Social and Emotional Learning: Making a Case in a No Child Left Behind (NCLB) World Notes

http://www.edutopia.org/social-emotional-learning-nclb-webinar

• Tests have created a classroom frenzy of teaching the basic skills
• In my day, the things that weren't necessarily the basic skills were the ones that stuck with you the longest and had the biggest impact on your life
• Can these skills be taught?
• They can be
• Teaching SEL helps students become more successful in social and academic settings.
• SEL is core concept of Edutopia.
• Kati Delahanty
• Mentors new teachers
• Working in school district to work on social justice curriculum
• 11 of her students are parents
• All actively trying to find out who they are
• Her job to feel respected and supported every day
• When they don't feel this, they don't learn as well.
• Teaches in alternative community
• Her goals are
• To help her students succeed
• To create a safe learning environment
• To teach her students to work collaboratively
• Why SEL
• To combat low self-esteem and lack of self-discipline
• To help students get good at working and learning together
• To create a culture of respect
• What works
• Room arranged in groups
• Random seating every week
• Attention signal
• Silently raises her hand and they know to wrap up what they are doing
• Modeling how to interrupt politely
• Not all about the teacher and what they want
• They deserve to finish what they are saying or doing.
• Partner Chats
• Thank-yous
• "Thank you for making me smarter."
• Sharing routines: body language
• Turn and shift their body to who is speaking
• Lower pencil
• Practice listening
• Explain the reasoning
• Shows them why what you are telling them what to do
• Post-it note conversations
• Subtle talking to
• Example
• Student is late (everyone in class sees it)- it is pointless to yell at them in front of the class
• Give them a post-it note appreciating them for sitting down and working automatically, then give them another note to come see you after class.
• Rituals
• Circles
• A way of group that focuses on listening (talking piece)
• They can pass
• They should share as much or as little as possible
• Rooted in native american tradition
• Talking piece (a special object)
• Open and close circle together
• Always pass to the left
• Community agreements
• i.e. respect confidentiality, be open-minded and don't judge people
• Academic conferences
• Student begins and leads the academic conference
• Reflect on successes and challenges
• Setting goals and next steps
• Weekly whole-unit circles
• Last round: shout-outs
• Chants and call and response
• Students choose beats and different things like that
• "It's not where you start; it's where you end up."
• "Smart is not what you are; it's what you get."
• Post-it Note affirmation
• How to react to harm
• Instead of asking
• What rule was broken?
• Who broke it?
• How should he/she be punished?
• We ask
• Who was harmed
• What does he/she need to move forward
• Who is responsible for making things right?
• Suspension circles
• Instead of suspension meetings, they do it in a circle and take account for their actions.
• Quotes
• "Circle unites us."
• "I know that everyone has their eyes on me. It's my time to talk and their time to listen. It's when I shine."
• "We had a conversation in circle once about how to treat each other, and I figured out that no one is perfect. I realized it's a good thing to be a good student, a good listener, and just a good person."
• "In this community, my friends make me feel like somebody. Here, I know my classmates. I need to know someone to trust him or her."
• Dr. Sheldon Berman
• Superintendent who started district-wide SEL
• Care for Kids (SEL program)
• Goal of SEL in his district
• Help young people develop the convictions and skills to shape a safe, sustainable, and just world.
• Theory of action or theory of change
• Motivates or moves us
• JCPS's theory of action
• When we collaborate to
• Create caring and culturally responsive classroom communities
• Provide high-quality, personalized instruction that challenges and engages students in authentic work;
• Ensure equitable access for all students to a consistent, inquiry-based curriculum; and
• Prepare leaders to engages in collaborative strategies to move this shared vision forward.
• Then all students graduate with
• A high level of academic performance
• So all students are prepared to
• Enhance health and wellness
• Create a more just society
• Focus on district-wide change
• Empathy
• Ethics
• Service
• Care for Kids
• Morning meeting and end-of-day check-in meetings
• Builds community, creates a positive climate for learning.
• Check-in meeting
• Brings a supportive closure to the day
• Parents no longer get the answer "I don't know" for the question "What did you learn today?"
• Class meetings
• Solve problems
• Come up with rules
• Developmental discipline
• Logical consequences for behavior
• i.e. pushing the student
• How can we help these students
• How can we prevent the behavior for next time
• Don't suspend them, doesn't make sense
• Cross-age mentoring (grades 1-5)
• Feel a sense of connection with older classrooms
• Older students feel important
• Cultural competence and teacher language
• Teachers learn how to teach students with diverse backgrounds
• Home-to-school activities
• Stimulate conversations between students and family members
• Link home and school
• School-wide community-building activities
• Create community activities (i.e. Feed my starving children)
• Timothy Shriver
• Chairmen of boards of CASEL (Collaborative for Academic, Social and Emotional Learning)
• Supports SEL
• Chairman of special Olympics
• CASEL
• Formed in 1994
• Created and called it Social Emotional Learning
• Why SEL
• If SEL is done effectively, 11 point gain on standardized tests in mathematics and reading.
• 5 core SEL competencies
• Self-awareness
• Self-management
• Social awareness
• Relationship skills
• Responsible decision making
• SEL is not touchy-feely
• There is a rigor
• Combine language arts with SEL or any other basic skills teaching can be complimented by SEL
• Why now?
• Relationships promote learning (untrue)
• Learning IS a relationship
• Neuroscience shows emotion, attention, and learning are linked (Click here for notes and here for reflection for blog on video on Neuroscience of Social and Emotional Learning
• SEL can be taught by regular teachers, who also benefit
• Benefits have long duration
• SEL practice is mature
• Proven programs and evidence-based programs already exist
• Policy landscape is ripe
• Illinois, New York, Michigan have taken into creating policies and state standards for SEL