do not gauge their ‘worthiness’ by outdoing others” (Kernis, 2003, p. 3). While there are many groups and programs devoted to children and their self-esteem, finding such programs for adults can be more difficult.  Psychology Today online lists a variety of options.  Though most are for young women specifically, there is one titled “Radical Self Love” where it talks about the power of loving one’s self.  Another listed on this page is on journaling for one’s self.  The program labels for both is self-esteem. The “Journal to the Self” workshop is a private group that lasts 6 weeks costing $120 - $150. 

A colleague leads journaling workshops on the following topics: goal setting and vision writing, transitions and embracing change, spiritual growth and direction, healing for heart and soul, writing to leave a legacy, self-discovery, and stress reduction.  Each of these topics is a three week long “course” that is part of a private in-home business. The emphasis is on personal enrichment.  The sessions include journaling instruction and time for guided journaling.  “The motivation to learn is intrinsic; it emanates from the learner. For Maslow self-actualization is the goal of learning and educators should strive to bring this about” (Merriam, Caffarella, & Baumgartner, 2007, p. 282).  Guiding students to reflect on how their past experiences have influenced their self-esteem, present circumstances and potential future endeavors allows for personal growth and the opportunity for lifelong learning.

Program
        For our program, we chose to look at how self-esteem influences adult learners.  The following list of questions will be shared with a group of adult learners in a first-year seminar course:

1.     Define self-esteem.

2.     Is self-esteem important?  Why or Why not?

3.     How would one go about building self-esteem?

4.     How does self-esteem influence one’s education?

5.     How can you gauge self-esteem in yourself? In someone else?

Students will be asked to respond to these questions on paper.  They will then get in pairs to share their responses.  They will have the option to choose which responses to share with their partner.  They can share as little or as much as they would like.  Students will then be asked to think of an experience when someone’s self-esteem was very apparent.  The pairs of students will be combined into small groups.  As a group, students will be asked for one example when high self-esteem was observed.  A discussion of how a person can tell when someone has high self-esteem will follow.  An example of a time when low self-esteem has been observed and of how one might advise someone to build confidence and raise their self-esteem will be requested next.  Students will then be asked to review the answers to their original questionnaire again and write a reflection on their own self-esteem after this activity.  The following questions will be written on the board:

1.     Would you change or edit any of your answers now?

2.     How might you continue to build your self-esteem going forward?

Next, students will visit the website 100 People: A World Portrait. Students will be asked to review the statistics listed here and the video for this project will be watched together as a class.  A handout comparing Confucianism and Western Adult Education will be shared. 

Students will then journal on the following:

1.     What reactions do you have regarding your self-esteem?

2.     Do you feel your self-esteem influenced how much you participated in this partner/group activity today?

3.     In what ways do certain teaching practices or classroom settings impact your participation?  Do you feel there is any connection to this and your self-esteem?

4.     As a final reflection, how might taking time to evaluate your self-esteem be beneficial?

For further self-reflection, students will be asked to think of influencing experience in the past.  The idea will be for them to think about how important people or experiences of their past have impacted their self-esteem currently and how they might adjust for growth in the future.  How someone carries themselves as well as manage their emotions also connects to self-esteem.  Students will receive a brochure of strategies for the next time they are feeling a strong emotion which includes a space to design a self-care plan. 

Handout below.

The East meets the West

A comparison between Confucianism and Western Adult Education

What is Confucianism? 

Confucianism was founded in ancient Zhou religion as a means to bring about social order among the Chinese society. Confucianism is not a religion, but an ethical and philosophical system (Ryu, 2010)[1]. Confucius, the founder, did not think that the method to obtain social order was strict rules but the religious practices of the Zhou dynasty, the rituals and ceremonies. Confucius believed that the ethical practices of the Zhou religion were morally sound and the only way a society could behave in a civilized manner. Confucianism is considered a humanistic approach to lifelong learning. “For Confucius, learning is both a conscious reflection upon one’s life and one’s manner of living and a search for gradual improvement of both” (Kim, 2004)[2]. The highest achievement of Confucianism is Ren, translated in English to mean, humanity, morality and righteousness (Sun, 2013)[3]. When a person reaches Ren, they have reached the height of learning, and humanity; this feat is not accomplished until the elder stages of life. The word Ren comes from Chinese words two and person or human being. 

Confucianism in the Classroom   

 A key factor in Confucianism is developing relationships, in fact, it is a part of the learning process. Students enroll in a mentorship with their teachers to not only see growth in their academic studies, but personal life as well. It is not uncommon for learning to go beyond the classroom. The instructors are the ultimate transmitters of knowledge, thus students are expected to retain information dictated by the instructor, without discussion. Often times, students learn by rote and do not learn how to be creative. Students are also expected to be considerate of others by not asking questions in class. Going to school is one’s duty to society (Sun, 2013). 

Western Classrooms  

On the other hand, Western adult education holds independence in high regard. In adult learning theory, andragogy, self-directed learning, and much of the literature on transformational learning position self-direction, independence, rational discourse, and reflective thought as pinnacles of adult learning (Merriam & Associates, 2007, pp. 1-2). Students also are encouraged to separate academic life from personal life. Contacting instructors outside of class is for emergencies.

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[1] Ryu, Kiung. (2010). The Teachings of Confucius: A Humanistic Adult Education Perspective, http://www.adulterc.org/Proceedings/2008/Proceedings/Ryu.pdf, erişim tarihi:17.10.2010.


[2] Kim, K. H. (2004). An Attempt to Elucidate Notions of Lifelong Learning: "Analects"-Based Analysis of Confucius' Ideas about Learning. Asia Pacific Education Review, 5(2), 117-126.

[3] Sun, Q. (2013). Learning for Transformation in a Changing Landscape. Adult Learning, 24(3), 131-136.

Brochure information below.

Self-Esteem & Emotional Intelligence

       How you feel about yourself impacts how you interact with others at home, school and work. It takes effort to balance it all. They say for every hour a student is in class they should be counting on 2-3 (or more!) hours outside of class. There are 168 hours in a week. If working full time at 40 hours a week, taking 15 credit hours would put you in the classroom 15 hours and studying and doing homework anywhere from 30-45 hours a week, so far this could be up to 100 hours. If we are sleeping 6 hours a night that is another 42 hours.  So that leaves 26 hours for commuting, eating, bathing, taking care others, shopping, TV, Internet, etc. Working the numbers can be very helpful, especially in planning for future semesters. Struggling in a class, may call for a reevaluation of time devoted to that course.  

Self-Care Plan I can nurture myself,

physically by: ________________________________________________________

mentally by: _________________________________________________________

emotionally by: ______________________________________________________

I can nurture my self-esteem by: _________________________________________

Four Components of Emotional Intelligence

• Self-Awareness

• Self-Management

• Social Awareness

• Relationship Management

Strategies for the next time you are feeling

Anger

• Exercise

• Journal

• Distract Yourself

Overwhelmed

• Separate from external stressor

• List and prioritize every task

• Say “no”

Anxiety

• Prepare thoroughly

• Breathe Deeply

• Visualize Success

Sadness

• Listen to uplifting music

• Help others in need

• Dispute pessimistic beliefs

Downing, S. (2014). On Course: Strategies for Creating Success in College and in Life, 7th Ed. Chapter 8, p339-345. Cengage.

Reflection

          In attempting to shine a light on an individual’s self-esteem, students go on a little personal journey.  We will be asking students to reflect but also see the value in such reflection.  This links learning for the sake of learning to the importance of learning about one’s self.  We tend to go about our routines without much thought on such topics as self-esteem but programs like this give us the opportunity to do so.  This topic came out of a discussion of our first face to face group meeting.  Nick and Claire met to flush out a topic that seemed to connect with the humanist orientation and Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs.  Angela joined the group after the group plan was in place.  This was edited to include Angela’s role and a second group meeting was established.  At this meeting the main topic of discussion was the literature review.  We attempted to find a way to weave Angela’s interest in Confucianism into the project.  This resulted in an additional focus on how one’s level of comfortability in a classroom could impact self-esteem.  The literature reviews were very beneficial in mapping out this program plan.

Tables

Table 2. Summary of the literature review

	The main themes/ideas in the literature (Check General Themes)	Application of the main ideas in practice (check Implications)
Idea 1	Self- acceptance	Students to reflect on current self-esteem as well as acknowledgement that this can change and plans for future growth
Idea 2	Self-reflection	Reflecting on past experiences and the influence these have had on self-esteem.
Idea 3	Self-regulation	Identifying useful strategies for maintaining self-control and managing emotions.
Idea 4	Eastern vs. Western ideologies	Students will receive a handout detailing different teaching methodologies to better understand the culturally ramifications of self-esteem.
Idea 5	Self-expression	Students to complete a journal entry on classroom experiences and self-esteem.

Table 3. Summary of Program Design

Learners	Adult learners in student success seminars
Purposes	Self-esteem maintenance and/or growth
Objectives	Self-esteem assessment, expressive writing, global perspective
Rationales- Ideas from Literature	Metacognition, Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
Rationales- features from practical cases	Expressive writing and journaling, self-assessment and reflection, cultural awareness
Highlights and the major components of the program you designed	Students will hopefully gain a heightened sense of their own self-esteem. This will be accomplished through inner reflection, constructive dialogue, and detailed expressive writing.

References

Downing, S. (2014). On course: strategies for creating success in college and in life, 7th Ed. Chapter 8, p237-238. Cengage.

Fox, E., & Riconscente, M. (2008). Metacognition and self-regulation in James, Piaget, and Vygotsky. Educational Psychology Review, 373-389.

Kernis, M. H. (2003). Toward a conceptualization of optimal self-esteem. Psychological Inquiry, 14(1), 1-26.

Kim, K. H. (2004). An attempt to elucidate notions of lifelong learning: "analects"-based analysis of Confucius' ideas about learning. Asia Pacific Education Review, 5(2), 117-126.

McLeod, S. A. (2016). Maslow's hierarchy of needs. Retrieved from www.simplypsychology.org/maslow.html

Merriam, S. B., Caffarella, R. S., & Baumgartner, L. (2007). Learning in adulthood: a comprehensive guide, 3rd Ed. San Francisco: Jossey – Bass.

Self Esteem Support Groups in Indianapolis, IN. (n.d.). Retrieved February 12, 2017, from https://groups.psychologytoday.com/rms/prof_results.php?city=Indianapolis&spec=260

Ryu, Kiung. (2010). The teachings of Confucius: a humanistic adult education perspective, erişim tarihi:17.10.2010, http://www.adulterc.org/Proceedings/2008/Proceedings/Ryu.pdf

 
Sun, Q. (2013). Learning for transformation in a changing landscape. Adult Learning, 24(3), 131-136.

100 People: A World Portrait. (n.d.). Retrieved February 27, 2017, from http://100people.org/