CURRICULUM GUIDE FOR S.C. TEACHER CADET COURSE | EXPERIENCING EDUCATION, TENTH EDITION
Full Pot, According to Virginia Satir
Objective: Students will be able to identify characteristics and causes of high and low
self-esteem.
Essential Question: How important is self-esteem?
Activities:
1. As a homework assignment, have the student read “Self-Worth: The Pot Nobody Watches.”
2. Use the questions on the handout “Points about Pot” to discuss “Self-Worth: The Pot
Nobody Watches.”
3. Have students write on small strips of paper one positive comment about each person in
the class. Students will walk around the room, taping, gluing, or writing down the
compliments for everyone in the class, creating a “full pot” for everyone in the class. Other
kinds of student “pots” can be decorated jars, cans, cups, boxes, or bulletin board
“pockets” in which Cadets place their written compliments. Students may choose to
personalize their pots in an artistic fashion, laminating their names on the pots or creating
collages symbolic of their lives. This activity can be modified to be seasonal
(e.g. Valentine Pot, Halloween Pot, etc.)
4. Discuss the handouts “Dr. William Purkey’s Overview of Self-Concept Theory” and “A Word
Is Worth a Thousand Pictures.” These statements expand on the meaning of
“self-concept” and may need interpretations and examples.
Materials:
• Handout: “Self-Worth: The Pot Nobody Watches”
• Handout: “Points about Pot”
• Handout: “Filling Your Pot”
• Handout: “Dr. William Purkey’s Overview of Self-Concept Theory”
• Handout: “A Word Is Worth a Thousand Pictures”
• Strips of paper (optional)
• Tape or glue (optional)
• Small clay pots, cans, jars, boxes; one per student (optional)
Assessment:
Students may write a journal entry or prepare a portfolio entry, discussing the most important
points they learned about self-esteem and reacting to their classmates’ comments placed in
their pots.
Time:
30 minutes
Standard:
I.1.4: Students will analyze the role of self-esteem in learning and its contributing factors.
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Theme I: Experiencing Learning
Unit 1: Awareness and Reflection
*Mandatory lesson