Series: Learning Through Well-Being

Reading for Life: An Educational Approach Toward Self-Help LiteratureDr. Maybel Rivera Castro

What is Self-Help Literature?

• …written with the explicit intention of helping its readers change or improve some aspect of their personal or professional lives.

Calvary University

Self-Help Literature Research Project

• (1) career success

• (2) personal relationships

• (3) health and well-being.

• …also known and classified under "self-improvement", a term that is a modernized version of self-help.

Career success:

How to Win Friends and Influence People , by Dale Carnegie (1936)

The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People , by Stephen Covey (1989)

The Millionaire Mind, by Thomas Stanley (2001)

Getting Things Done, by David Allen (2001)

Me 2.0, by Dan Schawbel (2009)

Personal relationships:

Personal relationships:

Women Who Love Too Much, by Robin Norwood (1985)

Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus, by John Gray (1992)

The Seven Principles of Making Marriage Work, by John Gottman (1999)

The Mastery of Love , by Don Miguel Ruiz (1999)

The Five Love Languages, by Gary Chapman (2004)

Health and well-being:

When Bad Things Happen to Good People , by Harold Kushner (1984)

The Four Agreements, by Don Miguel Ruiz (1997)

The Secret, by Rhonda Byrne (2006)

A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life’s Purpose , by Eckhart Tolle (2008)

Perfect Health, by Deepak Chopra (2009)

The Self-Help Industry

As of 2017, the self-help industry was worth $9.9 billion with a projected average annual growth rate of 5.6%.

By the 2000s, the self-help genre had blossomed from paperback beginnings into a full-blown Industry.

For over a century, self-help has meant self-improvement. Perhaps this time around, self-help should mean self-acceptance.

My experience• Personal growth

• Academic resilience

Teaching for Life• Our context and environment

• Reflection and Self Assessment

• Lead by example

• What are my students struggling with in actuality?

• Make your classroom an oasis for your students.

• How will your space/time with students be most meaningful?

• What makes you special as an educator?

• What will students receive from you that is exclusive to your persona?

Identify your vision

• Who do you want to be? How do you want the people around you to perceive you? What are your long-and short-term goals? One common adage to propose to yourself is this—What would you do if you knew you couldn’t fail? Focus on specific areas of your life like finance, education, interpersonal relationships, and health.

Identify obstacles that are stopping you from achieving it

• Fear of failure and time management are some common obstacles that stop people from self-development. Additionally, there are some deep-rooted reasons within us that might prevent us from trying new things. List the obstacles that fall into the realms of spirituality, identity, belief, competence, behavior, and environment. For instance, saying “I just don’t know how to do that” is a competence issue, and “People like me don’t do things like this” is an identity issue.

Try a personal SWOT analysis

• SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats) is a common analysis done in business models as a strategic planning tool. Trying it at the personal level can help you look objectively at what you are good at and where you can use improvement, as well as what external factors can aid you and which can knock you down.

Form a plan

• Focus on ONE area at a time, whether it is health, finances, personal relationships, or academia and get a mentor or ask for help from someone you admire and has success in the area that you are lacking. People love to help other people succeed.

New tendencies for Self-Help

Finding Your People

Setting Up Your Space

Committing To Your Mindfulness App

Gratitude Journaling

Getting The Actual Amount Of Sleep You Need

Nature As Medicine

Becoming Your Own Best Friend

Our new reality• How can we integrate Self Help

•

Educational Value in Self-Help Activities

• Opening each class with a positive quote that relates to the topic at hand.

Discuss it.

• Make a buddy system. Students can exchange their contact info. For doubts and questions.

• Writing prompts for different reasons. Ex. Gratitude

• Choose a Self Improvement book or chapter to read and discuss in class.

Educational Value in Self-Help Activities

• Share your experiences with your students. Let them ask you questions. Include other people’s opinions on your life decisions.

• Study biographies and what potentially influenced the person’s life.

• Relate your lesson back to a movie, series, book, story, character or song.

Educational Value in Self-Help Activities

• Role play to different life situations and discussion follow up.

• Implement a theme

• View a TED Talk on a Self Improvement topic and have a discussion and/or activity.

More tips…

• Join a club or organization.

• Ask for feedback.

• Read a book.

• Listen to Podcasts.

• Watch a TED Talk.

• Enroll in a class.

• Join a professional group.

• Find a mentor.

• Stay in good physical health.

Overcoming barriers

• Comparing yourself to others.

• Having a fixed mindset.

• Being impatient.

Implementing a Plan for Self-Help

Plan ahead of time Include as events unfold in real life

Implementing a Plan for Self-Help

How would you integrate Self Improvement into your lesson plans

for the benefit of your students?

Mention the grade level you impact.