Written by Britnee Weatherspoon, Danielle Petrucci, John Lakshmanan, Michelle Rawcliffe, and Tara Cooper, Dove Self-Esteem Project Cadre Trainers
The Dove Self-Esteem Project is a program started nearly two decades ago by Dove to increase body confidence and self-esteem in young people around the globe via educational tools and resources. To date, the Dove Self-Esteem Project has reached more than 60 million young people with a goal to reach a quarter of a billion by 2030. It is the largest self-esteem program in the world.
As Cadre Trainers for the Dove Self-Esteem Project, we often hear educators rave about the Confident Me! curriculum videos. These videos are short, often less than a minute, and packed with information. The videos focus on a prevalent issue amongst some youth: poor self-esteem and low body confidence. While the videos make an excellent point and can lead to great discussions, they are part of a toolkit that supports the development of positive self-esteem and body confidence. Many educators reveal they have not utilized the Confident Me! lessons associated with the videos. Listening to this message from educators, we decided to write this blog post to help educators fully understand how the Confident Me! curriculum will enhance student body confidence and self-esteem.
The Case
The Dove Self-Esteem Project Confident Me! curriculum is skills-based health lessons. This means that along with the information provided, students are given the opportunity to practice health-enhancing skills necessary to overcome challenges mentally, socially, and physically. The videos embedded within the lessons are meant to enhance student learning by delivering a message, displaying examples, and building empathy. The deeper learning begins with students practicing the skills, by analyzing influences of the media, communication, or advocacy skills. Educators who have taught the full curriculum with the videos share that their students feel more empowered to challenge negative thoughts and appreciate their personal qualities rather than worrying about body image. As awe-inspiring as the videos are, using the full curriculum has more impact on students’ long-term skill development and self-perception. With that said, we understand the demands of educators; time is limited. As Cadre Trainers, we are here to provide suggestions on how to maximize your time while using the curriculum.
Time isn’t always on our side.
Increasing the opportunity for students to participate in social and emotional learning (SEL) programs is gaining support. The Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL) has extensively researched the beneficial impact of students engaging in activities that strengthen the core SEL competencies. The Confident Me! curriculum facilitates the development of self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills, and responsible decision making through its skills-based lessons on appearance ideals and self-esteem. A teacher could find support for dedicating time to implementing Confident Me! curriculum by emphasizing the impact of SEL as indicated from CASEL’s research.
Rather than focus on character values or stress as the content for SEL skill-building, Confident Me! gives students the tools to stop comparing themselves to others and to communicate in healthier ways. According to a 7th grade student in Connecticut who participated in the program, “I like this program because we are always comparing ourselves and putting ourselves down. We always use body talk. This taught us to change the way we speak, to be nicer to ourselves and to others. I like it better than (previously used SEL program) because it is more realistic to what kids are actually dealing with.” Perhaps districts could embrace the chance to allocate time for the Dove Self-Esteem Project to strengthen SEL from another angle.
Further, teachers could incorporate the Confident Me! single lesson which takes an average of 45-60 minutes. The lesson is concise, focused, interactive, and engaging. Some teachers have reported that they use the single lesson as a follow-up the year after they implement the five lessons.
Additionally, another great feature of both the single and five-lesson formats is that they can be easily broken down into smaller lessons. Ideally, the lessons could be implemented in a small group setting for as many consecutive days as possible. However, that option may not be available to most teachers. Whether it’s the single lesson or the five lessons, using this unique approach to SEL is important to improve students’ self-awareness by practicing the skills of analyzing influences, communication and goal setting.
Confident Me! Lessons are designed so that teachers can highlight, pick and choose certain areas they want to focus on. Perhaps a video, as part of an adjusted lesson, resonates with a group of students and an enriching discussion follows. Such adjustments are natural within the 5-lesson curriculum.
How the curriculum is being utilized
As Cadre Trainers for the Dove Self-Esteem Project, we share the Confident Me! curriculum with as many educators of 11 to 14-year old students as possible, and primarily middle school educators including but not limited to teachers, school counselors, school nurses and health & physical education teachers. The Confident Me! curriculum has been implemented in various formats by different educators in the middle school classroom setting.
At one school district, school counselors shared how they had teamed up to co-facilitate the Confident Me! curriculum in grades 6-9. The counselors ran small groups to implement the Confident Me! single lesson.
At another school district, counselors, school nurses and health & physical education teachers collaborated to facilitate the five lessons during Health classes. The school counselors shared how they did not have the time or capacity to run additional groups outside of other groups and curricula that was already being implemented, but the counselors made it work by collaborating with their health & physical education teachers to implement the Confident Me! curriculum during Health classes. Additionally, the school nurse wanted to implement the Confident Me! single lesson but did not know how to go about facilitating it so she collaborated with the health & physical education teacher to implement the lesson during a Health class.
Additional feedback that was shared by a school counselor who has implemented the Confident Me! curriculum, shared that her school contracts with a local mental health agency for additional in-school support staff. The counselor and the Prevention Specialist from the mental health agency co-facilitated the single lesson with multiple small groups dividing both male and female identifying students. Based upon the feedback that was received during implementation of the single lesson, the counselor and the Prevention Specialist then decided to implement the additional Confident Me! five lessons based on the lesson in which the group of students could benefit having more time on (i.e., media messages, banishing body talk).
The Dove Self-Esteem Project Confident Me! curriculum has also been accessed through cross-curriculum classes. The Health teachers facilitate the single lesson during their designated Health classes and the English Language Arts (ELA) department teaches the individual five lessons during allotted weeks throughout the school year (i.e., Respect Me Week, Kindness Week, State Testing, etc.). This culminated in the students as Body Confidence Champions by the end of the school year.
A unique and powerful aspect of the curriculum is the fact that the activities within the lessons can be impactful. When an educator or facilitator is crunched on time due to state testing, a mandated curriculum, or other obligations, numerous options abound. Activities within the lessons will lead to robust class conversations. The flexibility of the curriculum enables adaptations to various situations, including previous time commitments and differing student needs.
In support of classroom instruction, there has also been a high presence of the Confident Me! curriculum amongst school clubs such as Diversity, Kindness, Empowerment, Pride, Go Green, and Mindfulness clubs that have used it during their after-school hours both together as a group and individually.
Closure:
By allowing the curriculum to stay fluid, it allows educators to stay current and with the times. Programs such as Dove Self-Esteem Project’s Confident Me! are important to teach in order to enhance student learning on issues and topics they are facing every day.
No matter the amount of time an educator has to utilize the program, there is no re-teaching involved! It is easy to pick up right where you left off. Our students need to know that their voices are being heard, and even if students are not able to physically voice them, they need to know that there are supportive adults and professionals that support them. Our youth need to realize that all the information they see and/or hear whether it be from family, friends, professional and social media, may not be locked into what these youth now understand to be unreal or unattainable appearance ideals. Who they are is enough.
To learn more about the Dove Self-Esteem Project or to download the free resources, visit: Dove Self-Esteem Project or e-mail us at info@cairnguidance.com.
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