For more great lessons go to www.earlygradelessons.com
CORE COMPETENCY VISUAL GUIDES
and STORYBOOKS RESOURCE for
STUDENT SELF-REFLECTION & ASSESSMENT
with printable student work booklets
created by Chris Castellarin
![IMG_8665[1].JPG](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/def325_c4b07c520d0845e2bacbf01ff8323502~mv2.jpg/v1/fill/w_479,h_360,al_c,q_80,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,enc_avif,quality_auto/IMG_8665%5B1%5D_JPG.jpg)
The  Core Competency Visual Guide s and Storybooks Resource for Student Self-Reflection and Assessment was created with kindergarten as well as, Grades 1 to 3 students in mind. It is designed to be very structured in format but also very flexible for teachers to choose whether they want to use all parts of the guides and all parts of the student work booklets or only certain pages. At these primary grade age-levels we know from research that most young students will learn from visual images and cues. The visual guides were designed therefore, to allow students the opportunity to listen, watch and view picture storybooks, colourful photo images, clip art images and video shorts related to the 20 core competency statements. Portable Document Format (PDF's) of student workbook materials accompany the online material and can be easily printed off and photocopied.
​
For more information on the BC Ministry of Education's mandatory requirement for student self-reflection of core competencies visit their website at competencies
CORE COMPETENCY VISUAL GUIDE
Student Self-Reflection of Core Competencies
WHAT ARE THE CORE COMPETENCIES?
Communication - The Communication competency encompasses the knowledge, skills, processes and dispositions we associate with interactions with others. Through their communication, students acquire, develop and transform ideas and information, and make connections with others to share their ideas, express their individuality, further their learning, and get things done. The communication competency is fundamental to finding satisfaction, purpose and joy.
Thinking - The Thinking competency encompasses the knowledge, skills and processes we associate with intellectual development. It is through their competency as thinkers that students take subject-specific concepts and content and transform them into a new understanding. Thinking competence includes specific thinking skills as well as habits of mind, and metacognitive awareness. These are used to process information from a variety of sources, including thoughts and feelings that arise from the subconscious and unconscious mind and from embodied cognition, to create new understandings.
Personal and Social - The Personal and Social competency is the set of abilities that relate to students' identity in the world, both as individuals and as members of their community and society. Personal and social competency encompasses what students need to thrive as individuals, to understand and care about themselves and others, and to find and achieve their purposes in the world.
​
​
WHAT IS STUDENT SELF-REFLECTION
Self-reflection is a simple way to dig deeper into your feelings and find out why you were doing something or feeling a certain way. It involves careful thought about your own behaviour and beliefs. It is meant to encourage a level of self-awareness and enable you to identify areas for improvement and areas where you are strong.
Students will be asked “How do they see themselves” on each page of the visual guides. The question is designed to help them think about how they will make a judgement of themselves for each “I statement.” They should be reminded that what is important here is to be truthful in the answer they choose for each Core Competency statement. They should not select an emoji face answer they think their teacher wants them to pick or one that would make their parents pleased. Their teacher will not be judging their answers. Their parents will not be judging their answers. They need to choose an answer that reflects their own honesty, an answer that they know best describes them in a truthful way. Only they themselves will be judging their own answers. 
Not Just Core Competencies but also SEL
While the  Core Competency Visual Guides and Storybooks Resource for Student Self-Reflection and Assessment may be a tool for implementing student self-reflections it is also nonetheless a platform for teaching social emotional learning (SEL). Students are participating in social emotional learning when viewing the picture storybooks read aloud on video, each of which, are related to the 20 core competency statements. Students also view the colour photo images, black and white clipart images and the quick review video shorts that enact what each core competency statement could look like in real life.  They are then asked to think about their own social emotional learning by asking, "How do you see yourself" in relation to their own behaviours, actions, and words in comparison to the characters they see in the storybooks, images, and video shorts.
We value your input. Join our program and take the opportunity to voice your suggestions, considerations and feedback.
Through feedback and discussions from participants using the program during its pilot stage a decision was made early on in the creation of this guide that for the benefit of the young students in the early primary grades the matrix scale would be kept simple and therefore limited to only 3 emoji face choices instead of using a 4 or even 5 point scale. Additionally, it was decided that emoji faces would be used for their familiarity and easy to understand, meaningful depiction as opposed to other image choices. Lastly, it was decided purposefully to forgo a sad or upset emoji face due to the “negative” connotation associated with that expression. Instead, a “neutral” face was selected. The emoji faces are arranged from Big Smile to Closed Mouth Smile to Neutral Face. These decisions would not have been made if it were not for the input of its users during the piloting of this program.
