Social/Emotional Learning
Overview
This is about Social/Emotional Learning, the main skills, and the benefits it has in the classroom.
Description:
Social Emotional Learning is the process through which all young people and adults acquire and apply the knowledge, skills, and attitudes to develop healthy identities, manage emotions and achieve personal and collective goals, feel and show empathy for others, establish and maintain supportive relationships, and make responsible and caring decisions.
It’s an important learning skill to have in the classroom because emotions are important, especially in our younger students. It builds social and emotional skills that can improve student engagement and academic process.
The framework for Social and Emotional Learning focuses on five broad categories that encompass the integration of all five aspects into every area and subject of academic learning. These categories include Identity and Agency, Emotional Regulation, Cognitive Regulation, Social Skills, and Public Spirit.
Image created by: Makayla Sanchez
"Fundamentals of SEL" by CASEL is licensed under CC BY 4.0
Five Main Skills:
There are five main components to social and emotional learning: Self -awareness, Self-management, Relationship skills, and Responsible decision making. These skills are developed throughout their experiences but can also be guided.
Self-awareness is one’s ability to identify their own emotions, thoughts, and the way they impact behavior, which leads students to have a good sense of positive thinking and assurance about themselves. You will find that students who have developed a good sense of self-awareness are more able to identify their limitations, weaknesses, and strengths.
Ways to promote SEL:
- Sharing their emotions with teachers
- Props (Dolls, stuffed animals, etc.)
- Emotion Posters
Self-Management is the ability to regulate one’s emotions, thoughts and behaviors.
Ways to promote SEL:
- Breathing strategies
- Role playing
- Model
Social Awareness is the ability to identify one’s emotions, personal assets, areas for growth, and potential external resources and support.
Ways to promote SEL:
- Books with diversity
- Emotion Charades
- Expression Bingo
Relationship Skills is the ability to establish and maintain healthy and rewarding relationships with diverse individuals and groups.
Ways to promote SEL:
- Conversations
- Group Activities
- Changing Seats
Responsible Decision-Making is the ability to make constructive and respectful choices about personal behavior and social interactions.
Way to promote SEL:
- Overreact on the good!
- Let them decide!
- Encourage goals!
References:
"Emotion Faces" by Vanessa Matthiessen is licensed under CC BY 4.0
"SEL in PE: Self Awareness" by Barbara Soots, Nikki Klinger, Washington OSPI OER Project is licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0
"SEL in PE: Self Management " by Barbara Soots, Nikki Klinger, Washington OSPI OER Project is licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0
"SEL in PE: Social Awareness" by Barbara Soots, Washington OSPI OER Project, Nikki Klinger is licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0
"Social-Emotional Development: Preschool Children" by Virtual Lab School is licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0
Benefits
Helping students build strong social and emotional skills helps them to consider consequences and make good decisions. Social and emotional learning is not just about helping students stay out of trouble, but about developing life skills that can be used throughout their lives. When supporting children's social and emotional development it can lead to very many beneficial outcomes. This development is important because children need to be able to regulate their emotions, respond to their emotions positively, and be resilient. This is not only beneficial in school but throughout the child's entire life.
Here are some strategies to support children’s social and emotional development:
- Create an environment and daily routines that offer children opportunities forresponsible and cooperative roles in the classroom.
- Model desirable behavior and attitudes in interactions with children and other adults.
- Use the family culture to create bridges between the program and the home, supportingchildren’s pride in their family experience, and understanding individual differences inbackground and viewpoint.
- Enlist adults as active co-explorers in children’s chosen activities.
- Encourage children’s ideas, initiative, and contributions to shared activities.
- Observe children attentively, as they play, to understand each child’s needs, interests,strengths, and areas of growth in social-emotional development.
- Establish developmentally and culturally appropriate expectations for children’sbehavior, especially expectations for self-control and self-regulation.
- Narrate for children what they are observed doing and expressing, providing languageto describe their thoughts and feelings and to clarify others’ feelings.
- Provide specific feedback to children about their efforts, reinforcing their choices thatsupport learning and linking their actions to outcomes.
- Coach and guide children’s behavior by using positive, respectful phrasing and tone toprompt problem solving and to give brief instructions and reminders.
- Help children to understand social cues (facial expressions, body language, tone ofvoice).
These and more examples can be found in the OER textbook, Introduction to Curriculum for Early Childhood Education, by Jennifer Paris, Kristin Beeve, and Clint Springer in chapter 7 on pg. 149 and 150.
Image Created by: A'Leesia Patino
Social-Emotional learning is the process in which students acquire and apply the knowledge, attitude, and skills necessary for the 5 main skills. The 5 main skills of SEL are Self-awareness, Self-management, Relationship skills, and Responsible decision making and they work when they are implemented in the classroom, in schools, homes, and communities. There are so many benefits to using SEL in the classroom, here are some benefits:
Students will be able to overcome and manage their emotions.
Increase academic success.
Lower stress levels and have a positive attitude toward themselves, others, and assignments.
Prevent negative behavior such as violence and bullying
Provide students with the skills they will need in their future lives.
For more information on Social-Emotional Learning and the benefits of it in the classroom, it can be found on YouTube. What is Emotional Education? What is Social-Emotional Learning? What is SEL?
References:
"Introduction to Curriculum for Early Childhood Education" by Jennifer Paris is licensed under CC BY 4.0
"Social-Emotional Development: Preschool Children" by Virtual Lab School is licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0
"What is Emotional Education? What is Social-Emotional Learning? What is SEL?" by Happiness com is licensed under CC BY 4.0