MANAGING AND CARING FOR THE SELF

At the end of this learning module, the student is expected to:

a. Articulate the theoretical underpinnings for how to manage and care for different aspects of
the self;
b. Acquire and manifest new skills and learning for managing of one’s self and behavior; and
c. Apply new skills to one’s self to function to for a better quality of life.

A. LEARNING TO BE A BETTER PERSON

- The brain acts as a dense network of fiber pathways that consists of approximately 100
billion neurons which is responsible for all connections among the three principal parts;
stem, cerebellum and cerebrum.
- Learning can be owed to the cerebrum, since it is where higher-order functions like memory
and reasoning occur. It tasks become apparent in behavior as each area accomplishes its
functions in hearing, speech, touch, short-term memory, language and reasoning abilities.

1. HOW LEARNING HAPPENS IN THE HUMAN BRAIN

- Learning happens through a network of neurons where sensory information is transmitted
by synapses along the neural pathway and stored temporarily in short-term memory, a
volatile region of the brain that acts like receiving center for the flood of the sensory
information we encounter in our daily lives Ford (2011).
- Learning fundamentally requires acquisition of new information even from the moment a
person is born. What makes the brain search for the unusual in the environment is natural
curiosity. Steven (2014) emphasized that changes in the brain allow for the faster, stronger
signaling between neurons as the brain gains new skills, but the best way to speed up those
signals is to slowly introduce new information to the head.

2. METACOGNITION

- Enables the students to be more active in their learning.

- The process of “thinking about thinking”.
- Metacognition starts when the students think about the strategies the strategies, they will
us to perform a task.
- Metacognition happens when they choose the most effective strategies and decide for
themselves whether the outcome of these strategies meets the standards.
- The understanding and awareness of one’s own mental or cognitive processes.
Example:
- A student learns about what things help him/her to remember facts, names, and events.
- A student learns about his/her own style of learning.
- A student learns about which strategies are most effective for solving problem.

Metacognitive strategies appropriate in classroom

• Think-Alouds (for reading comprehension and problem solving)
• Organizational Tools (such as checklists, rubrics, etc. for solving word problems)
• Explicit teacher modeling (for math instruction)

Types of learning strategies and supports: Cognitive

Cognitive Strategies
STRATEGY DEFINITION BENEFITS
Rehearsal Reciting items to be learned Believed to influence the attention and
from a list coding process. It does not seem to help
students connect current information
with prior knowledge.
Elaboration Summarizing and Believed to improve a student’s ability
paraphrasing to store information into the long-term
memory by building internal
connections between items to be
learned and assisting with the
integration of new information with
prior knowledge.
Organization Outlining Helps learners select appropriate
information and make the connections
to be learned.
Analyzing Problem-solving, critical Assists students with applying
thinking previous knowledge to new situations
 in order to solve problems and/or reach
decisions.

2.1 TYPES OF LEARNING STRATEGIES AND SUPPORTS: METACOGNITIVE

o Connecting new information to existing knowledge
o Selecting thinking strategies deliberately
o Planning, monitoring, and evaluating thinking processes
o Share and model self-monitoring processes (proofreading)
o Explain and provide handouts regarding particular strategies that may be helpful.
o Clarify and model when particular strategies are appropriate
o Clarify why particular strategies are appropriate.

2.2 STUDY STRATEGIES

1. PRACTICE OVER TIME
- Practice testing refers to any form of testing for learning which a student is able to do on
his or her own. ‘More is better’ and that multiple practice tests are more beneficial when
they are spaced in time, rather than crowded in, one after another. Example. Practicing
recall through flashcards
- Distributed practice – refers to distributing the learning overtime, not cramming. Time lags
between learning episodes boost learning, despite the fact that people might initially forget
more of the material between the individual sessions.

2. QUESTIONING AND EXPLANATION

- Elaborate interrogation is a complex name for a simple concept – asking one’s self why
something is the way it is or a particular concept or fact is true, and providing the answer.

- Self-explanation – refers to a similar process, through which the explanation might take the
form of answering why but also other questions, as well as relating new information to
information which is already known.

3. PRODUCING SUMMARIES OF TEXTS

- This is likely to involve the reading and comprehension of text, as well as the ability to
identify the most important information within it and to encapsulate it briefly in one’s own
words.

4. HIGHLIGHTING AND UNDERLINING PORTION OF TEXT

- This also includes rereading.
- It tended to work better for students who were more adept at identifying the crucial-to-be-
remembered aspects of a text.

B. SETTING GOALS FOR SUCCESS

1. THE IMPORTANCE OF GOALS
- Goals serve a directive function; they direct attention and effort toward goal-relevant
activities and away from goal-irrelevant activities.
- Goals have an energizing function. High goals lead to great effort than low goals.
- Goals affect persistence.
- Goals affect action indirectly by leading to the arousal, discovery, and/or use of task-
relevant knowledge and strategies.

2. ALBERT BANDURA’S SELF-EFFICIENCY

- Students’ goals can be achieved only if they are worthy of believing these goals can be
achieved.
- “Your beliefs become your thoughts. Your thoughts become your words. Your words become
your actions. Your actions become your habits. Your habits become your values. Your values
become your destiny.”
- Self-efficacy – refers to belief in one’s capabilities to organize and execute the courses of
action required to manage prospective situations Bandura (1995).
- People’s belief about their capabilities to produce designated levels of performance that
exercise influence over events that affects lives.
- More simply, self-efficacy is what an individual believes he/she can accomplish using his
or her skills under certain circumstances.
- The basic principle behind Self-Efficacy Theory is that individuals are more likely to engage
in activities for which they have high self-efficacy and less likely to engage in those they do
not (Bijl & Baggette, 2002).

People with high assurance in their capabilities

 1. Approach difficult tasks as challenges to be mastered
2. Set challenging goals and maintain strong commitment to them
3. Heighten or sustain their efforts in the face of failures or setbacks
4. Attribute failure to insufficient effort or deficient knowledge and skills which are acquirable.
5. Approach threatening situations with assurance that they can exercise control over them.

On the contrary, people who doubt their capabilities:

1. Shy away from tasks they view as personal threats
2. Have low aspirations and weak commitment to goals they choose to pursue
3. Dwell on personal deficiencies, obstacles they will encounter, and all kinds of adverse
outcomes, rather than concentrating on how to perform successfully.
4. Loosen their efforts and give up quickly in the face of difficulties
5. Are slow to recover their sense of efficacy following failure or setbacks
6. Fall easy victim to stress and depression

FOUR (4) MAIN SOURCES OF EFFICACY BELIEFS (BANDURA, 1997)

1. Mastery Experiences – known as personal performance accomplishments; are the most
effective way to create a strong sense of efficacy.
2. Vicarious Experiences – these are done through observance of social models that also
influence one’s perception of self-efficacy.
3. Verbal or social persuasion – it is a way of strengthening people’s beliefs that they have what
it takes to succeed. When it is effective in mobilizing a person to action, and their actions lead
to success, the enhanced self-efficacy may become more permanent.
4. Emotional and physiological states – the state a person is in will influence how he/she
judges self-efficacy. Stress reactions or tension are interpreted as signs of vulnerability to poor
performance whereas positive emotions can boost confidence in skills.

3. CAROL DWECK’S MINDSET

- Mindset – are beliefs, beliefs about one’s self and one’s most basic qualities. People with
fixed mindset believe that their traits are just given.
- People with growth mindset see their qualities as things that can be developed through
their dedication and effort. They are brainy and talented, but that is just the starting point.

Four (4) Simple steps to begin changing mindset

A. Learn to hear your fixed mindset “voice.”
B. Recognize that you have a choice.
C. Talk back to it with a growth mindset voice.
D. Take the growth mindset action.

4. Goal-Setting Theory
- Goal setting- is something most people recognize as necessary for their success. By
understanding this theory, students can effectively apply it to the goals they set.

Five (5) Principles of Goal Setting

To motivate, goals must have:
1. Clarity – clear goals are measurable and unambiguous.
2. Challenge – people are often motivated by achievement, and they’ll judge a goal based on the
significance of the anticipated accomplishment. When setting a goal, make each goal a
challenge.
3. Commitment – goals should be consistent and in line with previous expectations. The harder
the goal the more commitment is required.
4. Feedback – this provides opportunities to clarify expectations, adjust goals, difficulty, and gain
recognition. It is important to provide benchmark opportunities or targets, so individuals can
determine form themselves how they are doing.
5. Task complexity – for goals or assignments that are highly complex, take special care to
ensure that the work doesn’t become too overwhelming. People work in complicated and
demanding roles probably have a high level of motivation already. However, they can push
themselves too hard if measures are not built into the goal expectations to account for the
complexity of task. It is therefore important to do the following:
▪ Give the person sufficient time to meet the goal or improve performance.
▪ Provide enough time for the person to practice or learn what is expected and required
for success.
C. TAKING CARE OF ONE’S HEALTH

1. STRESSORS AND RESPONSES

STRESS – any factors that makes adaptation to an environment difficult for the individual to
maintain a state of equilibrium between himself and the external environment.
Stressors – are situations that are experienced as perceived threat to one’s well-being or
position in life, when the challenge of dealing with which, exceeds the person’s perceived
available resources (Scott, 2017).

Two (2) broad categories of stressors

a. Physiological (physical) stressors are those that put strain on the body (ex. Very cold/hot
temperature, injury, chronic illness, or pain).
b. Psychological stressors are events, situations, individuals, comments, or anything we
interpret as negative or threatening (ex. Not being able to review your notes for the exam as
you are taking care of your sick parent in the hospital).

Stressors can be divided into:

a. Absolute stressors – those to which everyone exposed would interpret as being
stressful. These are objective stressors that are universal (ex. Earthquake, tsunami, or
events like September 11,2001).
b. Relative stressors – are those to which only some persons exposed would interpret as
being stressful. These are subjective stressors that cause different reactions in different
people (ex. Time pressure at work and school traffic, paying taxes or bills, writing or
taking an exam).

2. SOURCES OF COPING
Coping – is the process of attempting to manage the demands created by stressful events that
are appraised as taxing or exceeding a person’s resources. Among the coping strategies
includes:
▪ Optimism – refers to the outcome expectancies that good things rather than bad things
will happen to the self (Scheier et.al.,1994).
▪ Personal control or mastery – refers to whether a person feels able to control or
influence outcomes (Thompson, 1981).
▪ Self-esteem- that is positive and high, is also protective against adverse mental and
physical outcomes, thereby contributing to better psychological well-being.
▪ Social support – defined as perceptions or experience that one is loved and cared by
others, esteemed and valued, and part of a social network of mutual assistance and
obligations (Wills, 1991).

3. THE SOCIAL AND CULTURAL DIMENSIONS OF STRESS

▪ Stress is mediated through culture: from the very nature of the stressors, to the ways
we respond to the stress.
▪ Pagsasaya – a social camaraderie, it’s making cheer and quite often we do it precisely,
is part of our stress-coping mechanism.
▪ Dalamhati is graphic, describing an inner sadness that slowly consumes the person.
▪ Filipino women are actually more prone to dealing with stressful situations through
‘tiis’ (endurance) and ‘kimkim’ (repression).
▪ Many Filipinos express their stress by complaining about recurring headaches, or
abdominal pains, accompanied by dizziness, nausea, or fatigue.
▪ Bangungot (sudden death) derived from bangon, to rise, and ungol, to moan.
▪ Namamahay – missing home, to describe a range of symptoms, from insomnia
constipation that plagues us when we are away from home.
▪ Manghihilot – can be ‘reinvented’ so his/her skills with therapeutic massage can be
applied not just for sprains, but also for broken hearts and weary spirits.

4. TAKING CARE OF THE SELF: THE NEED FOR SELF CARE AND COMPASSION
SELF-CARE – is engaging in activities and behaviors that have a positive effect on one’s mental
and physical health (Greene, 2017).

Reasons why self-care is necessary

▪ It increases sense of self-love, allowing appreciation and acceptance of who a person is.
▪ It promotes feelings of calm and relaxation, serving as a way to refocus and comeback
to daily life refreshed and ready to take on anything.
▪ It improves both physical and mental health by reducing the effects of prolonged stress
on mind and body.
 Ways to engage in self-care:
▪ Physical self-care
▪ Emotional self-care
▪ Spiritual self-care

COMPASSION – is wishing for that person to be free from suffering (Germer, 2009).
- Means “to suffer together”. It defines as the feeling that arises when you are confronted
with other’s suffering and feel motivated to relieve that suffering.

Various forms of compassion (Paul Ekman, 2010)

▪ Familial compassion – the seed of compassion, planted through the caregiver offspring bond.
▪ Global compassion – people around the world extended assistance to the strangers, or
different races and skin colors (ex. UN response to typhoon Yolanda victims).
▪ Sentient compassion – when one extends feelings of compassion towards cockroaches,
towards any living being. When people got sentient, they also got global; sentient is the highest
moral virtue.
▪ Heroic compassion – like altruism with a risk. It has two forms: Immediate Heroic Compassion
– is when, without thought, one jumps onto MRT tracks to rescue someone. Considered Heroic
Compassion – isn’t done impulsively; it is done with thought, and it can be maintained for
many years.

“Love the life given by God to you. Be compassionate to yourself and others! May you have
a meaningful journey of life. God bless!”.