MANAGING AND CARING FOR THE SELF

A. LEARNING TO BE A BETTER PERSON

 The brain acts as a dense network of fiber pathways that consists of appropriately 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. Its task
become apparent in behavior as each area accomplishes its function in hearing speech, touch, short term memory,
language and reasoning abilities.

Students are still in the process of becoming a better person in different aspects. At this age of development,
their brain’s functioning is a work of progress. Learning to be a better person entails learning how to handle brain and
the corresponding behavioral changes that it undergoes.

1. HOW LEARNING HAPPENS IN THE HUMAN BRAIN

Expounded by Ford (2011 , 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 sensory information we encounter in our daily lives.

Once processed in a short-term memory, our brains neural pathways carry these memories to the structural core where they are
compared with existing memories and stored in or long-term memory, the vast repository of everything we have ever experienced in
our lives.

» Some degradation is common

As information faces across billions of neuron’s axons, which transmit signals to the next neurons via synapse. It is the main reason
why many memories are incomplete or may include false portions that we make up to fill holes in the real memory.

When two neurons interact, they form a bond that allows them to transmit more easily and accurately that leads to more complete
memories and easier recall.

During emotional reaction to fear, anger, laughter, love, to name a few, the emotion becomes part of the memory and strengthens
it dramatically.

 Promenade

 First college sweetheart, first heartbreak

 Topping the final examination, failing a subject

 Humiliated by a teacher

 Birth, marriage,divorce and even death of a loved one

What makes the brain search for the unusual in the environment is its natural curiousity.

Steven (2014) emphasized that changes in the brain allow for 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

Brain is capable of doing besides learning, which is something that everyone is expected to do, is learning to learn.

 College students’ peace of mind may have learned component skills that allow them to perform a task or had completed
steps toward producing a product but they are not actually learning and mastering knowledge.

 Metacognition is the process of ‘’ Thinking about thinking’’

Examples of metacognition:
  A student learns about what things help him or her to remember facts, names and events.

 A student learns about his or her own style of learning

 A student learns about which strategies are most effective for solving problems.

According to research, when students are able to manage their own performance on a task, they perform better and their
learning is more meaningful than when they are not able to manage it.

Edgar Mora (2014), it involves thinking and reflecting before during and after learning tasks. Metacognition starts when
students think about the strategies they will use to perform tasks. It happens when they choose the most effective strategy.

Metacognitive strategies that appropriate to use in the classroom including:

o Think- Alouds (for reading comprehension and problem solving)

o Organizational Tools (such as checklists, rubrics, etc. for solving word problems)

o Explicit Teacher Modeling ( for math instruction)

In Info Brief, ‘’ Learning How to Learn’’, educators are provided with practical suggestions on strategic learning, compensatory
techniques, cognitive and metacognitive strategies and literacy programs and learning strategies.

2.1 Types of Learning Strategies And Supports: Metacognitive

These strategies would help students think about thinking. First is monitoring their progress as they learn, and second is
making changes and adapting their strategies if they perceive that they are not doing as well as you could.

Some basic metacognitive categories aids or strategies:

 Connecting new information to existing knowledge

 Selecting thinking strategies deliberately

 Planning, monitoring and evaluating thinking process.

Strategies to develop metacognition include:

 Share and model self-monitoring processes (e.g. proofreading).

 Explain and provide handouts regarding particular strategies that maybe helpful.

 Clarify and model when particular strategies are appropriate.

 Clarify why particular strategies are appropriate.

2.2 STUDY STRATEGIES

What shall the students do now to make learning effective?

1. 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 for this is practicing recall through flash cards or tests.

2. Questioning and explanation.

 Elaborative 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 by 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.

- It involves the reading and comprehension of the text as well as the ability to identify the most important information
within it and to encapsulate it briefly in one’s own words.

» Summarizing may be the first stage of a learning process ,with other techniques come subsequently for review purposes

» Imagery ‘keywords mnemonics’ for both vocabulary learning and text memorization were found to be constrained to highly
visual materials only.

4. Highlighting and underlining portions of text.

» This also includes rereading. Highlighting 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

 What is a goal?
 How does a goal affect your performance?
 What is the importance of goals?

Conscious goals affect action, thus, a goal is the object or aim of an action.

GOALS AFFECT PERFORMANCE THROUGH FOUR MECHANISMS (LOCKE, 2002):

 First, goals serve a directive function.

 Second, goals have an energizing function.
 Third, goals affect persistence.
 Fourth, goals affect action indirectly by leading to the arousal, discovery, and/or use of task-related knowledge and
strategies.

ALBERT BANDURA’S SELF-EFFICACY

 Students’s goals can be achieved only if they are worthy of believing these goals can be achieved.
 As Gandhi perfectly understood the essential role of self-belief in the students ’ lives: “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 is part of the Social Learning Theory which has progressed into the Social Cognitive Theory.
 Self-efficacy refers to belief in one’s capabilities to organize and execute the courses of action required to manage
prospective situations.

PEOPLE WITH HIGH ASSURANCE IN THEIR CAPABILITIES:

 Approach difficult tasks as challenges to be mastered.

 Set challenging goals and maintain strong commitment to them.
 Heighten or sustain their efforts in the face of failures or setbacks.
 Attribute failure to insufficient effort or deficient knowledge and skills which are acquirable.
 Approach threatening situations with assurance that they can exercise control over them.

PEOPLE WHO DOUBT THEIR CAPABILITIES:

 Shy away from tasks they view as personal threats.

 Have low aspirations and weak commitment to goals they choose to pursue.
 Dwell on personal deficiencies, obstacles they will encounter, and all kinds of adverse outcomes, rather than concentrating
on how to perform successfully.
 Loosen their efforts and give up quickly in the face of difficulties.
 Are slow to recover their sense of efficacy following failures or setbacks.
  Falls easy victim to stress and depression.

FOUR MAIN SOURCES OF EFFICACY BELIEFS

1. MASTERY EXPERIENCES
 It is also known as personal performance accomplishments; are the most effective way to create a strong sense of
efficacy.

Positive Example: If an individual performed well in various job assignment, then they are more likely to feel confident and have high
self-efficacy in performing the task when their manager assigns them a similar task. The individual’s self-efficacy will be high in that
particular area, and since he or she has a high self-efficacy, he or she is more likely to try harder and complete the task with much
more better results.

Negative Example: If an individual experiences a failure, he/she will most likely experience a reduction in self-efficacy. However, if
these failures are later overcome by conviction, it can serve to increase self-motivated persistence when the situation is viewed as an
achievable challenge.

2. VICARIOUS EXPERIENCES
 These are done through observance of social models that also influence one’s perception of self – efficacy. The
most important factor that determines the strength of influence of an observed success or failure on one’s own self
– efficacy is the degree of similarity between the observer and the model.

Increase in self – efficacy example: Mentoring programs, where an individual is paired with someone on a similar career path who
will be successful at raising the individual’s self – efficacy beliefs. This is even further strengthened if both have a similar skill set, so a
person can see first-hand what they may achieve.

Decrease in self-efficacy example: Smoking cessation program, in which individuals witnessing several people’s failure to quit, may
worry about their own chances of success, leading to low efficacy for quitting; or a weight-loss program in which others do not
achieve the results you are hoping for.

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. It is influenced by encouragement and discouragement pertaining to an individual’s performance or
ability to perform.

Positive example: A teacher telling a student: “You can do it . I have confidence in you.” Using verbal persuasion in a positive light
generally leads individuals to put forth more effort; therefore, they have a greater chance at succeeding.

Negative example: A teacher saying to a student: “This is unacceptable! I thought you could handle this task”, can lead to doubts
about oneself resulting in lower chances of success.

4. EMOTIONAL AND PHYSIOLOGICAL STATE

 This is the state a person is in will influence how he or she judges self – efficacy.
 Stress reaction or tension are interpreted as signs of vulnerability to poor performance.
 Positive emotions can boost confidence in skills.
 Some examples of physiological feedbacks are:
- giving a speech in front of a large group of people, making a presentation to an important client, taking an
exam etc.
 All of these tasks can cause agitation, anxiety, sweaty palms, and/or a racing heart.
 This source is the least influential of the four.

CAROL DWECK’S MINDSET

 WHAT IS MINDSET?
Mindset are beliefs, beliefs about one’s self and one’s most basic qualities.

FIXED MINDSET VS. GROWTH MINDSET

PEOPLE WITH FIXED MINDSET:

  Belief that their traits are just given.
 Have a certain amount of brains and talents and nothing can change that.
 Worry about their traits and how adequate they are.
 Have something to prove to themselves and others.
Believing that their qualities are carved in stone, creates an urgency to prove themselves over and over.
 If they have only a certain amount of intelligence, a certain personality, and a certain moral character, then they would
prove that they have a healthy dose of them.

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.
 They understand that no one has ever accomplished great things without years of passionate practice and learning. This is
based on the belief that their basic qualities are things they can cultivate through their efforts.
 Anyone can grow through application and experience.

FOUR SIMPLE STEPS TO BEGIN CHANGING MINDSET:

1. Learn to hear your fixed mindset “voice”.

2. Recognize that you have a choice.
3. Talk back to it with a growth mindset voice.
4. Take the growth mindset action.

GOAL SETTING THEORY

 It is something most people recognize as necessary for their success. By understanding this theory, students can effectively
apply it to the goals they set.
 Goal setting is inseparable from workplace performance.

FIVE PRINCIPLES OF GOAL SETTING

1. Clarity. Clear goals are measurable and unambiguous.

2. Challenge. Make each goal a challenge.
3. Commitment. The harder the goal, more commitment is required.
4. Feedback. Clarify expectation, adjust goal, difficulty and gain recognition.
5. Task Complexity. For goals that are highly complex, take a special care to ensure that the work doesn’t become too
overwhelming.

TAKING CARE OF ONE’S HEALTH

1. Stressors and Responses

- Humprey, Yow, & Bowen (2000) described stress as any factor that makes adaption to an environment difficult for the individual to
maintain a state of equilibrium between himself and the external environment.
- It includes physical and mental response to meet the demands of the stressful event (Richlin-Klonsky & How, 2003).
Stressors
- Events or situations that put a strain on the indivdual (Snatrock, 2003)
- Situationsthat 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 (Scott, 2017).

Categories of Stressors
Physiological/Physical Stressors
- stressors that put strain on the body
Psychological Stressors
- events, situations, individuals, comments, or anything we interpret as negative or threatening
Absolute Stressors
- those to which everyone exposed would interpret as being stressful;
- these are stressors that are universal
Relative Stressors
- only some persons exposed would interpret as being stressful;
- these are subjective stressors that cause different reactions in different people

Stress Response

- When danger is perceived, the body’s emergency system automatically changes the body’s balance by producing the
‘stress response’ (also called the ‘emergency response’, the ‘fear response’, or ‘the fight of flight response’.)

- This change of balance, emergency readiness, is brought about via hormones, chemical messengers that are secreted
into the bloodstream (Folk, 2017).

- Examples of stress hormones are adrenaline, cortisol, norepinephrine. They travel into the bloodstream to target the
spots in the body to bring about specific physiological, psychological, and emotional changes to enhance the body’s
ability to deal with the threat.

- There can be a change in breathing, increase in heart rate, stimulates the nervous system, changes brain funtioning,
and the others.

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 (Lazarus & Folkman, 1984).

~Coping Resources

Optimism- 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 the positive and high, is also protective against adverse mental and physical health outcomes,
therby contributing to better psychological outcomes.

Social support- the perception or experience that one is loved and for by others, esteemed and valued, and part of
a social networkof mutual assistance and obligations (Wills, 1991).

3. The Social and Cultural Dimensions of Stress

~ An excerpt from Dr. Michael L. Tan (2006) article entitled, “Stress and the Filipino,” talks about the social and cultural dimensions
of stressed experienced by the Filipinos.

 Stress is mediated through culture: from the very nature of the stressors, to the ways we respond to the stress.

 Culture adapts to circumstances and we are only one of the many countries with the dense populations that have learned
to live with the maddening crowds, complete with the noise.

 Filipinos do face many sources of stress, around work and livelihood mainly. We also face the stresses of families.
  Quite often, we deal with stress by trying to be “happy”– masaya. Pagsasaya is social camaraderie, it’s making cheer
because there have been an stressful/unhappy events.

 The word dalamhati is graphic, describing an inner sadness (from Malay ‘dalam’ inside and ‘hati’, the heart or the liver,
believed to be the seats of our emotions) that slowly consumes the people.

 Filipino women are actually more prone to dealing with stressful situations through tiis (endurance) and kimkim
(repression).

 Many Filipinos express their stress by complaining. Culturally, too, may attach labels such as they are suffering from nerbyos
or “nerves”.

 The intriguing bangungot, sudden deaths that usually occur at night associated by nightmares. “Bangon,” to rise, and
“ungol,” to moan.

 The Filipino is so attached to home and hearth that we even have a term “namamahay,” missing home, and we usually
experience insomnia and constipation.

 The 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).

 Reverse Golden Rule: treat yourself as compassionately as you treat others.

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 come back 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

♥ Literally means “to suffer together.”

♥ It is wishing for that person to be free from suffering (Germer, 2009).

♥ It is not the same as empathy or altruism.

♥ Compassion is when feelings and thoughts include the desire to help.

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 extend assistance to strangers, or different races, and skin colors.

► Sentient Compassion- when one extends feelings of compassion towards any living being.

► Heroic Compassion- it is like altruism with a risk. It has two forms.

o Immediate Heroic Compassion

-it is impulsive

o Considered Heroic Compassion

-it is done with thought, and can be maintained for many years

The more compassion one gives to the suffering “self,” the more flexible it becomes. Compassion from others or from within oneself
helps him/her accept himself in his/her discomfort (Germer, 2009).